Hotels...too many or not enough?

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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby rabmania » Tue Jul 16, 2013 8:36 pm

RapidAssistant wrote:
Josef wrote:
The Egg Man wrote:The challenge with hotels is that they try to provide sufficient beds to cope with maximum demand (eg Edinburgh during the Festival) and then try to find a use for them the rest of the year. Or they load the rate at busy times to soften the hit of quieter times.

My brother has booked 2/3 nights a week at c £95/ night in the same hotel at Euston station for a couple of years. This year, during Wimbledon, the rate became £225/ night.


A colleague from Down South had to book a hotel in Edinburgh to come up for a week. Even the downscale hotels were charging £500 per night.

Curiously, the normally expensive hotels were by far the cheapest, presumably on the basis that people go "Jesus, if that's what the Holiday Inn is charging, feck knows what Y is" and don't even bother looking.


I've had similar experiences in London - the Premier Inns seem to be the biggest culprits - who bang on about their £49 rooms but try finding one!! I've often found that Hiltons are cheaper on their pay-in-advance rates if you play the system well enough. They'll try and stuff you on the food and drink prices as you will discover, so be warned!! Even in Glasgow I've seen that the main Hilton or the Hilton Grosvenor can sometimes be only £20 dearer than your Premier Inns if booked well in advance at the right time of year.

Same goes for flying down to London come to think of it - when you factor in all the added costs of check-in, priority boarding, catering on plane, luggage and all the rest of it - flying BA to Heathrow or London City is cheaper (not to mention far more convenient) that easyJet. As you say - people always assume the 'low cost' guys are the cheapest without actually checking for themselves. Probably the same for a lot of things. Is ASDA always cheaper than Waitrose or Markies for example??


Yes, last couple of times I had to go to London the poxy Travelodge in City Road was only a tenner cheaper than the Thistle Barbican (ok it ain't in the Barbican), but with a proper breakfast, pool, gym and a nice room. No contest, and still only 15-20 minutes walk from Spitalfields, where I was heading.
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby RapidAssistant » Tue Sep 03, 2013 2:49 pm

The Egg Man wrote:Only a few weeks ago the EasyHotel in Garnethill closed.


Fiona Taylor of Ernst & Young said: “The company is a victim of the economic conditions that continue to have an adverse impact on the hospitality industry. We are currently undertaking a full review of its financial position, but an immediate lack of funds has necessitated the closure of the hotel and the resultant job losses.

If there isn't enough demand, there's too many hotels.


Don't agree - easyHotel was fairly unique in its business model, and this failure isn't stopping Travelodge pressing ahead with its plans for Charlotte House - I think the "capsule" and 'ultra no frills' hotel concept only works in big world cities that have notoriously high hotel rates like London and New York, and you can make a big enough distinction on both quality and price. In Glasgow 'proper' hotels are cheap enough that you don't have to make such compromises. Why pay £20 for an easyHotel when you can get into a Premier Inn for say, a tenner more?
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby The Egg Man » Tue Sep 03, 2013 3:30 pm

Whilst the above is true, there seems to be no progress whatsoever on the Clydesdale Bank counting house on (West) George St and the gap site on Oswald St at Argyle St both of which have consents for hotel development.

"Why pay £20 for an easyHotel when you can get into a Premier Inn for say, a tenner more?"

I guess the answer is that you can't always and the times you can't are the times people want hotel rooms.
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby RapidAssistant » Tue Sep 03, 2013 9:41 pm

The Egg Man wrote:Whilst the above is true, there seems to be no progress whatsoever on the Clydesdale Bank counting house on (West) George St and the gap site on Oswald St at Argyle St both of which have consents for hotel development.
.


And the Jumeriah turned out to be pie in the sky, not to mention Bothwell Plaza. Time will tell if those schemes eventually materialise. The latter still has half a chance, the former I think is dead in the water. Shame that they were on the verge of getting built just before the credit bubble burst.
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby cheesemonster » Sun Oct 06, 2013 5:03 pm

Don't forget that the old council IT building is to become a 132 room hotel as well
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/hote ... n.20159525

According to Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, there is a need for an extra 17,000 hotel, guest house and bed-and- breakfast bedrooms in the city and surrounding area.Chief executive Scott Taylor puts that down to a continuing increase in the number of conference delegates and visitors coming to the city all year round.


and this one too
http://www.heraldscotland.com/plans-unv ... l-1.883274

As for Easy Hotel shutting? I didn't even know it had opened! I've stayed at a Tune hotel before, same idea. £5 for room without window then £5 for WIFI each, £5 for TV, £5 for breakfast, £2.50 for towel and toiletries, etc etc
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby RapidAssistant » Mon Oct 07, 2013 9:43 am

cheesemonster wrote:Don't forget that the old council IT building is to become a 132 room hotel as well
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/hote ... n.20159525

According to Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, there is a need for an extra 17,000 hotel, guest house and bed-and- breakfast bedrooms in the city and surrounding area.Chief executive Scott Taylor puts that down to a continuing increase in the number of conference delegates and visitors coming to the city all year round.


and this one too
http://www.heraldscotland.com/plans-unv ... l-1.883274

As for Easy Hotel shutting? I didn't even know it had opened! I've stayed at a Tune hotel before, same idea. £5 for room without window then £5 for WIFI each, £5 for TV, £5 for breakfast, £2.50 for towel and toiletries, etc etc


17,000 sounds like an awfully optmistic number - and it depends on what sort of hotels they want to create, and the type of guest they are trying to attract. Oversupply the budget sort of hotel room, and you will create a stag-and-hen destination like Newcastle. I stand by my earlier comment and say Glasgow still needs more of the high-end type establishments to attract people with deeper pockets.

