News Archive
Grab a Bargain Break Before Children Return to School!
22nd Aug 2008
Rising food prices, petrol and diesel prices at a record high and then, a couple of weeks ago, staggering increases announced in gas and electricity tariffs. All of these are in addition to increased mortgage costs.
Yet despite the gloom and doom many families have decided to try to forget it all and not forsake the family holiday.
This summer though, as a recent survey by LateRooms.com has shown, more than half of us have decided to stay in at UK hotels for our summer leisure breaks.
For many reasons, such as those referred to earlier, our traditional seaside resorts such as hotels in Scarborough & Bournemouth are experiencing something of a comeback as parents opt to take their children to the places they visited themselves long before the days of cheap air travel.
Cream teas, deck chairs and (presumably) posh fish and chips were some of the attractions of the Fawlty Towers resort. Other highly placed ‘must re-visit’ locations included St Ives, Bournemouth hotels, Weymouth and the Norfolk coast.
The only northern resort in the top 10 was Scarborough, which one in five respondents said they would like to go back to and stay in quality hotels.
My own recent survey of the LateRooms.com website confirmed the survey’s findings. For the last week of the school holidays, August 23 to 30, there was still hotel accommodation available in Torquay, mainly after the bank holiday, but at a price.
The same was also true for Scarborough hotels, although the supply of quality leisure hotels is demanding.
In contrast, Blackpool, which was not one of the respondents’ favourites for a return visit, had lots of hotel and guest house rooms still available and at a fraction of the price of those still left in Torquay.
Before you dash off to the coast though, perhaps you ought to bear in mind that all the signs in the travel market would seem to suggest that the days of cheap travel have ended.
European air fares have already risen because of increased airport landing charges and the doubling of air passenger duty to £40. The biggest other factor is that the price of jet fuel has doubled in the last year and forecasts are that increases will persist.
Even so, some cheap flights are still available for the last full week of the school holidays.
Benidorm, which is down the road from Alicante, may not be everyone’s favourite resort but hotel accommodation is cheap, certainly by UK prices. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of rooms still available in the resort’s landmark concrete block hotels.
Cheap hotels by our standards, even allowing for the depreciated pound against the euro.
So where does this leave us? What is certain is that, if fuel prices remain high, if the pound stays weak and the UK economy stagnates the bargain overseas holidays that many of us have got used to will be a thing of the past.
So with just one week left, go for it. Go stay in a luxury Bournemouth hotel or grab a bargain deal at one of our hotels in Scarborough!
