If like us, overseas holidays seem to be merely a distant memory, remembered with fondness, of a life preceding face masks and sanitiser, many of you will now be looking at how UK Travel destinations may offer a glimmer of hope for a family get away.
The whole of the Travel industry has been hit hard, cancellations, refunds, lockdown, extended lockdown, risk assessments, enhanced cleaning measures and an endless supply of chemicals to ensure that premises are both safe to work in, and safe for its guests to return.
All that said for us Local authority support has been amazing, Central Government Guidance has been crucial to our business being able to re open safely with the AA Covid Confident Accreditation, Visit England’s Good To Go Award and The World Travel and Tourism Council’s Safe Travel programme.
Going forward, we have invested heavily in our infrastructure building a new Barn, and Outside Dining Area for guests allowing for social distancing whilst enjoying our little piece of Rural England and its amazing views. Significantly through lockdown wildlife around the farm is thriving, Red Kite are now commonplace, Buzzards are increasing in number and deer are coming closer to the farm gates.
Our customers have been understanding re booking where they can, our Insurers The NFU have supported us paying out on our business interruption policy, and new customers are finding us once more and discovering what our Family Farm Stay has to offer.
Tips for Making your money count
This week you may have heard in the news, how costs for UK Staycations are soaring amidst the scarcity of availability. For a small family run business, we don’t have the marketing budget of the multi national sector competitors, so we do list on Air BnB, VRBO and other front end hosting sites, on top of our price they charge a commission, a booking fee and then charge vat on top of that. In addition you the customer also pay a booking fee and vat on top of that, you pay up front for your holiday at the time of booking and the destination see no money until up to 2 weeks after your stay.
⚪ Wherever possible look to book direct, sure find them on the major listing sites, but then google the location and contact them direct. Most like us will be only too happy to take your booking knowing that your actual spend is with them and not diluted by third party commissions.
⚪ When booking a stay be sure that you book the size of property fit for your needs, each of our properties sleep 6 which to our good fortune was also the ruling of 6 coming out of lockdown. We often hear, ‘that sounds expensive there are only 2 of us’, what do you suggest we do with the other 2 rooms during your stay?
⚪ Use reviews to validate your destination choice, check for dates and gramatical accuracy. Be kind in your reviews use them to highlight good service think of them as a carrot rather than a stick approach.
⚪ Spend local during your stay, high street retailers, independent Cafe’s Pubs and restaurants all need your support more than ever before. Be patient, employers are struggling to get staff and staff may be struggling to deliver in line with these shortages. Be thankful they are still there.
Thank you for reading, if you would like to book a farm stay with us here is a taste of what we have to offer:
Book with us direct visit our: Accommodation Options
