In launching the 2014 edition of the Good Hotel Guide, the Guide’s editors, Adam Raphael and Desmond Balmer, charge that guests who reserve rooms via agents are paying over the odds because hotels have to pay 15% plus VAT on their gross revenue for each booking. The hospitality industry’s increasing reliance on web-based third party agents is a principle cause of price inflation, and results in their guests paying hundreds of millions of pounds in commission fees to booking agents for little in return.
For small owner-managed hotels, the sort in which the Guide specialises, commission fees inflate costs at the expense of guests who are unaware that they would usually get a better deal by booking directly.
Many hotels claim that they have to use booking agents to fill empty rooms but few analyse whether they really bring additional guests or merely cream off revenue. Some hotels are now providing incentives for guests who book directly. The Queensberry in Bath offers those who book directly a 10% reduction on the price of dinner, a 20% discount on cocktails, and a free gift.
Booking agents not only take commission fees, but often also impose expensive conditions and promotional costs which are rapidly increasing. They explain in part why the cost of staying in hotels in the UK remains stubbornly high, much higher than in other European countries. Worldwide online travel bookings total more than £250 billion a year. Priceline Group, which owns Booking.com, the leading European online travel website, has annual revenues of nearly £20 billion and gross profits of more than £2.5 billion.
The César Awards: celebrating excellence
Called the Oscars of the industry, the awards – named after César Ritz, the most celebrated of hoteliers – the Césars are presented to a mixed selection of places. Winners this year include The Bath Priory (Luxury hotel of the year) and the Black Swan at Oldstead, a Michelin-starred restaurant-with-rooms in North Yorkshire, as well as Ennys, a manor house in Cornwall.
Travel writer Gill Charlton has scooped a prestigious award for the hospitality she gives at her B&B, Ennys, a manor house near Marazion, Cornwall. Ennys has been named one of the ten César award winners in the 2014 edition of the Good Hotel Guide, the leading independent guide to hotels in Great Britain and Ireland.
Adam Raphael and Desmond Balmer write: ‘Gill Charlton, who bought the house in a down-trodden state, has lavished as much care on restoring the building as she has on looking after her guests. A seasoned traveller, she understands what guests need and provides warm, generous hospitality.’
The ten winners
Country hotel of the year
The Traddock, Austwick
The Reynolds family have given their small hotel, an old manor house, the feel of a comfortable country home, not grand, not designerish, not shabby either. The caring service is admired.
Luxury hotel of the year
The Bath Priory, Bath
Elegant country house comfort, combined with impeccable service, exquisite modern cooking and a blissful lack of background music, make Andrew and Christina Brownsword’s luxury hotel a place to return to.
Norfolk hotel of the year
The White Horse, Brancaster Staithe
Above tidal sea marshes on the north Norfolk coast, Cliff Nye’s small hotel has a relaxing ambience, delicious food and friendly staff; it is well managed by Christina Boyle.
Devon hotel of the year
The Old Rectory, Martinhoe
Huw Rees and Sam Prosser, who have given their old rectory a smart interior, run it with good humour and great attention to the needs of guests. Huw Rees’s cooking is much praised.
Restaurant-with-rooms of the year
The Black Swan at Oldstead, Oldstead
In beautiful countryside, this delightful old pub has been meticulously restored by the Banks family, who are much in evidence. The innovative cooking is reason enough to visit.
Cornish B&B of the year
Ennys, St Hilary
An exceptional place in a wonderful rural situation, Gill Charlton’s B&B, a 17th-century manor house is ‘a class act; definitely worth five stars’. Breakfast is ‘well-nigh perfect’.
Newcomer of the year
The Cat Inn, West Hoathly
Andrew Russell has created a welcoming atmosphere at his immaculate 16th-century inn, opposite the church in a pretty hilltop village in the Sussex Weald. The cooking by chef Max Leonard is excellent.
Scottish hotel of the year
Kylesku Hotel, Kylesku
In an idyllic setting by a sea loch on the remote north-west coast, this former coaching is run by the hands-on owners, Tanja Lister, ‘full of enthusiasm and energy’, and Sonia Virechauveix, who oversees the kitchen.
Welsh guest house of the year
Bryniau Golau, Bala
A haven for those who love peace and quiet, Katrina Le Saux and Peter Cottee’s Victorian home has a magical setting overlooking Bala Lake. She is a caring host, he is a talented cook.
Irish guest house of the year
Lorum Old Rectory, Bagenalstown
‘A charming house in a scenic landscape; a wonderful host and a most pleasant atmosphere.’ Bobbie Smith runs her Victorian rectory with an obvious passion for detail, making it ever popular with readers.
The Good Hotel Guide 2014: Great Britain & Ireland
The Good Hotel Guide is the leading independent guide to hotels in Great Britain and Ireland. It is written for the reader seeking impartial advice on finding a good place to stay. Hotels cannot buy their entry as they do in many guides: no money changes hands, and the editors and inspectors do not accept free hospitality on their anonymous visits to hotels. An entry in the printed Guide is free, but a charge is made for a website entry to cover research and administration costs.
The Guide was published on 7 October, price £20. It is available for £19 including p&p from The Good Hotel Guide, 50 Addison Avenue, London W11 4QP.
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Email: editor@goodhotelguide.com