Downtown Monthly
Standing Together I started a new role as Director of Sales & Marketing in Pullman Liverpool in August 2020, which was a very strange time to start a new Sales role in hospitality, but after having gone through redundancy for my previous role, I was so excited and happy to be back doing what I loved! In August, we had a great month mostly around leisure, and again September another great month, far better than expected before reopening, and finishing on 47% occupancy! We started to see an increase for small meetings wanting to take place in the coming months; and a lot of the business was coming in, in the month or pick up just a few days before, as people were too nervous to make plans too far in advance. However, we then get to October, and the new local restrictions are put in place, and we see a mass amount of cancellations, from both accommodation and small meetings, and pick up has now slowed right down for us, and a lot of the hospitality sector in Liverpool.
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Words by:
Sarah Kelly Director of Sales & Marketing Pullman Liverpool
We have made the decision to not yet open our restaurant after lockdown, due to our location, and being on site with ECL, ACC & M&S Bank Arena, which is still unfortunately shut!
businesses not just in hospitality, but also from marketing, food suppliers, linen suppliers and much more, then not to mention the effect this will have on people’s mental health!
It is heart-breaking to see what this virus is doing to our industry, but then infuriating that the government put these restrictions and local lockdowns on us, when in fact the spread is only 5% in our industry. I honestly feel that hospitality has taken the new rules, laws and restrictions in their stride. We have followed everything, and are now one of the safest places to be.
We all understand there is a long road ahead of recovery, but we felt like in September we were on the right track, now this feels like all our hard work had gone to waste.
I feel the media is playing a big part in the effects on hospitality, the fact that we hear about what the government will do next from social media, or in the paper is ridiculous! We do not want another furlough scheme, we want to do our jobs, and run our businesses safely. Further lock down is the last thing we need. The worrying effects this would have on
We want to stand together as Liverpool to show we are Covid Safe and stop the scaremongering. Liverpool runs on Hospitality and Culture, and we are seeing this slowly be ruined every day!
