MONTH IN REVIEW
MONTH IN REVIEW
www.hotelowner.co.uk
START: THE MONTH’S NEWS BEGAN HERE
START UPS
Temping agency
app backed by
David Haye wins
£6m investment
A startup app company that connects
employers with temping staff, Syft, has
closed a Series A investment funding
round of £6.1m.
The round, led by Spotify’s first
investors Creandum, also includes
backing from PROfounders Capital and
Colle Capital, alongside existing angel
investors such as David Haye and Lord
Young, taking Syft to an overall £8.7m
total funding in 20 months.
Launched in November 2015, Syft
offers an online staffing platform for
the hospitality and events sector in
London, Manchester and Leeds
In under two years, Syft has drawn
over 4,000 job seekers, allowing them
to see exactly who they are working for
and what the role involves prior to the
shift, without the need to go through a
middle-man.
The platform allows direct access
between employers and staff, and
handles all payroll and tax obligations,
with the employer paying staff
wages and any National Insurance
contributions via the app.
Co-founder Jack Beaman said:
“Attracting a fund of the standard and
reputation of Creandum is not only
very exciting for us, but also for the UK
startup scene.
“It’s exciting that we continue to see
large funding rounds coming into the
UK after the Brexit vote. This round
will help us consolidate our position
in the UK, expanding nationwide and
launching new sectors.”
6
www.hotelowner.co.uk
PROPERTY
Peak District
National Park
given permission
for first hotel in
66 years
The Peak District National Park is set
to have its first new-build hotel since
the park was created in 1961, following
a landslide decision by planners for a
new tourist development.
The development will provide an
additional visitor facility and hotel for
the National Park, which receives 12
million visitors each year.
The site currently suffers from an
undersupply of hotel accommodation
and the planning application was
passed as an exception to normal
policy due to its overwhelming public
support and benefits to tourism within
the National Park.
The brownfield site is located on the
National Park’s principle route on the
edge of Stoney Middleton, just minutes
away from Chatsworth House and
Bakewell.
The development is set to include
two new buildings, featuring a
71-bedroom hotel and a separate
visitor/heritage centre, with a cafe and
craft shop.
The current owners will operate the
visitor and heritage centre, but the
hotel site is being offered for sale or
lease as a development opportunity,
and is being marketed by property
consultancy Sanderson Weatherall.
Ian Naylor, partner at Sanderson
Weatherall said, “This is a rare and
fantastic opportunity to acquire what
it set to be the largest hotel in the
National Park.
“The development will benefit year-
round from the huge footfall from both
national and international visitors to
the area, as well as from corporate and
other market sectors, and with little
competition.”
1
2
3
4
5
TOURISM
VisitEngland
extols youth
‘staycations’
VisitEngland has launched a new
campaign encouraging young people
from Great Britain and Northern Ireland
to take a holiday at home in a bid to
boost the UK’s tourism industry.
Statistics show that 16-to-34 year
olds took almost 1.4 million fewer
holidays at home last year compared
with a decade ago.
VisitEngland’s £2.5m ‘Join the World
- Discover the UK’ digital and social
media campaign, which launched
on Monday, is targeting this ‘lost
generation’ using overseas social media
influencers and travellers to showcase
the experiences that can be had on
holiday in the UK.
The campaign is run in partnership
with the national tourism organisations
of Northern Ireland, Scotland and
Wales, tourism businesses and
destination management organisations
across the UK.
Part of the UK government’s
GREAT Britain campaign, ‘Join the
World - Discover the UK’ is expected
to generate more than one million
additional overnight stays with an
£80m boost to the economy.
STAT OF THE MONTH
4 million
This is how many
overseas visits there were
in the UK in July, the
highest ever on record
October 2017