Hotel and conference venues across Coventry and Warwickshire are preparing for a festive business boost for the first time in three years – with venues experiencing high levels of demand for Christmas parties despite the cost-of-living crisis.
It is set to be the first festive season since 2019 that venues will not have been impacted by pandemic restrictions, following last year when, despite social mixing being allowed, an unexpected surge in Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant led to late cancellations of Christmas parties.
Due to improved confidence, 2022 has seen a huge increase in corporate bookings, private parties and tables being booked for party nights.
Village Hotel Coventry’s festive season gets underway from November 25 and 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 the conference industry decreases in the lead up to Christmas.
“It is very important for us as venue to 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,” said Frank.
“We are certainly still worried about the cost-of-living impact and whether that will lead to people changing plans, but ultimately everyone at the hotel is very excited now.
“Our private parties have a capacity of 210 and we have hit that number across many of the days between now and the New Year. We’re seeing great interest for our party nights in January too, which will give people who work over the Christmas period in hospitality a chance to celebrate too.”
Paula Moran, Group Hotel Sales Manager, Best Western Plus Manor Hotel & Best Western Plus Windmill Village Hotel, says demand is very high at both hotels, with Christmas nights at the Windmill Village and its Marco Pierre White restaurant at the Manor Hotel fully booked.
The bookings are up 250 people and range from festive lunches and dinners, to family events and parties with Santa.
“We are really busy for Christmas this year and we have seen a lot of corporate business come back after what was a difficult season last year,” said Paula.
“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.
“We’re reliant on the regional market at the Windmill Village and we’re seeing a lot of people coming back to us over Christmas who have visited us throughout the year. We’re looking forward to a great festive period.”
Warwick Conferences, one of the region’s premier conferencing venues, 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 at 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 and celebrate at Christmas time.
“We have several major exclusive Christmas events booked at The Slate as well as hosting departmental gatherings from the University of Warwick. We are committed to supporting the regional business community and local business is important to us year-round, so it is always lovely to see people who have experienced an event with us earlier in the year returning to celebrate with us during the festive season.
“We are looking forward to a diary full of events this Christmas. We are experiencing some quite short lead enquiries and expecting those to continue and ramp-up over the coming weeks.”
Conference Coventry and Warwickshire has been working with its member venues to help support corporate Christmas packages.
Paul Jones, managing director of Conference Coventry and Warwickshire, said: “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.
“We have some incredible party venues across Coventry and Warwickshire that provide a magnificent backdrop for festive celebrations, and it’s fantastic to hear that venues are set for a busy Christmas for the first time since 2019.
“More than ever before, 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.”
To find out more about Christmas party options in Coventry and Warwickshire visit https://www.conferencecoventryandwarwickshire.co.uk/homepage/19/christmas-parties-in-coventry