We 1) (visited) the Marple Hotel in July 2002, when we 2) (decided) that we would not feature the hotel in our brochure. There 3) (were) a number of reasons for this: the rooms 4) (needed) upgrading, we 5) (felt) that the standard of service 6) (was not) good enough, and the hotel 7) (did not seem) to be well managed.
However, a great deal 8) (has changed) since 2002, and the hotel is now under new management. They 9) (have redecorated) all the rooms and they 10) (have made) the restaurant much more comfortable and attractive.
They 11) (have also built) a new pool. They 12) (have started) work on a new extension which should be complete by April next year, and this will bring the number of available rooms to 200. The new manager 13) (has introduced) an incentive scheme for the staff, 14) ( increased) salaries, and 15) ( sent) a number of employees on training courses, and as a result the level of service 16) (has improved) a great deal.
The restaurant is gaining a good reputation. The new chef 17) (has been) at the hotel for three months, and will clearly maintain high standards of cuisine. He 18) (was trained) in Paris a few years ago, and then 19) (workedat the Tour d'Argent. Since his arrival, he 20) (has created) a new menu and 21) (hired) a new maitre d'hotel to train the waiters. We 22) (had) a meal at the restaurant last night and 23) (think) the standards were excellent.
I thought about exams a lot at the last time