SME Focus: Born optimist David Webster makes it clear he has no regrets about expanding his hotel business as the downturn gathered pace last year.

With the benchmark FTSE-100 index recording a series of daily increases last week, there were signs that hard-bitten City fund managers were starting to believe that the green shoots of recovery may be evident. News on Wednesday that the decline in the UK's key service sector slowed dramatically in April reinforced such hopes. While there may be some way to go before the expected economic recovery is firmly established, businesses in sectors like leisure may at least have reason to feel that the outlook is getting less grim than it was in the first quarter. Hotel operators who have survived the last 18 months should be able to look forward to a summer in which demand is reinforced by the weakness of the pound and the lingering reluctance of UK consumers to make expensive trips overseas. In this week's SME Focus a born optimist makes it clear he has no regrets about expanding his hotel business as the downturn gathered pace last year.

Name: David Webster

Age: 48

What is your business called? Webster Hotels, which I run with my wife, Verity.

Where is it based? Castleton near Glamis Castle in Angus is our main nerve centre, where we have built our own house in the 10 acres of grounds that came with the hotel. We also have the Lands of Loyal at Alyth near Blairgowrie and Raemoir House Hotel on Royal Deeside.

What does it produce; what services does it offer? We are an independently owned group of three hotels. We pride ourselves on our attention to detail, on our customer focus and our food. One of the things we have been keen to establish over the years since we opened our first hotel Castleton in July 2000 is home-grown produce and locally sourced ingredients. I know a lot of people talk about this now but we really strive for the field-to-fork experience and I think this is why we were awarded an EatScotland Gold Award. Examples of this include our smallholding at Castleton, where we have set aside land for keeping pigs, cattle and sheep. The rare Tamworth pigs that we rear are bred purely for the restaurant table. We also have an orchard which we established ourselves using some of the UK's rarer old-established varieties of apple, such as Ellison's Orange and Laxton's Superb.

Who does it sell to? UK and overseas - specifically in Russia, the Emirates and North America. The internet has given us more business over the past couple of years. Our key markets tend to be couples, local diners in the surrounding area and also conferences and weddings.

What is its turnover? £3m. We only bought our third hotel, Lands of Loyal, last August so 2009 will be a full year of trading for all three. We were delighted with sales year-on-year for 2008, which was one of our busiest years despite the gloomy economic climate.

How many employees? 74, which includes reception, front of house, senior managers, housekeeping, groundsmen and estate managers.

When was it formed? July 2000. I was in the hotel industry before then and when Verity and I met we worked together as business partners firstly then romance blossomed from there.

Why did you take the plunge? Because we had the opportunity to make our own money rather than make money for someone else and also I was getting quite tired of being told what to do when I had pretty definite ideas about how I felt customer service should be myself, and we wanted to take this forward into a joint venture ourselves. We recognised that both of us had different skill sets which could possibly make a very successful business. I was a hotel consultant but I was getting very frustrated with that area of business because most of the time the people who I was consulting to had the wrong people in the wrong jobs but were not willing to change that, and it's massively frustrating when that happens. But that's the thing about consultancy - it's not your business, you don't take ownership for what you're saying, and it's frustrating when the advice you give isn't adopted.

What were you doing before you took the plunge? I had what Verity would term an illustrious career in management at some of the most prestigious hotels in Britain. My career spans 20 years in the catering industry and has included spells working at prominent hotels in London and Scotland. This involved serving royalty and working with the doyen of boutique hotel style, Anouska Hempel. I am particularly proud to have been house manager at Claridge's when it was named one of the top 10 hotels in the world.

How did you raise the start-up funding? The company is fully supported by directors' loans from myself and Verity, so we are in an extremely comfortable position on that front. Sometimes we feel that maybe we could be more adventurous on other larger projects by going to a bank, but it's nice to sleep at night. So we have always been self-funding.

What was your biggest break? Turning up at the Savoy training centre in London without an appointment and asking for a position on their management training scheme. I was certainly put in my place then and told I was very naughty to turn up without an appointment, but they were impressed with my initiative and I won one of only 14 trainee management positions that year. I was absolutely delighted because it was the only hotel group I really wanted to work for.

What has been your worst moment? When we took over Castleton, which had been closed for 11 months previously, and we were then hit with the foot-and-mouth epidemic. This meant that big bales of disinfected straw had to go at the bottom of the private drive running up to the hotel and because we were so close to a farm the situation obviously had a huge affect on our business. However, it focused our attention on to local marketing and we got through that period by working more closely with the local community.

What do you most enjoy about running the business? Working with our management team across the three hotels. I find their enthusiasm infectious and they are all a joy to work with. Also working alongside Verity, who I also consider my best friend, is a very special experience and I think her caring nature - she used to be a nurse - is ideally suited to this industry. She has also single-handedly designed the decor of our properties.

What do you least enjoy? Admin. I absolutely hate it. I see it as a necessity but I don't find it creative and if you are driving forward a business you have to get up in the morning and think, "how do I make my businesses more profitable and successful?", and admin just really gets in the way.

What is your biggest bugbear? The endless sales calls that any business has to fend off.

What are your ambitions for the firm? After buying our third hotel in August, we launched Webster Hotels as a group rather than three individually-owned hotels. This year we are marketing the company as a whole and we are looking forward to taking the group to the next stage. We are looking at dynamic packaging and group bookings, as well as working with major bodies on events like Homecoming in 2009. We will be continuing to promote our brand and looking for further profitable challenges which will secure the group in the years to come.

What are your top priorities? To profit through excellence; to develop our team; increase the awareness of our properties in the market place and what differentiates them. Also, I really feel we need to raise the awareness of the hospitality industry and I would love more input from the relevant bodies to do this. We had a visit from Kirkcaldy High School (Gordon Brown's old school) recently and the children really enjoyed it. They didn't realise the range of opportunities within the hospitality industry that they could get involved with.

What could the Westminster Government and/or the Scottish Government do that would most help? Cut red tape and bureaucracy, which impedes businesses in moving forward and implementing new ideas.

What has been the most valuable lesson you've learned? You're only as good as the people around you and you probably also get the people you deserve.

How do you relax? Although Verity and I work together on a daily basis it's actually really nice to have special time together when we get time to sit down and talk, cook together and enjoy a glass of wine and enjoy the simple things in life. I also enjoy my golf and watching my children play sports.