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AIRBNB
Bristol hoteliers
propose action
against Airbnb
rooms
The head of the Bristol Hoteliers
Association (BHA) has urged city’s
leaders to consider a series of strategies
that will help alleviate Airbnb’s impact
on Bristol’s hospitality sector.
Imran Ali,
chairman of the
BHA, says there
are nearly 2,000
registered Airbnb
properties in the
city, and is asking local leaders to
look into the growth of the service. He
said the platform not only creates an
“uneven playing field”, but is putting
people at risk from a health and safety
point of view.
One of the strategies proposed is to
introduce exclusion zones based on the
city’s ward boundaries, where Ali wants
local residents to have the option and
authority to block any properties being
offered in the street in which they live.
Another proposal is that anyone
wanting to offer a property can only do
so under license, paying a sliding scale
fee based on the number of rooms or size
of the property, along with certification
for health and safety and fire checks for
all Bristol Airbnb properties.
The average Airbnb room rate in
Bristol is £73 per night, similar to
what Bristol hotels charge average
over the year.
Ali said: “Why should hotels and B&B
owners have to pay business rates,
VAT and comply with rigorous health
and safety checks, fire assessments,
PAT testing, visits from environmental
department and undergo food hygiene
tests while those offering their property
or rooms on Airbnb don’t have to do
any of these things.”
August 2018
1
HOTEL BRANDS
Travelodge
targets £2bn
budget hotel
market with
new brand
Budget hotel chain Travelodge has
launched Travelodge Plus, a new brand
“designed around the needs of the
budget traveller”.
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Budget hotels
launched as niche
offers but now
dominate the
market, with a wider
customer base than
ever.
Peter Gowers, CEO, Travelodge
CRIME
Guest
information
stolen in
Travelodge data
breach
The new properties will be rolled out
initially through an investment of more
than £10m at locations in Brighton,
Edinburgh, Gatwick Airport, London
and York.
Following the conclusion of its
hotel modernisation programme in
2016 and the launch of SuperRooms
in 2017, Travelodge said this “marks
the next step” in the group’s ongoing
programme to upgrade its offer.
CEO Peter Gowers, said: “The
launch of Travelodge Plus helps us
offer that little bit more choice for
those who want it, while staying true
to our mission to be the favourite
hotel for value. The hotel market is
following the same path as airlines
and retail.
“Budget hotels launched as niche
offers but now dominate the market,
with a wider customer base than ever.
After investing more than £100m to
upgrade our hotels across the UK,
bringing in our ‘premium economy’
SuperRooms and now launching
Travelodge Plus, we are now well
placed to match the needs of today’s
travellers.”
Budget hotel chain Travelodge has
been hit by a security breach which
allowed an unauthorised third party to
steal guest names and emails.
Travelodge was notified by Typeform,
a company which manages customer
surveys and competitions, that it had
been the victim of a data security
incident which affected Travelodge
customer information it was in
possession of.
Account, bookings, passwords and
payment details were not affected
by the incident, however Typeform
said customers’ first names and email
addresses “have been acquired by an
unauthorised third party”.
As a result, guests are now at risk of
receiving unwanted contact and have
been advised to not give away any
personal details from callers claiming to
be from Travelodge.
A spokesperson said: “We have
been notified by Typeform...that they
have been the victim of a data security
incident. At Travelodge we take the
safeguarding of customer data very
seriously and we sincerely regret any
inconvenience t his incident may cause.”
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