�My job is to travel all over the world. My friends say I am in the profession of dreams. They believe I don�t have a job. And my daughters, till they were six, thought that I owned all the hotels!� His travels take him around the world. To places that are romantic hideaways, heritage houses, island resorts, castles and palaces, lodges, country estates and halls, health clubs and spas, plantation houses, inns, manors, mansions, beach clubs, game reserves, apartment blocks and small hotels. These could be anywhere from Africa and Mauritius and Asia and the Far East to Central and South America and UK and Ireland.

BRIAN D. MILLS has one of the most exciting jobs in the world. At least that�s what his friends think. As joint managing director of Small Luxury Hotels Of The World Limited (SLH), he is often travelling; and, naturally enough, his travels take him around the world. To places that are romantic hideaways, heritage houses, island resorts, castles and palaces, lodges, country estates and halls, health clubs and spas, plantation houses, inns, manors, mansions, beach clubs, game reserves, apartment blocks, and, well, simple small hotels. These could be anywhere from Africa and Mauritius and Asia and the Far East to Central and South America and UK and Ireland.

His organisation, which is more of a personal service, has 290 small hotels of the world as its members. And these hotels don�t pay to become members. They have to qualify, and then requalify, by keeping up their standards and facing upto an SLH inspection every two years or even more often. Brian himself does not like to specify what kind of place he would rather stay at, though he prefers the freedom of open spaces to the sophistication of a city. Which means, Brian likes resorts better, they offer the ultimate luxury in terms of space and time. �And don�t go asking whether I have a favourite resort, there is no No. 1 and No. 2,� he said with a slow smile.

He�s been in the hotel business for 25 years. He started in England with the Grand Metropolitan Hotels, a big company, and spent eight years with the InterContinental before going on to work for the company that owned the Ritz. Cunnard Shipping Lines, which owns several hotels. Then ten years ago, he started working on management to specialise in luxury hotels and other divisions. He was looking at a niche sector for independently owned and operated hotels which did not want to be part of a big brand. What followed was Hill Goodridge & Associates, a management company, which manages and markets SLH. It is a global company with offices in UK, Spain, Australia and US which provides the complete infrastructure of staff and offices to operate all aspects of a daily business.

How does SLH operate? A small hotel becomes a member after it has satisfied SLH of its standards and facilities and then gets put onto SLH�s informations and reservations network that is equal to that of any major hotel. This makes an SLH member accessible no matter what hidden corner of paradise it might be in. The SLH website (www.slh.com) to making a booking and confirmation is as simple as a keystroke on the computer. It also provides daily updated information on the members and a fast track reservation button. Plus, a reservation service that links up with airline GDS (global distribution systems) and makes bookings easy. The SLH brand links hotels with substance together. And they all get put together in a little green book of wonderful dreams that serves as an appetiser and creates a brand image for the hotel so that guests may book through them with confidence.

Indulging guests, the SLH�s directory says, is the mainstay of its business. So the maintenance of excellence in standards of service, comfort and luxury is of prime concern. Any hotel that is a member of the SLH then has to face up to an invisible inspection process in which an SLH couple spend three nights in a property and makes full use of all its facilities, then fills in a 500 point questionnaire on the hotel, pays their bill and departs. Nobody knows who they are. The SLH inspectors are ordinary guests who are fitted out with all that is needed to carry out an inspection, whose expenses are paid, and who 99 per cent of the time come up with a good report on the hotel they have stayed at.

What happens to the one per cent that gets a bad report? �If there are lots of similar complaints of standards falling or even if the hotel is sold and the new owner is not a hotelier, SLH recalls the membership and lets go of the hotel,� said Brian. �But generally SLH discusses the matter with the hotel and asks it what it wants to do. If the hotel wants to part as friends, we agree. Or if it agrees to make amends. we give it a time frame, fix a probationary space, and then conduct another inspection. If a complaint is genuine, we take care of it. Something will happen. The SLH provides its customers with an experience that is personal and special by using the opportunity provided by technology to gather information on the customer himself and use it. If you know what you are looking for, you are sure to find it in the SLH directory and, when you get there, you will discover a most fulfiling experience.�

Like, somebody might go onto the SLH website and say, �I am disabled, which hotels suite me?� Or, �Is there a hotel of my choice near a golf course?� And the website (and even the SLH directory) will not only provide you with the name and address of the hotel you are seeking, but also its proprietor�s/general manager�s name and details, room rates, facilities, attractions, a picture of the hotel, and offer to make the reservation for you. �My job is to travel all over the world,� said Brian. �My friends say I am in the profession of dreams. They believe I don�t have a job. And my daughters, till they were six, thought that I owned all the hotels in the world!