A game of two halves
The day after the draw for the European Championship was made last December, all hell broke loose. Telephones and fax lines to Birmingham's main hotels were almost ringing off the hook as operators tried to secure room allocations. Capacity for duration of the matches throughout June was sewn up within days.
"It was wonderful for us that the draw was held in Birmingham," recalls Swallow Hotel sales manager Sue Keedwell. "The city was crawling with travel agents. They wrapped up capacity in two days."
The 98-bedroom Swallow (the only five-star hotel in Birmingham) secured a 50-room-a-night allocation from Kuoni Travel. "With only 98 rooms, we had to be careful about keeping space for the bread-and-butter business that stays with us all the time," says Keedwell.
About 25% of rooms at the city's 212-bedroom Copthorne Hotel have been allocated to Euro '96 business but, according to sales development manager Helen Relihan, that could well rise to 90% when one of the quarter-final matches is held in the city.
Hosting the draw was itself a godsend for the city in what would usually be a quiet month. But there was a double bonus when the result was announced: Birmingham, in combination with London, was nominated as the venue for the group of teams that includes England, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Scotland. Though England as the host nation will play all its matches at its home ground, Wembley in London, the three other teams are expected to attract huge numbers of supporters.
The 31 games in the tournament will be played at venues in eight cities, - London, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield - and the spin-off business from Euro '96 will be spread far and wide.
However, hoteliers in some cities will almost certainly fare better than others. Manchester, which is hosting the German team and its army of supporters, will attract more business than Sheffield, which is hosting Croatia, because more German fans have the desire and, more importantly, the resources to fund a trip to see their team in action.
Chris Allcoat, general manager of the Hilton National in Leeds and chairman of the Leeds Hotel Association, is less bullish than his Birmingham colleagues about the prospects for his city, which is twinned with Newcastle in hosting Spain, Bulgaria, Romania and France.
"In June, occupancy is normally about the 65% mark. It may put on 3-4 points of occupancy, but not 10 points. There is still space available," he says.
The same is true in Liverpool - which together with Manchester is hosting the teams from Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and Russia. Gary Bickley, general manager of Liverpool's Atlantic Towers hotel and chairman of the city's hotel association, admits there has been a slow start to Euro '96 bookings. Business is picking up now though, and he expects the city to be full by the end of April.
About 75% of the 226-bedroom Atlantic Towers will be filled by tournament business. "Last June, the hotel had 62% occupancy so it's not a quiet month, but this is the icing on the cake. We should achieve 87-92% occupancy for the whole month," he says.
In contrast, Manchester's mood has been upbeat from the start. The city, like Birmingham, hopes to be used not only by visitors supporting its resident guest teams, but also by those attending matches in surrounding areas such as Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield.
Birmingham, because of its central location, expects to be used as a base for people travelling to Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham to see games.
General manager at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, Shaun McCarthy, who is also chairman of the Manchester Association of Tourism and Conference Hotels, expects average occupancy for the city during the games to be 85-90%, compared with about 70% last year.
Leeds achieved a coup by netting business from the Danish team, even though Denmark - the reigning European champions - are playing in Sheffield, which also hosts Portugal, Turkey and Croatia.
The squad is staying at the 108-bedroom Weetwood Hall Hotel, owned by the University of Leeds. Having one of the teams to stay is a great business booster, despite the headaches involved in keeping dedicated supporters and the media away.
Other hotels to benefit from booking international squads include the 48-bedroom three-star Chimney House Hotel in Sandbach, Cheshire, which is playing host to the Italians.
The Russians have also opted for a three-star property, the 47-bedroom Wrightington Hotel in Lancashire; while a huge Spanish contingent is taking over most of the 152 bedrooms at De Vere Hotels' five-star property at Oulton Hall in Leeds.
According to general manager Michael Thaw, the hotel has been careful to reserve space for regular clients who provide business all year round.
It is an approach common to most of the properties taking Euro '96 business. Despite the fact that reservations for the tournament are coming in at rack rate, hoteliers cannot afford to upset loyal clients for the sake of a three-week event.
The attitude is summed up by chairman of Newcastle and District's Hotel Managers Association, Dominic McVey, who is general manager of the city's 166-bedroom Forte Crest. "We are very conscious of not upsetting our corporate business. I don't believe in taking a short-term profit and then losing out in the long-term."
Meanwhile, the issue of rates being charged for Euro '96 is a sensitive one. Hoteliers are still smarting from the Football Association's (FA) claim in February that some hotels are doubling, sometimes trebling, prices.
The FA's statement prompted an immediate rebuttal from the British Incoming Tour Operators Association which found that while hoteliers were not offering the usual discounts, they were sticking to published rack rates.
However, another FA charge - that hoteliers are demanding long-stay bookings - is confirmed by the hoteliers themselves.
A number are upfront in saying that when it comes to taking reservations for Euro '96, they are holding out for the five-night stays rather than one- or two-night bookings.
To that end, groups of officials, media personnel and corporate hospitality groups who want to stay for the duration of the tournament - rather than for individual matches - have been favoured above groups of fans who will check-out as soon as the match whistle blows and their team disappears off the pitch.
