The bosses of Bristol’s top hotels are calling for more government support to secure their long-term future after a new forecast showing their revenues are likely to be slashed in half this year.
With the furlough scheme set to end next month, and new restrictions such as the ‘rule of six’ presenting additional challenges, members of the Bristol Hoteliers Association (BHA) say the government must step in to help the beleaguered hospitality sector. 
Last month the BHA, which represents 40 establishments in and around the city, was confident the industry could bounce back as all but a handful of the city’s hotels reopened.
Room occupancy rates were running at around a healthy two-thirds last month, staff were being brought back from furlough and bookings were described as ‘promising’.
But now the BHA says the latest lockdown measures introduced earlier this week have dealt the industry a severe blow.
With few conferences and wedding attendances severely restricted, plus the end of the school holidays ending August’s staycation mini-boom, the BHA is forecasting overall business this year is likely to be half of 2019’s – or even less.
BHA chair Raphael Herzog, pictured, said weddings and conferences were an important source of income for many hotels, but they had now been hugely affected by the limit of no more than 30 attendees.
“We need the government to allow more people to attend weddings and conferences. This would provide a huge boost to our ability to continue to operate and would give event organisers more confidence to make bookings, whereas at the moment they are reluctant to commit because there are so many restrictions,” he said. 
“We have made significant investments and implemented many procedures to make our hotels safe for guests.
“We need to get larger events and increased numbers of people through our doors.
“Pilot events are being tested in some hotels and events spaces across the country, but we need the government to speed up this process and increase the numbers we are allowed with some urgency.”
He hit out at restrictions that meant delegates could attend a socially distanced meeting during the day but were then not allowed to have a dinner together.
“A meeting for 30 people is OK under the current restrictions, but not a dinner not – other than for a wedding.
“So, 30 people can come to our hotels for a meeting, but we can’t host a social dinner for a birthday or wedding anniversary in a private room. People will be restricted to tables of six in our restaurants,” he added.
“With restrictions on the number of people who can attended events, it’s very difficult for us to resume business properly and the end of the furlough scheme will only make it harder for businesses to balance the books.
“Unemployment has already increased massively this month and when furlough ends next month, this number is only likely to go up.”
He pointed out that Germany had extended its furlough scheme to next March while France had singled out tourism and other sectors for an extended furlough scheme until the middle of next year to help keep people in work and provide some longer-term support and stability for struggling businesses.
“Here, the hospitality sector will have benefited from it between April and October – which has been great in the short term – but we needed longer-term support and solutions.
“Hotels are far from operating at the same level as last year and the scheme is ending. Other industries have benefitted from it fully during lockdown but are back on track and reaching almost same level as last year so why not offer more support to our industry until we recover?”
“The eat-out-to-help-out scheme, the business rates holidays and the reduction in VAT have also been beneficial to many businesses, and we’re grateful for them.
“But ultimately, they are only temporary measures. We need the government to commit to providing some longer-term support in order to enable us to keep our businesses running and to help the economy recover from this crisis.”
Mr Herzog also said the Christmas period – traditionally another good source of income for hotels – was likely to be badly affected by the impact of the pandemic.
“We suspect the traditional corporate parties won’t happen, because not only might there still be social-distancing restrictions and no dancing, but also many companies simply won’t have the same budgets available that they’ve had in the past.
“Hotels are going to have to think outside the box when it comes to Christmas and see what we will be able to offer in a safe way.”
