Minotel members resign over diminishing financial returns

HOTELIERS who left independent hotel consortium Minotel last year were unhappy with what they saw as a lack of public awareness and poor financial returns.

Two weeks ago director Carl Les said Minotel did not lose any members last year (Caterer, 28 January, page 16). But in a subsequent letter he said he must have misunderstood the original question and admitted some members had resigned.

These included the 12-bedroom Tarbert hotel in Penzance, Cornwall, and the 12-bedroom Lydford House hotel in Lydford, Devon.

Julian Evans, owner of the Tarbert, paid an annual membership of £800 in 1990 and received £24,000 of business as a result. But by 1998 his annual net return on a membership fee of £2,000 was about £2,000, he said.

He added that a lot of Minotel's marketing effort was focused on selling tour packages that gave discount vouchers to guests, leading to a drop in achieved room rates. "We are not saying it is a bad system, but it did not suit us."

Ron Boulter, owner of Lydford House, said: "It was not providing a sufficient return. Minotel is not well known in the public eye."

Les said the consortium was trying to improve brand awareness. He added: "We do a lot of business in the tour operator market and it is inevitable when other people get involved they take a slice of the pie."