NEWS

PROVEN MARKETING SYSTEM TO GET MORE DIRECT BOOKINGS

Cutting out the middleman and avoiding high OTA commissions is something that all luxury and boutique B&B owners are aiming for.Tourism and experience marketing expert, Sarah Orchard runs her own luxury treehouse rental, The Hudnalls Hideout, and has achieved an occupancy of 96% in the first year without paying a single penny in commission!

Sarah believes that she can help more owners get the right marketing approach and do the same, and she has created a brand new and unique online resource for tourism and hospitality owners called WWW.GET-FULLY-BOOKED.COM

Sign up to Sarah’s 7 day email-based free training course - THE FULLY BOOKED CHALLENGE - to get some instant tips to get you more direct bookings. Sign up for free at: https://get-fully-booked.com/challenge

Sarah Orchard

Sarah also offers a monthly subscription marketing club called THE FULLY BOOKED BUSINESS CLUB and at just £29 a month it equips B&B owners with the marketing skills, through live training workshops and support, and confidence to get more marketing done.

Using her own tried and tested system - The Customer D.E.L.I.G.H.T Marketing Blueprint® in an affordable and unique online training programme developed specifically for B&B businesses like yours at £149. One-time payment and unlimited access.

RETURNING TO HOSPITALITY IS 'A PRIORITY' FOR MANY CONSUMERS POST LOCKDOWN

4 in 5 consumers say they hope to return to a hospitality venue within a few weeks of them reopening, acording to research from CGA. (Material from Big Hospitality & CGA)

CGA's Hospitality Consumer Forecast 2021* shows that people are badly missing hospitality experiences. Just over three quarters of consumers (77%) are worried that life won't return to normal

this year and many don't expect the on-trade experience to return to normal for quite a while either.

Despite this, more than half of consumers (59%) say they can't wait to go out again.

According to the forecast, restaurants and cafes are most likely to receive the first wave of returning consumers. Nearly a third (32% and 31% respectively) of consumers plan to visit them in the first few weeks of reopening, just ahead of pubs and fast food venues (25%).

The CGA Forecast also shows that the most keenly anticipated occasion for 26% of consumers is catching up with friends, closely followed by family occasions (20%). The Forecast also highlights signs of growing confidence across many segments of the market.

Nearly three quarters, 73%, of late-night and nightclub users say that they would feel comfortable visiting these venues when allowed to do so, compared to 50% in June 2020. 72% of consumers say they would be comfortable visiting bars, up from 62% in June 2020.

*CGA Hospitality Consumer Forecast 2021 is based on a survey of a nationally representative sample of 3,000 on-trade consumers.

Source: BigHospitality.co.uk | CGA. co.uk

HOSPITALITY ASKS FOR A "SEAT AT THE TABLE"

By David Weston, Chairman of the Bed & Breakfast Association

You may have seen the #seatatthetable campaign recently (seatatthetable.org. uk) and its Petition asking for “a Minister for Hospitality”. The petition got well over 200,000 signatures. Why does hospitality want a dedicated Minister? In the two years pre-Covid, we had four ministers of Tourism. Over the last 10 years, we’ve had nine ministers. You wouldn’t run a whelk stall that way, would you?

Since I have been doing my job, I’ve had 12 tourism ministers to deal with. I’m still learning my job – so I don’t know how they can be expected to master theirs so quickly. Luckily the current Minister, Nigel Huddleston, is one of the best we’ve had. When David Cameron became PM, he rightly said that ministers should be in post longer. We then got John Penrose for an exceptional 2 years 4 months – her really started to learn about our sector - before he too was moved on.

David Weston, Chairman of the B&B Association

But then the good intentions went by the wayside and of the seven ministers since, only one (Tracey Crouch) lasted over 2 years. Two lasted only four months each. We really can’t go on like this, can we? The Minster for Tourism also has two other portfolios dividing his time: heritage and sport. And hospitality is split between that role at DCMS, and another within the business department (BEIS) that covers pubs and restaurants.

For a £130 billion sector which is the UK’s third largest employer (3m jobs directly and 1.8m more indirectly) and contributes £38 billion in Government tax revenues, one might expect a dedicated department. But tourism isn’t even in the name of DCMS – the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It was labelled “the department of fun” by David Mellor when it was created – and insiders know that it has always been viewed within Government as a second rank department. That doesn’t help.

Hence the petition – which was debated in Parliament on 11 January. MPs including Catherine McKinnell (MP for Newcastle; who led the debate) unanimously spoke in favour of increased support for the industry - and many supported the motion for a Minister for Hospitality. The vote, however, was merely to note that MPs had “considered” the petition. Ms McKinnell then urged Paul Scully (Minister for Small Business at BEIS) to put the request for a dedicated minister to 10 Downing Street. Don’t hold your breath…

The Bed & Breakfast Association is the UK trade association for B&B, guest house and independent hotel owners, and exists to inform, support & represent owners. Membership costs £60 a year. The Association is a non-profit organization with no shareholders, dedicated solely to the