CLH News’ Post

The latest AIB Spend Trend report indicates that summer 2024 closed out well for the hospitality sector, with spend in restaurants up 11% month on month, hotels up 7% and pubs up 5%. "It was also a busy month for the hospitality sector as you would expect, which finished out strongly for summer 2024," said Adrian Moynihan, head of consumer at AIB. #restaurants #pubs #hospitality https://lnkd.in/emXdaYj7

The latest AIB Spend Trend report indicates that summer 2024 ended well for the hospitality sector, with spend in restaurants up 11% month on month, hotels up 7% and pubs up 5%. Compiled from 75 million debit and credit card transactions in store and online during August 2024.

Industry sources expect the hospitality industry to see more bookings and groups this Christmas.   ⏳ It’s the calm before the storm, and hospitality is gearing up for Christmas 2024. Restaurants, Bars Hotels and all kinds of party venues are expected to see increased bookings and enquiries. Of course, with more demand comes more revenue opportunities and greater operational challenges in managing demand. Are your venue and team ready? 🤔 📈 Positive trends: Despite some concerns with the cost-of-living crisis and the recent budget proposals that will come into force in 2025, people seem to have a positive attitude towards the festive season. Bars and restaurants continued to be a must-visit, with 73% visiting last year, according to Restaurant Online (see the link in our comments). By July this year, Christmas bookings had risen by 54% compared to the same period last year. A large volume are on Christmas Day itself, with group reservations up significantly. 🗓️ Save the peak trading dates: Remember we’ve mentioned the three significant trade dates on Saturday 7th December, Saturday 14th December, and Friday 20th December. The first two are likely to be the busiest for group bookings, as large reservations have soared 38% year on year. The last one, known as ‘Mad Friday', is traditionally the busy last Friday before Christmas. So, keep an eye on them in your reservation system! Key opportunities to handle a more extravagant Christmas... ✋ Staffing: Do you have enough employees for the holiday rush? Many venues are still struggling with staff shortages. Is there an opportunity to expand your team? It could help maintain your quality of service for customers.   📋 Inventory management: As you'll know, make sure you’re stocked up on the predicted best-selling food and beverages. ⭐ Efficiency: A great reservation system can make all the difference in high-volume times and give you extra people-power to look after operations and keep service running smoothly. ✅ Equipment – check 1, 2, 3: With the increase in bookings comes the increase in dirty plates, dishes, and glasses. Make sure that your warewasher is firing on all cylinders now. Don’t leave it to be serviced or replaced as you are in full throttle with the Christmas parties. Preparation is essential to capitalise on the festive spirit while ensuring customer satisfaction, and now is the time to get ready for a solid and enjoyable Christmas 2024. To read the full “Get ready for the Festive Season" article, click https://lnkd.in/eSg6QrBd. And for more hospitality articles like this, make sure you follow us. At Classeq, we are passionate about the growth and success of the hospitality sector. That’s why we are committed to providing you with content that explores every part of the hospitality journey from the distribution of catering equipment to the final experience on the customer’s plate.

Weather Cools Hospitality Groups Performance Whilst Pubs Win The Euros Britain’s top hospitality groups achieved year-on-year growth of 1.5% in July 2024, down from June’s rate of 2.9%, the latest CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker reveals. As July started with the peak of the 2024 Euro’s, including the quarter, semi-final and final games, Britain’s Pubs enjoyed a more positive outcome from the tournament than the England team, experiencing like-for-like growth of 4.9%. The best performing segment in July, and the heart of England’s Euro’s support, Pubs within the M25 performed especially well with 9.9% like-for-like growth. It was a slightly more negative picture for other segments as consumers shifted their spend towards pubs. Restaurant performance saw steep declines, dropping from +4.7% in June, to –2.1%. Bars had another negative month, down by -6.0%. The on-the-go segment saw like-for-like growth of +1.5%. Karl Chessell, director – hospitality operators and food, EMEA at CGA by NIQ, said: “With most positive growth being seen in the pub sector in July, this had a knock-on effect to other hospitality venues as they saw like-for-like drops in performance. For hospitality as a whole, this isn’t necessarily a negative thing. The uplifts seen based on key events within the month show that whilst the cost-of-living pressures are still ongoing, consumers are still making those all-important visits to hospitality venues. As we move into the back end of Summer, with warmer weather, and an upcoming Bank Holiday at the end of the month – we hope to see growth spread more equally across key segments.” Saxon Moseley, head of leisure and hospitality at RSM UK, said: “Much like the Euro 2024 final, there were winners and losers in July’s results. While pubs reaped the benefits of a sports-fuelled July, restaurants and bars saw negative like-for-like sales, with some operators even closing early due to cancelled bookings and reduced demand. With disposable incomes still recovering from the cost-of-living crisis, these results do demonstrate that there is only so much set aside for leisure spending, underscoring the intense competition for customers across different segments of the market. Well run businesses with differentiated offerings and flawless experiences will continue to do well as real wages rise and confidence returns in the second half of the year.” Read More:

