If you weren’t on strike last week, if you weren’t off sick and you haven’t been made redundant you probable haven’t been watching 4 in a bed. It’s not a sex romp. It’s a reality t.v. programme that is on every weekday at 5 pm on channel 4.
Each week 4 Bed and Breakfast proprietors compete by visiting each other’s establishments and making comments on their host’s social skills, the cleanliness, the facilities, whether they slept well and the quality of the full English breakfast. In place of a final score they each put into an envelope what they think a nights stay is worth.
The establishments vary from 2 bedrooms and a tepee run by an ex hippie to a 15 bed hotel run by two ex company directors. The programme likes to go for dramatic contrasts so you can have a grand Tudor mansion in a rural setting competing with a modern bungalow on an industrial estate just outside Liverpool. The rates these establishments charge reflect this ranging from £70 to £200 a night. The idea is to find out which one represents the best value for money.
The fun is seeing how badly some people behave in a competitive environment, how downright odd some people are and how critical people can be of other establishments whilst determinedly defensive of their own.
On Friday the envelopes are opened and everyone gets to know what their guests paid for their stay. The most expensive establishment rarely wins being considered good but over priced and being the cheapest won’t help if your bathrooms are grubby and your full English breakfast is not up to scratch.
The debate is about price verses quality, it’s about choice and customer expectations much like the discussions on the future of Public Services.
Blair McPherson is author of Equipping managers for an uncertain future published by www.russellhouse.co.uk