I think though that Easy is a special case as they were trying to make the "super-no-frills" concept work in a city that dosn't really justify it. It works in cities where hotels can be really expensive like say London, New York or Paris - but in Glasgow where you can get into a 'proper' hotel reasonably cheaply there was simply no need for it. As an aside when you look at Stelios' other Easy businesses aside from easyJet which of course is a huge success - most of them have gone t*ts up in one way or another.
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby MungoDundas » Mon Oct 21, 2013 10:59 pm

So -if it's so tight for beds in GLA - on the Hydro'd journey to 2014 - how come
the Lorne is still boarded up. It's only 15mins walk and it's not in an industrial estate.

That said, let's keep the trouble South of the river, don't want to cause more parking
grief for normal folk.

Looks like Mr '£29-ayeright' is messing up Exhibition Park good style.
Across the road, his upmarket friend will make a mess also.

You're right though, probably safest keep 'em out of proper current Glasgow meantime,
land them in future Glasgow South Central East. There'll be a floating village there
soon too also, I'm sure.

Best,
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby Bridie » Tue Oct 22, 2013 6:58 am

Is there any major events happening in Glasgow post 2014?

It's a pity about the Lorne eyesore as I always thought that end of Sauchiehall St needed refreshed (not been there for years so maybe it has apart from the hotel) It's walking distance for tourists coming from the town to the Art Galleries/Kelvin Hall.
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby The Egg Man » Tue Oct 22, 2013 9:10 am

The Lorne was caught up in legal dispute for years. It may yet be unresolved.
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby The Egg Man » Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:41 pm

Radio Scotland report suggests despite all the building/ conversion work going on, Glasgow will still be short of hotel rooms for Commonwealth Games visitors.

It reported an hotel in Greenock "just outside Glasgow" whose double room rate mid June 2014 is £98 and in mid July 2014 is £500.
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby banjo » Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:14 pm

yes tem,i heard that report this morning and it does seem to be common practice.the air fares go bananas as well when there are big sporting events on.supply and demand they cry.racketeering i cry.
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby moonbeam » Mon Nov 18, 2013 9:36 pm

I had booked in well in advance to a local "Hilton" and got a cheap rate. Watch for discount deals in January two nights for price of one is common. The big chains like Hilton can work out only £10 more "off peak" than the Premiers/Travelodges.
However in late July was pretty disgusted when booking in at a local-it shall remain anonymous but its in the city centre-to hear an elderly couple who had not booked in advance but had been sent by the local tourist office being charged £300 for one night with breakfast an "optional"? Extra. One night bed without breakfast £300.Got me thinking. Whats the most expensive anyone has paid in the Glasgow area for a normal bed and breakfast?
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby RapidAssistant » Tue Nov 19, 2013 4:22 pm

moonbeam wrote:I had booked in well in advance to a local "Hilton" and got a cheap rate. Watch for discount deals in January two nights for price of one is common. The big chains like Hilton can work out only £10 more "off peak" than the Premiers/Travelodges.
However in late July was pretty disgusted when booking in at a local-it shall remain anonymous but its in the city centre-to hear an elderly couple who had not booked in advance but had been sent by the local tourist office being charged £300 for one night with breakfast an "optional"? Extra. One night bed without breakfast £300.Got me thinking. Whats the most expensive anyone has paid in the Glasgow area for a normal bed and breakfast?


£300??!! Where was that - One Devonshire? (probably about the only hotel that'd justify that sort of money IMHO).

I've paid about £90 for B&B in early summer in the Hilton Grosvenor, and that was a pretty good deal as I've seen it nudge £200 on some occasions, but as you say prices can be very volatile.

One trick I employ is that I find the cheapest flexible rate that I'm willing to pay, and make a reservation - but keep looking in at the hotel I REALLY want to stay at in the hope that the price drops at the last minute - which it sometimes does, in which case I just cancel the first one. The worst that can happen is that the bet goes wrong and you have to stay at the first one you booked. Or just cancel it and walk away.
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby The Egg Man » Tue Nov 19, 2013 5:00 pm

One night, a week tonight at the Blythswood Hotel is £200 for 2 people room only.

The "standard breakfast rate" is £285.00 for 2 people. Rate includes - accommodation full Scottish Breakfast - free WiFi access - VAT at current rate - access to The Spa between 7am - 9am and - 6pm - 9pm daily.
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Re: Hotels...too many or not enough?

Postby moonbeam » Tue Nov 19, 2013 9:58 pm

It was not One Devonshire! It was when the 2012 games football semi's were at Hampden next day. Basically this couple had come over to watch one of the semi-finals. Because they were foreign I think the hotel were just cashing in and implying Glasgow was full. It made be feel really bad.
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