Christmas Hospitality Spend To Rise 2.3% Yoy To £12.3bn This year UK consumers are forecast to spend £12.3bn at hospitality venues over the six-week festive period as they celebrate with friends, family, and colleagues. VoucherCodes.co.uk’s Shopping for Christmas Report 2024 reveals hospitality spending is set to rise by 2.3% year-on-year this Christmas season, up from the £12bn spent last year. With the cost of living crisis easing, consumers are more willing and able to mark the festive season with a night out on the town. As a result, from the middle of November through to the end of December over one-third of consumers (34%) or 40.1 million, will visit some kind of hospitality venue. This festive season Christmas markets will be the most popular destination, with 13.1 million visitors, however this is a -4.5% drop YoY. On the other hand, pubs are set to see visitor numbers jump 5.4% to 10.5 million, followed closely by restaurants at 8.6m (-0.4% YoY). Visitor numbers by venue. 2023 actuals, 2024 forecast Whilst consumers cut back last year to prioritise spPubsending for family events, in 2024 the Christmas party is back with one-third of people saying they’ll celebrate with colleagues (31%) - that’s 5% up on last year. Michael Brandy, Senior Commercial Director at VoucherCodes.co.uk, comments: “After the pandemic and two years of a cost of living crisis, the hospitality industry will be thrilled to hear that this year consumers will be heading to their local pubs, bars and restaurants in their droves - and spending. “With consumers making the most of the festive season and celebrating with friends, family, and colleagues, venues can look forward to a healthy bump in sales. Those who provide their customers with great value for money, either by offering deals and discounts, or extras such as live music and entertainment, will do particularly well this Christmas as consumers look to stretch their money as far as possible.”  Read More:

Christmas Hospitality Spend To Rise 2.3% Joy To £12.3bn This year UK consumers are forecast to spend £12.3bn at hospitality venues over the six-week festive period as they celebrate with friends, family, and colleagues. VoucherCodes.co.uk’s Shopping for Christmas Report 2024 reveals hospitality spending is set to rise by 2.3% year-on-year this Christmas season, up from the £12bn spent last year. With the cost of living crisis easing, consumers are more willing and able to mark the festive season with a night out on the town. As a result, from the middle of November through to the end of December over one-third of consumers (34%) or 40.1 million, will visit some kind of hospitality venue. This festive season Christmas markets will be the most popular destination, with 13.1 million visitors, however this is a -4.5% drop YoY. On the other hand, pubs are set to see visitor numbers jump 5.4% to 10.5 million, followed closely by restaurants at 8.6m (-0.4% YoY). Visitor numbers by venue. 2023 actuals, 2024 forecast Whilst consumers cut back last year to prioritise spPubsending for family events, in 2024 the Christmas party is back with one-third of people saying they’ll celebrate with colleagues (31%) - that’s 5% up on last year. Michael Brandy, Senior Commercial Director at VoucherCodes.co.uk, comments: “After the pandemic and two years of a cost of living crisis, the hospitality industry will be thrilled to hear that this year consumers will be heading to their local pubs, bars and restaurants in their droves - and spending. “With consumers making the most of the festive season and celebrating with friends, family, and colleagues, venues can look forward to a healthy bump in sales. Those who provide their customers with great value for money, either by offering deals and discounts, or extras such as live music and entertainment, will do particularly well this Christmas as consumers look to stretch their money as far as possible.”  Read More:

🛟 With the tough economic climate impacting consumers, visits to hospitality venues are expected to be less frequent - but 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱! Consumers may be staying in more often however experience of previous economic downturns also tells us that, when they do visit hospitality venues, they are likely to spend more. 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝘂𝗯. Operators, discover how to drive spend, as well as deliver customers the best experience possible to encourage them to return - head over to https://lnkd.in/eertZUmX. #ZonalUK #HospitalityTech #PubOperators #Pubs #Restaurants #HospitalityBlog #HospitalityTips #HospitalityAdvice

