The Month That Was: April 2026
April was a month of two halves. One half involved lacing up walking boots and switching off completely. The other involved looking hard at the business and making some decisions that will shape the next chapter.
Both, as it turns out, were overdue.
The Lakes
For the first time ever, I headed to the Lake District.
Claire, Teddy and some good friends made up the group, and the plan was simple: walk, eat, relax and repeat. No agenda, no emails demanding immediate answers, no fires to put out.
Teddy, who famously refused to cross the Millennium Bridge in March, had no such hesitation at Derwentwater. Turns out he just prefers lakes to bridges. Fair enough.
The highlight was a 10-mile lake walk with a well-earned pub stop in the middle. The kind of afternoon that reminds you why you work as hard as you do.
We also discovered Five Crowns, a card game that became something of an obsession by the end of the week. I’m not going to say I won every time but I’m not going to say I didn’t, either.
Getting away properly — not just a night here or there — gives you space to think clearly. Some of my best thinking about the business happened on those walks, precisely because I wasn’t sitting at a desk trying to think about the business.
Restructuring for the next chapter
One of the themes that’s been building for a while came into sharp focus in April: structure.
As the group continues to grow, the way we’re organised needs to grow with it. New roles, clearer responsibilities, the right people in the right positions. This isn’t something to rush. Getting the structure wrong costs far more in time and money than taking the time to get it right from the start.
We’ve now mapped out how we want the company to look. It’s a plan that supports growth but, equally importantly, it supports my goal of stepping back from the day-to-day.
Retirement isn’t a word in my vocabulary. Time freedom is.
There’s a difference between building a business and building a business that works without you constantly at the centre of it. April was a month of making sure we’re building the right one.
Systems, systems, systems
The other big focus this month was a proper audit of the systems we’re running across the businesses.
Here’s what we found: we had duplicated software doing the same job in different places. Money going out every month on tools that were overlapping, with teams not always trained properly on the ones that actually mattered.
It’s a common problem. In the early stages of building a business you add tools quickly, often reactively, and before long you’ve got a stack of software nobody has a full picture of.
We’re now simplifying. Fewer tools, used properly, by people who actually know how to use them.
One thing that’s proved its worth is the business dashboard I had built in Claude. A clear weekly overview of the whole group in one place. It sounds simple but when you’re running multiple businesses, having that single view changes how you make decisions.
Systems aren’t the exciting part of running a business. But they’re often the part that determines whether everything else holds together.
Looking ahead
As we move into May, the restructuring work continues and the system improvements are being rolled out.
The Lakes trip was a reminder that time away from the business isn’t a luxury — it’s part of running one well. You come back clearer, more focused and with a better perspective on what actually needs your attention.
There’s always more to do. But that’s hospitality. That’s business. That’s the point.
Remember, hospitality never stands still… and neither can we.
Dan
