Some travel agents in Harrogate are refusing to take bookings for July and August until the government clears up its “vague” guidance around travel.
The current guidance advises British nationals against all but essential international travel but booking ahead is permitted. Travel agents are expecting an announcement around “travel bubbles” to countries such as Spain and France this week.
However, one Harrogate travel agent who didn’t wish to be named said even if the government says it’s safe to travel he won’t be accepting bookings for July and August. He said he does not believe travellers will be properly covered by insurance because travel rules could change again.
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Ben Poole launched his first own travel agency, The Travel Journal, in January. He missed out on the government’s support grant for businesses and spent March and April dealing with refunds and re-bookings. He’s now having to turn customers away at what should be the most profitable time of the year.
He told the Stray Ferret that the government’s expected announcement for “travel bubbles” should give insurance companies the confidence to offer protection. But he doesn’t expect there to be a rush of bookings and said most holidaymakers are looking ahead to Christmas and the new year.
He said:
“Morally, people are asking if it’s right to go now with what’s going on in the world. A customer is going to Greece in September. He says he feels crazy for wanting to go.”
Keith Butterfield owns Number One Travel in Harrogate and also has concerns about travel insurance. He told the Stray Ferret he won’t be taking any immediate bookings until the situation is cleared up.
He said:
Fountains Abbey’s gentle re-awakening after lockdown“We’ve been advising people against booking for July until we know what the situation is.
“If we book a holiday now and it’s subsequently cancelled then we have the problem of getting the refund to them. We’d be out of pocket but people would have looked forward to their holiday and then they can’t have it.”
“We’re eager to book holidays but we don’t want our customers travelling abroad then finding they’re not covered by insurance. If flights are cancelled then there’ll be disappointed.”
Fountains Abbey, the UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the National Trust’s leading attractions, is having a gentle re-awakening with a limit of 1,000 visitors a day allowed to visit the abbey ruins, parkland and Studley Royal water garden.
Since re-opening on 8th June, people have been able to pre-book on a Friday for a visit in the following week and the popularity of the site has seen it quickly booked up for all of the days that it has been open so far.
Entry is via the visitors centre from 10am until 4pm, with the site closing at 5pm.
A National Trust spokesperson said:
“We knew that once we started a gradual opening of our gardens and parklands, tickets for our places would be very popular; particularly with such fine weather. We’ve made careful decisions about which gardens and parklands can open, and we have limited their capacity to ensure everyone can adhere to social distancing to maintain the safety of our visitors, staff and volunteers, which remains our top priority.”
The spokesperson, added:
“We are so thankful that our members and supporters have stood by us as we work through these unprecedented times, and we ask for their continued support as we make this gradual transition a success so we can get back to offering nature, beauty and history for everyone.”
Further changes to social distancing announced by the government on Monday, have meant the National Trust is able to take bookings once more for the 14 holiday cottages and houses located on the Fountains estate.
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The abbey was founded by Cistercian monks in the 12th century. Following the dissolution of the monasteries ordered by Henry VIII, the site became the largest monastic ruins in Britain.
The Studley Royal water garden, with the river Skell running through it, was created in the 18th century by John Aislabie, – a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was expelled from the Whig Parliament in 1720 for his part in the South Sea Bubble financial scandal.
Brimham Rocks, the other National Trust owned property in the Harrogate district is now open daily from 8am until 9pm, although there is limited space available in the car park and the trust advises those who cannot find a parking space, to return at another time and not park on the roadside, to avoid blocking access for emergency vehicles.
Harrogate hotel group leader warns of ‘carnage’ ahead
The closure of the St George Hotel is symptomatic of the huge challenges facing the hospitality industry, according to the leader of the group representing the largest hotels in the Harrogate district.
Peter Banks, chairman of Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism Association, told The Stray Ferret: “They will be the first of many in the country. It’s going to be carnage. The high street will be changed for good.”
With Harrogate Convention Centre still set up as a Nightingale hospital and remaining on stand-by for an indefinite period, Mr Banks, who is general manager at Rudding Park, said there is a large question mark hanging over the viability of the industry in the district.
“What about all the bedrooms that go hand-in-hand with the convention centre? If it’s a hospital for a year, all of those big shows won’t be going on and all their attendees and delegates will not be staying in the hotel bedrooms.
“Only about three per cent of the bedrooms I sell are related to the convention centre, but there are other hotels that are much more like 30, 40, 50 per cent. Where’s that business going to come from?”
Sitting opposite the convention centre, the St George was likely to have been more affected than most by it being out of use for events. But Mr Banks said being part of a business which also operated coach tours put it at greater risk than many of the district’s other hotels.
Peter Banks, chairman of Harorgate Hospitality and Tourism Association
While quarantine restrictions are in place for overseas travel, Harrogate is likely to get a boost from UK tourists. However, Mr Banks said HHTA’s thoughts haven’t yet turned to how the district can capitalise on this and market itself effectively:
“Right now, everybody is just trying to work out how the hell we’re going to operate. We’re that far away from creating any marketing plans. If you can’t work out how people are going to go to the loo safely, it might be putting the cart before the horse.”