There are some really useful ideas here on how to help increase spend in your venue and with the Zonal rental packages on offer we can help you elevate your business. Feel free to reach out to me or any of the team at sales@zonal.co.uk to explore the options available. #ZonalUK #hospitalityTech #Pubs #Restaurants

The Accidental Hotelier – How about a Disco or Fun Pub for a Hotel? Is it Profitable? We had a small disco at the hotel that could seat about 50 people, which we rebranded as New York, New York. Despite our best efforts, we could only manage around RM 30,000 in revenue per month—and that was with some help from key staff spending enough to hit the bar’s targets. I was curious about the disco business, so I spent every night there for about three weeks to learn more. I noticed that while we could fill the place on Fridays and Saturdays, people tended to leave in small waves of about 10 at a time. Every time a wave left, the disco suddenly looked empty, which encouraged others to leave soon after. Around that time, I frequently visited Piccadilly, a popular entertainment spot with a live eight-piece band. It had a much larger capacity—around 500 people. I noticed the same pattern of guests leaving in waves, but because the place was so big, you didn’t feel the impact of departures as much. That made me realize the size of the venue makes a huge difference in keeping an atmosphere lively. New York, New York was simply too small to sustain that. Fast forward to my other experiences with fun pubs in hotels. One was in our Bintulu hotel, which opened in 1998. At the time, the city had no other entertainment options, so we did well, especially on weekends. However, 10 years later, the city was full of competitors, and we couldn’t compete with the small local establishments that sold smuggled, tax-free liquor at much lower prices. We closed it down in its 15th year. A similar story played out when we took over from a major brand operator in Miri in 2003. The live band outlet there had also outlived its appeal, facing the same challenges. After reviewing the revenue, it was clear that the venue was losing money, so we closed it down immediately after taking over. The issue with these types of entertainment outlets is that they are very trendy and require renovation and repositioning every 5–10 years. The investment needed often doesn’t justify the returns. Strategic Lessons Learned – Entertainment Outlets in a Hotel • Unless a city is still in its infancy in terms of food and beverage offerings, it’s difficult for a hotel to make money from an entertainment outlet. • These outlets need constant repositioning and renovation every 5–8 years to stay relevant. • Size matters: for a disco or pub to succeed, a seating capacity of 400–500 is essential to maintain the energy of the crowd as people come and go. • If you have a meeting and conference hotel in a location with few entertainment options, consider having a small band (2–3 pieces) to entertain guests, but know that it will likely be a loss leader, offset by the larger income generated from the meetings and events business.

New Insights Reveal Top Reasons For No-Shows Latest insight from hospitality technology partner Zonal and CGA by NIQ, reveals the main reasons guests do not turn up for a reservation, with the following coming out top: • Having a change of plans (27%) • Others in the group cancelling (21%) • People booking multiple venues to ensure they would get in somewhere (20%) • One member of the group falling ill (20%) • Forgetting about a booking (15%) The survey of more than 1,000 UK adults, shines a light on the ongoing issue of no-shows and the importance of educating customers on the impact this has on hospitality businesses. New research also revealed that Sunday is the day in the week when no-shows are most likely to occur and that on average Autumn (September – November) tends to be the worst season when it comes to people not honouring bookings. Figures from a recent GO Technology report from Zonal and CGA by NIQ* has also found that 77% of people find not being able to amend or cancel bookings online, a key frustration in the pre-visit customer journey. A further 34% stated that if they experience frustrations pre-visit, such as being unable to amend or cancel bookings online, they would find somewhere else to go. This all underlines the need for operators to tackle no-shows, which cost the industry £17.59bn per year in lost revenue. One way to mitigate the risk of no-shows occurring is by ensuring the booking journey is easy-to-use for customers - enabling them to book, amend or cancel bookings within a few clicks. Tim Chapman, Chief Commercial Officer, Zonal, said: "People not honouring their reservations continues to be a challenge for the industry. Plans change and that cannot be helped, however in order to reduce the risk of no-shows, we need to continue finding ways to educate consumers on what impact this has on their favourite pubs, bars and restaurants. The figures also highlight a correlation between people not honouring their reservations and the ability for customers to change or amend bookings. Operators that have digital systems in place, enabling customers to manage bookings online will be able to reduce no-shows from happening, as well as remove any potential customer frustrations during the pre-visit journey, improving the overall customer experience." In response to the ongoing issue of no-shows and in support of the industry, Zonal launched their #ShowUpForHospitality campaign in September 2021, to help operators try mitigate the risk of no-shows, as well as to raise awareness of the importance of consumers turning up to a booking or informing a venue if they can no longer make it. Read More: