Kings Court Hotel - The inside scoop of Covid-19 on the hospitality industry

  As Halloween approaches, the hospitality industry starts to seriously plan for Christmas. The menus were finalised back in July, Brochures were printed in August, and by September we would expect to be almost full. But, as with everything so far in 2020, this year is very different. This week we are looking at Christmas, and how the impact of Covid will affect the Hospitality Industry. Love it or hate it, Christmas is arguably the most important event in any Hotel's calendar. Personally, once we get into November, I morph into a real life version of Buddy the Elf, and love the constant buzz that Christmas brings. For any hotel, the closer it gets to December the busier the phone gets, the enquiries come in thick and fast and the decoration colour scheme debate begins. I think this year will come as a bit of a shock to the system. From the outside looking in, the Hotel will look as Festive as every year. The trees will be up, dressed and twinkling away, the decorations will be ado...

  Well it's another week - another announcement 😕 We now have England split into 3 tiers - medium, high and very high. We were VERY relieved to hear the hotel falls within the 'medium' tier, so we thought this may be the week to look at lesiure stays, and getting away for a change of scenery for a night or two. So what does this actually mean? Well, for us operationally - there's actually no difference. We will continue to follow the rule of 6 as we have been, and the bar and restaurant will continue to close at 10pm.  We are the lucky ones - keeping within the medium tier means we still get to see family and friends meeting up safely. We desperately want to avoid slipping into the 'high' tier. So many of our lovely guests use the hotel as an essential lifeline to see their support network. If that's their friends, children, grandchildren, or maybe the one person who has managed to put a smile on their face that week.  If you are also in a medium tier regio...

  I think I speak for every single person within the hotel industry when I say I really miss some of things I used to take for granted. The constant hum of voices drifting out from the conference rooms as you walk past, the regular suited and booted smiling faces, enjoying a change of scenery from the office, watching working relationships being built whilst stood at the buffet!  I miss conferences. The old conferences. We have a new style of conferences that seems to be the safest option (unless you have pets or kids) in the form of Zoom/Teams/Hangout. Is it the same as being able to meet together face to face? I've asked 2 clients who have booked our conference facilities in the last month a few questions... Gary runs an IT Consultancy Business, and has been booking our boardroom weekly for zoom meetings... How has COVID affected your usual conferencing requirements? I run a team of 4 people, so would have a daily meeting with my employees, then each client I would meet with...

  Another week has passed, and watching the news at the moment makes for pretty grim viewing. This week we're going to be looking at Weddings - and what a Wedding in Covid times is actually like. One constant positive, has been the unity and support shown to one another within the Events industry. This was shown this week with the 'Light it in Red' campaign, supporting live events.  The impact on all events suppliers has been nothing short of catastropic. It's as far reaching as live performers, stage designers, make up artists, videographers, the list goes on and on. But the impact of this is felt most by our Brides and Grooms.  Before the numbers for Weddings were slashed from 30 to 15, we were lucky enough to provide the backdrop to 4 beautiful Weddings. We asked our most recent Bride, Sandra, to answer a few quick questions to paint a picture of what a Wedding in Covid times is actually like... ·          Before the pandemic – w...