Hotels offering free stays to staff from closed hotels for reallocated bookings

Boringdon Hall in Devon (pictured) and Fistral Beach in Cornwall are offering hotel staff from Tier 3/4 hotels a free stay in return for reallocated bookings – and are calling on other hotels to do the same.

With hotels across the country having to cancel bookings in the wake of the latest shift in tier restrictions, Boringdon Hall (Tier 2) and Fistral Beach (Tier 1), which are part of the Nettleton Collection, are proposing that those hotels who have had to close and cancel bookings look to reallocate bookings to them instead.

For every reallocated booking, the hotels will offer a staff member at one of the closed hotels a free bed and breakfast stay in return as a reward or in recognition of their hard work throughout the pandemic.

Given the tier guidance, the reallocations can only apply to guests who are in Tiers 1/2 and travelling as one household, but who had booked a stay at a hotel that has now moved into Tier 3/4.

Emily Andov of the Nettleton Collection said: "We're aiming to, one, offer an alternative option to help ease guests' disappointment and, two, add an extra layer of positivity by trying to give staff who have been suffering under the stresses and strains of the last few months the opportunity to enjoy a much-needed break.

"Ideally, we would love this to become a widespread initiative. We're hoping that other hotels will follow suit and offer similar proposals, to help make this a national endeavour, thereby creating a much-needed morale booster for the industry. If there's one thing we've learnt in recent times, it's that pulling together in the face of adversity is essential."

Boringdon Hall is a five-AA-starred, 42-bedroom hotel near Plymouth, while Fistral Beach hotel is in Newquay. Both properties are looking to offer the cancellation initiative 23-27 December, as well as 30 December to 1 January.