'Record-breaking' Easter for hospitality as doors open for first time in three years

The sun came out and brought the guests with it on the first Easter bank holiday weekend since 2019 that hospitality venues could open their doors.

VisitBritain has said some 7.4m Brits had planned a UK trip for the four-day weekend, with an expected spend of £1.8b.

Deputy chief executive Patricia Yates said: “This is the first Easter since 2019, pre-pandemic, that the industry has been able to fully trade and the long weekend will be critical in providing businesses and destinations with much needed cash-flow as the season gets underway. Our tourism businesses will be very pleased to welcome you back.”

Debra Dhugga, chief operations officer of the Apartment Group, said the group’s properties in the North East had all been fully-booked over the Easter weekend with May half-term also seeing strong interest. The sustained demand following last summer’s ‘staycation boom’, will also see the group launch 27 new luxury cabins at Newton Hall in Northumberland this year.

Dhugga said: “The staycation boom is here to stay. While bookings for Easter have been record-breaking, we expect summer to be no different, and bookings are already coming in for autumn - demand is often far exceeding supply, which is great news.”

Nic Oldham, head of customer and commercial at the Crieff Hydro Family of Hotels, agreed that the demand for UK breaks was enduring. He said: “The last time we were able to open our doors for Easter was 2019 and 2022 has seen a really positive impact on bookings which suggests staycations are still proving a popular choice.

“Almost 50% of bookings this year were made more than two months in advance, compared to 25% in 2019, demonstrating even more of our guests were keen to secure their booking well ahead of time and the average length of stay was also up by 15.5%.

“Despite cases of Covid remaining high in the lead up to Easter, we did not see any increase in cancellations due to Covid.”

Flat Cap hotels, which has three Cheshire properties, also saw a “particularly busy” Easter weekend, with leisure bookings boosted by the launch of its bar and restaurant in the Courthouse, Knutsford.

Revenue manager Charli Maggs said that as well as a strong showing from leisure travellers, corporate and meeting room bookings had been picking up since mid-January, boding well for a strong 2022 season.

Photo: Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock