Guests are being urged to book a 'day-cation' to give hard-pressed hotels a boost this winter.
The new travel trend, which involves spending a day enjoying the rooms, spas and leisure facilities at a local hotel rather than staying overnight, helps venues maximise revenues at the times when rooms typically sit empty.
The #StayForTheDay campaign - which is being led by travel platform DayBreakHotels - comes as the hospitality industry continues to find its feet post-lockdown.
In March of this year, 55 per cent of hospitality businesses had temporarily paused trading, with one-in-five expressing “low confidence” that their business would survive the next three months.
From this low, hotels started to bounce back. However, according to Deloitte, 90 per cent of hotel leaders in the UK believe performance will not return to pre-Covid levels until at least 2023.
DayBreakHotels - which enables customers to book rooms and facilities for day use at hundreds of venues across the UK - believes the ‘daycay’ will help drive ongoing demand across the winter months.
Now guests are being encouraged to ‘stay for the day’ to give local hotels a winter boost and enjoy all of the facilities they have to offer, from the spa and pool, to restaurants and room service. Hotel rooms and meeting rooms can also be booked as plush remote offices, with over 150 hotels in DayBreakHotels’ network offering users bespoke ‘smart working’ packages.
Simon Botto, founder of DayBreakHotels, said: "It has been an unimaginably tough 20 months for the hotel trade. The sector is showing strong signs of recovery but we’re not completely out of the woods yet, especially seeing as many hotels are facing staff shortages on top of fewer bookings from international guests.
“We want to encourage people to ‘stay for the day’ this winter to help them discover the lovely hotels on their doorstep whilst also supporting the industry.
Using the DayBreakHotels app or website, customers can book rooms and other hotel perks - such as pool or spa access, restaurants or meeting rooms - for up to 75 per cent less than the usual nightly rate.
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