Business is back up and running but still very fragile. While some spacious properties have returned to near-full capacity and are booked through to the end of season, they seem to be the exceptions.
Lakes Edge in Herefordshire is one such business, and we speak to general manager of the luxury holiday cottages Janet Taylor Martin (page 6). Within days of reopening, their rooms were filled to the end of August and beyond.
By contrast many B&Bs have encountered a dramatic drop in occupancy. For example, The Reading Rooms in Margate is down by 17 rooms a week to just four (page 13). And while some 89% of inns had reopened by the end of July, 60% are barely breaking even, and industry bodies are calling out for more government financial assistance (page 4).
But the fact is that business is open again after those seemingly endless three months of lockdown when the only business B&Bs were making for example came from essential workers requiring overnight accommodation.
