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14
Mar
The challenges of running a bed and breakfast in Harrogate
“There has been a bed and breakfast here since 1975, but I still hear people saying they didn’t know we're here”, Kim Wilson says.
Kim is the owner of The Camberley, a four-star B&B on Harrogate’s King’s Road.
She and her husband have run the site for years; rooms are often filled with tourists, wedding guests or visitors to the convention centre, which is directly opposite.
The Camberley’s long existence indicates success, but what goes into running a bed and breakfast – and what are the challenges both locally and nationally?
“I think [the hospitality industry] has an image problem”, Kim says.
There aren’t many people who say: ‘I want to run a hotel when I’m older’. If they do, people respond with: ‘Oh no, you don’t want to do that... it’s bad pay… antisocial hours’.
Kim feels the sector would benefit if hospitality careers – rather than part-time or temporary roles – were promoted to young people.
She said:
I think it’s almost seen as something you do on the side. It’s often an: ‘Oh, we’ve retired, so we’ve bought this property and we’re turning it into a B&B’ kind of thing. It’s seen as a bit of pocket money – that’s the impression I get, anyway.
But The Camberley is far from just “a bit of pocket money” for Kim and her husband, who look after a total of 27 rooms plus self-catering cottages.
'You've got to give people something different'
Kim says Harrogate’s hospitality sector accounts for around a third of jobs locally so it plays a vital economic role.
Many of her guests who come to Harrogate for conferences or just to visit the area “rarely leave without three bags of stuff”, she says, adding:
“I joke, but there was a nursing conference on just after Primark opened… I don’t think a single person left without four Primark carrier bags! It’s that kind of knock-on effect”.
She said:
You’ve got what I call discretionary spending. So, when there’s a conference, if each of those people spend £20 in town – and that’s a conservative estimate – with, say, 3,000 people at the conference, that’s a big chunk of change.
Despite the sums, Kim believes some people might not appreciate how crucial hospitality is in Harrogate:
I don’t think they do but I also appreciate as locals, you don’t really have a lot of need for accommodation. If you’re from Harrogate, you don’t necessarily notice the hotels here.
The Camberley in Harrogate
Kim feels it’s vital to ensure Harrogate's reputation as a premium tourist town is upheld so people are given an incentive to spend money in the town:
Harrogate’s competing with other locations for trade. You can’t just say: ‘Oh, it’s nice here, you should come’. You’ve got to give them something different or convenient – that’s what we have to be on top of.
Rate relief
The government announced plans in January for 15% rate relief for pubs and live music venues.
The move received a lukewarm response from local publicans, which you can read about here, but Kim told the Stray Ferret she feels the rest of the hospitality industry has been somewhat overlooked.
She said:
I think we’re viewed as micro-businesses – hobby businesses.
[The rate relief] would just give everyone a bit of breathing room.
Why does Kim think pubs and live music venues were given rates relief over other areas of the hospitality sector?
They’ve got a good trade union – they fight hard — but I think one of the biggest problems that pubs have is breweries charging too much rent.
I also feel as though the accommodation industry doesn’t lobby as strong as it could.
Marketing the town
The Stray Ferret asked Kim what she would like to see happen locally to help hoteliers and accommodation owners.
She said:
We could market Harrogate better. It’s a nice place and I think that’s one of the biggest weaknesses.
I was speaking to another guest who had come here and he told me: ‘We talk about coming back to Harrogate for a holiday but we never do.’ That’s the problem — we’re [Harrogate] not capitalising on them.
We’ve nearly got them at the finish line and then they just wander off somewhere.
Kim suggests better use of social media could drive repeat tourism to the town.
“Social media pop-ups saying: ‘come back’… there are ways of just giving them that extra push”, she added.
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