Congratulations to everyone that has received their examination results this summer. The waiting time is always a nervous one, especially for those that are experiencing the wait for the first time. So, to my third holiday post.

Staying in a range of hotels and two overnight train trips, set me thinking about how hotels have traditionally been classified, often by using a star grading from one to five. There is also an alternative of rosettes.

On this trip, I wondered about a classification based on smiles? One smile for the quality of the greeting by the door staff – earned if you are greeted with a smile and help with luggage. The second smile comes for the reception staff. Are they welcoming, however harassed they might be, do they make you feel welcome and build upon the feeling of enjoying the fact that you are using their hotel that started with the door staff?

Smiles three, four and five can be a little more general: housekeeping staff, if you pass them in the corridor,  food and drink service staff whether in the bar or restaurant and any other staff you might encounter, from car parking to pool or arranging excursions. Do they all treat you as a person and a welcome guest?

On this trip, we have encountered some really good service, and some that might be better forgotten about.

So, why call this post, 5 smiles and the Mbacc? Perhaps, because hospitality ought to one of the key strands in the post-16 offering, whether a young person wants to continue to take a degree in the subject or starting working in the industry at 18,  and hopefully before with a part-time job that allows the classroom theory to be experienced in practice.

Sadly, graduates, whether in hospitality of any other subject, will find accessing the working holiday vias scheme with Australia more of a challenge.

This excellent scheme that has allowed many Australians and Brits to visit the other’s country is now subject to a ‘slowing down’ by the Australian government in Canberra. The slowdown is a part of Australia’s response to a perceived need to cut immigration into The Commonwealth.

It will be interesting to see whether the UK government responds in any way. However, certainly for teachers, the numbers using the scheme are not what they were when it was first introduced. The link between the UK and Australia is not what is once was for generations such as mine, brought up on stories of the ‘outback’, Ned Kelly and Waltzing Matilda. Australia now looks much more towards the Pacific Region than the northern Hemisphere: one wonders about the remaining links with Britain and the future of the monarchy in Australia? Will Andy Burnham, the maker of the MBacc, also be the Prime Minister to preside over the ending of the links between the UK monarchy and Australia?