Bed & Breakfast News Issue #46 Spring 2018 | Page 5

Visit our website: | bandbnews.co.uk | 5
The UK’s seaside resorts are proving
particularly popular over the coming bank
holiday weekends, up 5.7%. Some of the
top performing resorts include Blackpool,
Skegness, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and
Wells-Next-The-Sea.
B&B forward bookings
‘spike’ after April’s late
sun - and after B&B Day
A sudden heatwave in late April helped the
British public to shake off the winter blues,
giving rise to a mini-surge in B&B bookings
for the coming May bank holiday weekends.
The quarterly ‘National B&B Index’ from
booking systems specialists eviivo points to
a spike in forward bookings for B&Bs across
the country for both the May bank holiday
weekends, up a significant 4.4% on last year.
The UK has been hit by one of the coldest
winters on record this year as the ‘Beast
From The East’ battered the country.
Freezing temperatures and snow caused
chaos in both February and early March,
with some parts of the country still
experiencing snow at Easter.
However, the mini heatwave in late April,
which saw temperatures climb to 23 degrees
centigrade, seems to have left holidaymakers
with a taste for more. The national picture
was strong and B&Bs across Northern
Ireland, North West England, Wales and
Central England have seen particularly
strong uplifts.
Commenting on the data, Ed Goldswain,
Marketing Director at eviivo, said:
“After literally a ‘beast’ of a winter, what
better way to see in the summer with a break at
one of the country’s iconic, family-run B&Bs –
a truly traditional British holiday experience.”
The concept of a reliable, comfortable place
to stay with a hearty breakfast to ‘see you
on your way’ has of course been part of the
British holiday experience for generations
(Britain invented the “B&B”). In the last
decade, the Bed and Breakfast sector, which
collectively contributes £2 billion to the British
economy, has experienced a true renaissance.
So 2018 was the right time to launch ‘B&B
Day’ – and it may have helped the bookings
– Goldswain reports: “In the week following
National B&B Day we witnessed an 8.1% increase
in bookings year on year. It’s great to see that
the day has helped reignite the UK’s love
affair with B&Bs and the authentic British
holiday experience that they offer.”
Fosse Farmhouse - AA “B&B Story of the Year” - see p22