Hello all!

I can’t begin to explain how busy we have been over the Fringe festival! Our poor guides are exhausted lol!

The good news is that we were up on last year! I must admit that this has defiantly shocked a few of us, as I do think that the Fringe this year was much smaller than previous years.

We went into the half price hut again this year, but found we got very little business from it. They moved the location of the half price hut this year too, most of the time it was pretty dead when you walked past. I guess that’s a good thing for us though, it just meant that more customers were paying full price :-)

We are currently experiencing a turnover in staff. Many of our guides were only here on a temporary working visa. Each of the new guides seems to be doing very well. Today two of them have their tests, so if all goes well then they will be on the rota for next week.

The Historical tours are doing much better than imagined. They are running at a profit even out with the Fringe, so we are happy with the way that is going.

Any questions:

T: +44 (0)131 557 4700
Terri@auldreekietours.com 
www.auldreekietours.com

Hi again!

Things are going well here at Auld Reekie Tours. This recession seems to be doing great for Edinburgh’s tourism industry! With the pound being quite low in value, a lot of people are spending more money here in our fair city.

One trend we have noticed is that our tours during the week seem to be quite quiet however at the weekend things are manic! It looks like people are spending less money during the week but going all-out at the weekend.

Today we are getting an A4 stand in the tourist information office. It will be situated along the queuing barrier. Half of this will display Auld Reekie Tours and the other side will display Edinburgh Free Walking Tours. Hopefully this will work well for us, especially during the Fringe festival this year.

This week we should also be getting a spiral staircase put into the underground leading to the newly opened “Séance room”. Unfortunately we cannot use the stairs as planned due to legal height restrictions.

For Bookings:
T: +44 (0)131 557 4700
Terri@auldreekietours.com

What can I say? Happy New Year first of all! (I know we’re a little late). This month has just been so busy! As you all know we are going through a recession right now, so things are quiet and money is scarce but not here at Auld Reekie!  We are actually up 20% on last year which is fantastic for January! We have so much going on at the moment; brand new costumes are being made as I type, we’re recruiting new staff and we are refurbishing our Torture museum! Hopefully this is going to be a busy year for Auld Reekie Tours!

The vaults: Many woman (including female guides) have been complaining that when standing in the “Haunted vault” they have seen a short man holding a baby, standing on the men’s side of the room. The one good thing is (for the public, I guess) that the number of poltergeist attacks have dropped.

For Bookings:
T: +44 (0)131 557 4700
Terri@auldreekietours.com 

So this week we have really been concentrating on customer feedback.  

Customer feedback is essential to the running of Auld Reekie Tours, we need to know what you think of our guides and the atmosphere created in the underground? If we need to change something let us know!  We want to provide the public with the best entertainment possible.  We want to know if the mixture of paranormal and historical stories are right? What would you like to hear more of? What type of stories do you want to hear? Would you rather have the whole tour underground or keep it half above ground and half below?

Please let us know what you think.

For Bookings:
T: +44 (0)131 557 4700
Terri@auldreekietours.com

Today we have finally opened up a new section of our underground street. We are the only tour company in Edinburgh that has bought our vaults. We own the largest section of the underground city and it’s now open to the public! :-D

The wall we took down to gain access to the rest of the street, tours often said they heard scratching coming from the other side. Some people said they could hear a baby crying and children playing.

The vaults: Yesterday I got a phone call from a very distressed man. He told of how 8 months ago he and his girlfriend had been on one of our tours. He explained that as a sceptic, he stepped inside the store circle (located in the “old Pagan temple vault”) and felt nothing at all. He left the tour happy, however as soon as the couple left they have had non-stop bad luck! He said “It’s just been one thing after another!” The man described it was as if something was following them “sometimes you get the feeling that someone is standing behind you, only to turn around and find you’re there alone!“ The only advice we could give this poor man was; he should come back and meet with the witches that still practise in the underground. Maybe they can perform an exorcism? So I gave him their number and we should hear back from him soon.

There have been a few delays in the opening of Nicol Edwards. There are a few small technical problems that need fixed. So fingers crossed we will be open next week!

Tour times will be changing during winter so updates of those times will be on our website soon: www.auldreekietours.com

Hello alll!

Well that’s me back from my hols, so we will be trying to update this blog every few days.

So what have we been up to here at Auld Reekie’s? Well at the moment we are trying to get our "Green Award". We have switched all of our lighting to low energy bulbs; we now recycle our paper, plastic and cans. So we are trying to be much greener!  :-D

In December we will be looking to get 5 stars from "Visit Scotland".  Currently we have 2 stars but we are already making massive changes. So far we have had a huge turnover in staff. Our guides are being given a longer training period with 2 tests. All guides will have a member of staff on their tour once a month to check they still know their stories and that their conduct is professional.  Each guide has been given first aid training and knows what to do in an emergency.

So what’s been happening in the vaults? We have quite a few new guides and last week each said they heard heavy footsteps in the underground. The guides and tourists both believe it sounded like this person was carrying a bunch of keys. Some of our guides believe this could be the spirit of a man we call “The watcher”...?  This man was believed to be a night watchman when the vaults were used for storage.

Once again we love to hear from you! If anyone has any ghost stories of their own they would like to share please do comment! :-D

Terri

For Bookings:
T: +44 (0)131 557 4700
Terri@auldreekietours.
www.auldreekietours.com