Letters

All quiet on the West End front?

There has been much talk about residents within the "stress areas" of London's Westminster (Caterer, 14 September, page 29). It is a ludicrous situation when people buying residential accommodation within, say, Soho and Covent Garden, complain about disturbances from restaurants and leisure facilities in these areas.

There have always been such activities here in the past and, in fact, in Soho in particular these areas have been cleaned up and the residents have benefited.

The safety elements of the restaurants, bars and clubs in respect of numbers of people, fire escapes, etc, have been also improved to the benefit of local residents.

Residents must appreciate that these areas have always been designated to night-time activity and for them to suddenly argue that they want peace and quiet in the capital is ludicrous.

If Ken Livingstone gets his way and parties are penalised for entering central London and local government gains extra power with regard to planning and licensing, the enormous amount of work that has taken place over the past years in bringing London into line with other capitals could have been wasted.

My recommendation would be that restaurants and clubs that have late licences pay an additional amount to help support the policing of these areas, which will benefit residents but will also allow venues to continue trading.

There could be a certain amount for the hour between midnight to 1am, a greater figure from the hour of 1am until 2am and greater still for 2am to 3am.

I believe that operators wanting a late licence would be prepared to pay for this.

However, if anyone holding a late licence does not monitor their premises properly and legally they should rightfully lose their licence. In those circumstances, I believe the local authority should be very tough.

Trevor Shelley, Shelley Sandzer & Company, London, W1.

Overpricing is also to blame for Scots ‘summer crisis'

Scottish hoteliers may put the blame on their tourist board for the "summer of crisis" (Caterer, 28 September, page 4) but they should be prepared to face facts and shoulder some of the responsibility themselves.

For example, Edinburgh is a wonderful city, and anyone who visits it in August should expect to pay premium rates.

However, having just attempted to book a three-night stay for next year during the festival, I was horrified to be quoted a room rate of £167 per night excluding breakfast. This, I must add, is not for four- or five-star luxury, but for a hotel whose only real plus point is it's prime location.

When will it sink in that overpricing will eventually hammer the nail into the coffin of the UK tourist industry? As long as this goes unchecked, the migration to warmer climes, with cheaper deals, will continue to prosper at the expense of holiday destinations closer to home.

Christine Woodward, St Helens.

Hotel brands have so much to offer

I was fascinated by the PKF Forum motion "Major branded hotel groups will never rival the individual unbranded hotel for quality of service, value for money and customer satisfaction" (Caterer, 5 October, page 18).

I would argue that individual or independent does not automatically mean good, and I wonder what those colleagues who expressed this opinion would say if they were to thoroughly inspect some unbranded hotels. I would bet that in a number of them staff conditions would be found to be much worse than in most of those hotels defined as "branded hotel groups".

I would also challenge the question of staff remuneration, taking into account pensions, benefits, time off, holidays, pay for extra hours, staff facilities, discounts, training, promotion opportunities and a number of important issues that contribute to staff wellbeing.

The reality is that our industry, branded or unbranded hotels, has much room for improvement. We need to organise ourselves more efficiently, be more productive and above all improve conditions for our staff. I completely agree with Forbes Mutch's summary that independent hoteliers should be taking note of training and other advantageous schemes for the staff that international hotel companies provide.

The large, branded hotel companies, on the other hand, need to understand that, although the objective of any business is to make profits, the way profits are made is as important for the long-term good of the company as the profit itself.

Ramon Pajares, Como Hotels & Investments, London W1.

Industry can learn from Eastwood's showdown

There are lessons for UK hoteliers in Clint Eastwood's experience with Diane Zum Brunnen at the Mission Ranch (Caterer, 5 October, page 8), even if US laws are not exactly the same.

Having assessed the operation, the US jury only required the ranch to make reasonable adjustment. It is clear that, even with more onerous legislation, the provision of a totally accessible environment is not essential.

Hoteliers should recognise that they have a duty to assess the service and facilities they provide under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

But they should not be frightened by this. If they have concerns, then help is available from many areas. The Tourism for All Consortium works for accessible mainstream tourism in the UK and can provide advice through its network of members. An example of this is a booklet called Tourism and the DDA. For further information please write to TFAC, c/o 50 Scrutton Street, London, EC2A 4XQ.

Stephen Springer, General Manager, Grooms Holidays, Glamorgan.