Hotel and conference venues across Coventry and Warwickshire are experiencing high levels of demand for Christmas parties.
It is set to be the first festive season since 2019 that venues will not have been impacted by pandemic restrictions.
For example, Village Hotel Coventry’s festive season begins on 25 November is nearly fully booked for the period – with only four days left with availability.
Frank Leo, director of sales at Village Hotel Coventry, says the period is important commercially. “As a venue, we must make the most of the Christmas period. We host a lot of business events during the year and this always lessens in December in line with industry trends, but the private parties not only fill our event space but also contribute to high occupancy levels in the hotel.”
Paula Moran, group hotel sales manager, Best Western Plus Manor Hotel and Best Western Plus Windmill Village Hotel, says demand is high at both hotels. Christmas nights at the Windmill Village and its Marco Pierre White restaurant at the Manor Hotel fully booked.
The bookings range from festive lunches and dinners. “It is a great time to work in hotels in terms of the festive feeling, but it doesn’t necessarily provide a huge boost to our bottom line – particularly with costs continuing to rise,” she said.
Corporate offerings
Warwick Conferences will still be delivering its schedule of conferences and business events throughout the festive period, but is also set to receive a boost from corporate party bookings.
Gail Tomlinson-Short, head of business development, Warwick Conferences, said that there is still some “nervousness” among buyers for Christmas events, but they have seen bookings increase at The Slate, one of its venues.
“In recent years we have launched a corporate offer and private, exclusive party packages, as we think it’s really important as an industry to host festive celebration events, giving people the opportunity to come together.
“We are also experiencing some quite short lead enquiries and expecting those to continue and ramp-up over the coming weeks,” she said.
Conference Coventry and Warwickshire has been working with its member venues to help support corporate Christmas packages.
Paul Jones, managing director, Conference Coventry and Warwickshire, added: “Last year was really tough for hospitality businesses, which had all of their plans lined up, only for bookings to be cancelled and vital revenue lost.
“It is vital we show our support for local businesses, and we are continuing to urge people to host their Christmas parties at a local venue rather than travelling outside the area.”
