Former Celtic football player to renovate hotel
AA and VisitEngland fail to reach contract agreement
No London hotel disruption after Westminster attack
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CELEBS
Former Celtic football player to renovate hotel
Former Celtic football player , Harry Hood , is preparing to invest in the renovation of the Angels Hotel in Uddington .
Utilising his £ 8m profits from his pub company , The Lisini Pub Group , Hood hopes to speed up the restoration project of the hotel which has suffered a series of setbacks since it closed for refurbishments last year .
Hood , who played for Celtic , Scotland and Rangers in the 70s , put £ 750,000 into renovating the Angels Hotel . Whilst developments are not complete , the restaurant and lounge areas were due to open on 6 April .
Siobhan Edwards , director at Angels Hotel , said : “ As a family-run business , who are dedicated to our customers and the preservation of this old building in the area , we wanted to make sure this place was around for another 100 years to come .
“ It is a difficult building to transform , with it being built in 1906 , and has brought about its challenges but we are getting there now .”
The rest of the Angels Hotel is due to be reopened at the end of April .
Britain is offering great value for overseas visitors and we can see the success of our promotions in international markets . We must continue to build on our message of welcome and value in our high spending markets such as China , the US and the valuable European market .
Patricia Yates , director of VisitBritain
TRADE BODY
AA and VisitEngland fail to reach contract agreement
Doubts have been raised after the AA and VisitEngland failed to reach an agreement on its contract by the 1 April deadline .
AA was due to operate VisitEngland ’ s quality assessment and star rating scheme , but the two have yet to sign off the deal due to details of the contract .
VisitEngland ’ s National Quality Assessment Scheme was previously handled by Quality in Tourism , a company under G4S . The contract came to an end on 31 March allowing for the AA to takeover under a threeyear contract .
Negotiations are underway to resolve the issues of the deal .
Helen Brocklehurst , head of publishing and digital at the AA , told The Caterer : “[ This ] means that the management of the scheme has reverted to VisitEngland .
“ The AA is still working closely with VisitEngland on the details of the contract and we need some time to conclude .”
A spokesperson from VisitEngland told the publication : “ We are into the detail of the contract and need some time to conclude and for lawyers to review . We are in touch with all the affected staff and hope to resolve this in the next couple of weeks . “ Scheme members should see no difference in the day-to-day management of the schemes - renewals and assessment visits will continue as usual .”
TERRORISM
No London hotel disruption after Westminster attack
There has been no evidence of a performance decline for London ’ s hotel industry following the terrorist attack in the city on 22 March .
Four people died in the Westminster attack including Aysha Frade , 44 , who worked at a London sixthform college ; American tourist Kurt Cochran , 54 , from Utah ; retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes , 75 , from south London ; and father-of-two PC Keith Palmer , 48 .
An analysis of daily data from 22 to 28 March by hotel benchmarking firm STR , found occupancy levels in the capital remained in line with typical March performance patterns .
Further , during the days following the event , the market recorded significant year-over-year growth in both occupancy and average daily rate ( ADR ).
Three days after the attack , London ’ s actual occupancy level was 86.4 %, while ADR reached £ 147.32 - a 22.6 % increase compared with the same day in 2016 . The highest occupancy level during the days following the attack was 88.2 % on 28 March ), roughly the same level as the night of the attack .
The lack of performance disruption in London differed from the situations around other recent attacks . Within four days of the 14 July Bastille Day attack , Nice ’ s daily occupancy dropped from 94.6 % to 72.8 %.
Thomas Emanuel , director at STR , said the way a hotel market reacts to an attack depends on its “ severity ”.
“ Of course , any time innocent lives are lost or people are injured , it ’ s tragic . But this most recent attack in London and even the December attack in Berlin have not had much of an impact on hotel performance ,” he said .
6 www . hotelowner . co . uk May 2017