AYSHIRE hotelier Bill Costley has said he is optimistic about the prospects of the group he runs which is sitting on very strong bookings in spite of seeing revenues plunge amid the coronavirus crisis.
The latest accounts for the Costley & Costley Hoteliers business show the turnover of the group fell by 45 per cent to £5.3 million in the year to September 30, from £9.6m in the preceding period. Losses widened to £0.5m from £0.1m.
The accounts cover a period during which hospitality sector businesses faced huge challenges amid the curbs that were imposed to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The last of these may finally be lifted next month.
READ MORE: Distillery opened on Scottish isle amid pandemic beats forecasts
Mr Costley said that while the group had endured a very challenging period the outlook appears to be good.
“I’m optimistic about the future,” he said, noting: “The bookings that are coming in especially for the bigger hotels have been very, very good.”
The group’s hotels include Lochgreen House in Troon and Brig 0’ Doon House in Ayr.
Mr Costley thinks the group has benefited from booming interest in staycations. Many of the people making bookings to stay in its hotels live in England. However, the group has also seen plenty of interest from people living in Glasgow and the local area. It has six bookings for weddings in its venues this weekend.
The Souter’s Inn bar and restaurant in Kirkoswald has been doing “exceptionally well”, in a development that Mr Costley thinks reflects the fact many people are glad to have the chance to get out following the lockdowns, even if some limitations are in place.
The Ellisland House Hotel in Ayr and the Cochrane Inn on the outskirts of Kilmarnock are currently closed. The group has had interest in them from potential purchasers.
Mr Crossley is hopeful that the recovery will accelerate if the final restrictions are lifted as planning next month. The removal of the cap on wedding guest numbers would be very helpful.
READ MORE: Argyll hotelier warns Scotland is scaring off visitors from England
But he noted that there remains some uncertainty about the impact of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
The prices of some commodities have been increasing. Mr Costley noted that lots of people appear to have decided to leave the industry during the lockdowns. However the group has not had difficulties recruiting.
He praised the Westminster and Scottish Governments for the support they had provided for firms amid the crisis and said Clydesale Bank had been very good.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here