Guests hopeful for 2021 events as hotels see booking interest

Hotels are seeing booking interest around major UK events, suggesting guest optimism in the vaccine roll-out and reopening of the hospitality sector later in the year.

Occupancy in Glasgow is between 84% and 89% for early November around the UN Climate Change Conference, according to data from STR's Forward STAR solution. And although London levels are mostly below 10% for the year, this increases to 21% on 18 June, the day of the UEFA Euro group stage match between England and Scotland, and 15% on 2 October, the day before the London Marathon.

Steven Cote, STR's product manager for Forward STAR, said: "These numbers indicate the optimism for vaccine distribution, better control of the pandemic, and improved conditions for travel and events. Guest booking windows have shortened significantly during the pandemic, so there is plenty of potential for these levels to grow even higher as we get closer to the event dates. At the same time, unfortunately, more cancellations are also possible if the situation is not improved enough for these events to happen as planned."

Hotels in Cornwall told The Caterer they saw an uptick in web traffic and bookings after the announcement that Carbis Bay will host the G7 Summit this summer.

Photo: Shutterstock