Weight of responsibility
He criticised the guidance from the government as “about as clear as mud”, saying they had left businesses to try to work out how to operate safely without straightforward rules. Hotel owners, he said, felt an enormous weight of responsibility to protect staff and visitors from the risk of catching Covid-19 and were constantly re-writing their plans as government guidance changed.
For example, he said reducing the number of staff in hotel kitchens means overhauling menus – and putting those menus onto apps instead of passing them between staff and customers. Even simple things like passing in corridors and using toilets will have to be considered and controlled. He added:
“My hotel manager said it’s going to be like re-opening a new hotel. It’s going to be like opening a new hotel on Mars. The rules are going to be entirely different and we’re going to have to change things day by day while we work out how it works.”
Peter Banks says re-opening Rudding Park will be ‘like opening a new hotel on Mars’
Mr Banks said he expects most of the hotels in Harrogate to be large enough to sustain themselves through the current turmoil. For restaurants, however, he said even if they are able to reopen in the coming weeks, social distancing may make it impossible for them to break even, let alone make a profit.
“The furlough scheme has been a life-saver, but frankly all it’s doing is kicking the can down the road. We’re all going to have to cope without the support of the government at some point. It’s delaying the inevitable when a lot of smaller businesses will not be able to make a profit.
“If they have to get 70 per cent occupancy to break even in restaurants, what’s the point? They just won’t open.
The hospitality industry is extremely worried. Everyone is getting ready to open in July at some point but everyone is worried about what it’s going to look like.”
Short-term ‘bounce’
As well as the hotel receptionists, cleaners, kitchen porters, accountants and others who lose their jobs when a hotel closes, Mr Banks said there is a ripple effect to others such as food suppliers. Even the move to cashless systems to reduce the risk of infection will result in job losses, as cashing up is no longer needed and couriers won’t be required to take money to the bank.
The result could be further redundancies being made across all industries, leaving people with less cash in their pockets. While Mr Banks said he expects a short-term “bounce” for many hotels and restaurants soon after reopening, he said the winter could be very quiet as people run out of money they have saved during lockdown, or more job losses hit across the UK.
However, he sounded a note of optimism for the Harrogate district.
Tourism industry prepares for coronavirus in Harrogate district“Harrogate is an awful lot more fortunate than a lot of other places. We have a great natural resource, a really beautiful built environment, unlike so many other places. We will be less affected than others.”
The threat of coronovirus and increasing prospect of restrictions on travel could have a major impact on the tourism industry in the Harrogate district.
With the area’s economy heavily reliant on tourists and business visitors, anything which deters people from coming – or any cancellation of large events – could have serious repercussions.
Kim Wilson, who is chair of guesthouse association Accommodation Harrogate and runs The Camberley and The Lodge with her partner, said although there had not been cancellations, occupancy rates had been below average for this time of year.
“The hardest thing to quantify is reasons for not booking,” she said. “It has been one of the quietest periods we’ve had – we’re normally full every Saturday night, but in February we’ve been half- or three-quarters full.”
Although several events around the UK, such as the London Book Fair, have been called off because of coronavirus, no conferences have yet been cancelled in Harrogate – including the Conservative Party Spring Forum, which is set to go ahead at Harrogate Convention Centre in early April.
Meanwhile, other events are still expected to go ahead this month around the district, including Harrogate Charity Beer Festival this weekend and Springtime Live at the Great Yorkshire Showground at the end of March.
Springtime Live is still going ahead as planned at the end of March
A spokesman for organisers the Yorkshire Agricultural Society said: “We continue to follow advice from the Government regarding Coronavirus and as such, there are no plans to cancel any events held here.
“Appropriate measures have been put in place including stepping up hygiene messaging across the site and we are arranging for extra sanitizing gels. We will continue to monitor the situation.”
Boost for ‘staycations’
Some hotels, meanwhile, are hoping to benefit from British people taking more holidays in the UK this year.
Simon Cotton, managing director of HRH Group, which owns The Yorkshire Hotel and The White Hart in Harrogate, said: “I’ve heard quite a lot of people saying, ‘I was going to go abroad and now I’m thinking of just making a staycation of it’.”
As vice-chair of the Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism Association, representing the larger hotels in the district, he said there did not yet seem to be any cause for alarm.
“We’re preparing in case things get worse,” he said. “That’s sensible and the right thing to do, but in the hope that these are things we won’t need to do.”
Measures being taken include stocking up on sanitising gel, carrying out additional cleaning of frequent touch-points such as door handles and lift buttons, and asking staff to report any signs of illness before coming to work.
Mr Cotton said, in the event of a hotel being directly affected by a case of coronavirus in a guest or member of staff, the association would work together to support it and to honour other guests’ bookings so they could still visit Harrogate.