Luxury Hotels Refute Recession

In a most bizarre twist of fortunes it appears that many budget hotels are currently seeing a slow down in trade and yet up market venues are enjoying a boom. In times of recession and financial burden for many the budget hotel seemed the likely solution to continuing holidays and leisure breaks. The trend was that people were using these budget hotels as a means of getting away for a cheap holiday in the UK. Ideally placed in many easy to get to places and with no frills rooms the hotels offered an economically pleasing solution for cash strapped holiday makers. Basically you got what you paid for nothing more!

Conversely there is a chain of hotels in Yorkshire currently breaking the mould with the expansion and investment in luxury hotels for holiday makers in the North of England. The stream of thought seems to be that people who are struggling financially are eager to boost their confidence with a luxury break. Even if they have had to save up for the luxury break they feel a certain sense of reward and merit in the break from the everyday to a luxurious appointed resting place.


I think that there is still a place for the cheap and cheerful budget hotels, although there has been a downturn in customers. Whitbread noticed almost 1% downturn on like for like sales over the last 3 months with many cancelled rooms in the Premier Inn range. This has still been overall growth and I just think it's a matter of attracting customers with offers and extras. The budget range is pay for what you get and I do sometimes think that whilst it's financially beneficial customers still like added extras. I think it's easy to go too far the other way - you paid peanuts so you get a room that's dated and service that is shoddy. Some companies give off this feeling - I've stayed in quite a few budget hotels in certain chains and they made me feel cheap - not just the price.

As with most people If I had the choice I would prefer to stay in a luxurious hotel with great service and excellent food but the wallet won't always cover that so there is still room for all types of hotel accommodation. But companies should offer leisure breaks with great value for money but still good service - it's not difficult.  Lets face it people want good value for money not necessarily just cheap prices!