Elsa watches her family become more and more disheartened and down-trodden as they are forced to live in one room and stigmatised due to their status, and tries to help by making jokes, but this is not usually appreciated.

Elsa joins the local school but doesn't like it and sometimes bunks off with Funny-Face, a boy at the hotel who she grudgingly becomes friends with.

Elsa also grows close to a girl called Naomi, who later gets the Royal Hotel in trouble because of a TV interview which was arranged by Mack.

Because of the damage caused by the fire, Elsa and her family temporarily move into "The Star Hotel", a very well-managed place.

Due to her age, she often misses the point in Elsa's jokes, can't remember the words (let alone the tune) to any song and can only slam-dance.

He spends a lot of his time in the betting shop to earn money for the family, which suggests he could have an underlying gambling addiction.

Naomi - Elsa's first friend at the Royal, she loves reading scary vampire books under the guise of the dust-jacket of Little Women.

Mrs "Hoover" McPherson - The cleaner who doesn't share the manager's and receptionist's attitude to and likes Elsa and Pippa because they help housework and are polite and chatty.

The Switchboard - A woman who isn't very helpful (thus sharing the attitude to guests of the manager and the receptionist, although she is more polite) and enjoys Jackie Collins and sweets.