Gone very quiet
Discussion
Earthdweller said:
Four years ago was the start of lockdowns about now .. and the weather was glorious for weeks
Just never can tell
I’d just bought a house (4 years tomorrow) and moved in, immediately had builders in and they stayed for 6 weeks. I think it rained once lightly in that time. Just never can tell
M1AGM said:
Just in the big smoke for a meeting and the black cab driver has been telling me how dead Oxford/regent/mayfair is on an evening and often during the day. Driving down Oxford Street earlier and its a shadow of its former self in terms of footfall.
This is compared to recently, or to pre-pandemic levels?skwdenyer said:
M1AGM said:
Just in the big smoke for a meeting and the black cab driver has been telling me how dead Oxford/regent/mayfair is on an evening and often during the day. Driving down Oxford Street earlier and its a shadow of its former self in terms of footfall.
This is compared to recently, or to pre-pandemic levels?skwdenyer said:
This is compared to recently, or to pre-pandemic levels?
For me, generally pre-pandemic, for the cabbie this year, so recently.As an aside, I was a little surprised being able to book any number of good hotels (I’m staying in Mayfair) at short notice, especially in the school holidays. Pre pandemic it was not the case, no idea what it was like this time last year though.
M1AGM said:
For me, generally pre-pandemic, for the cabbie this year, so recently.
As an aside, I was a little surprised being able to book any number of good hotels (I’m staying in Mayfair) at short notice, especially in the school holidays. Pre pandemic it was not the case, no idea what it was like this time last year though.
Hotel prices have gone through the roof, hardly surprising considering As an aside, I was a little surprised being able to book any number of good hotels (I’m staying in Mayfair) at short notice, especially in the school holidays. Pre pandemic it was not the case, no idea what it was like this time last year though.
Even things like premier inns have doubled in price ( or more )
Just looked for mid week next week (Wednesday) and room only for a PI in London starts at £180 and many are over £200 and Saturday night £240!
I used to do it quite often when they were £50-£90 and you could drive in, park reasonably and have a nice break
Now it’s a no go as a family for a quick break so I’m not surprised
Earthdweller said:
M1AGM said:
For me, generally pre-pandemic, for the cabbie this year, so recently.
As an aside, I was a little surprised being able to book any number of good hotels (I’m staying in Mayfair) at short notice, especially in the school holidays. Pre pandemic it was not the case, no idea what it was like this time last year though.
Hotel prices have gone through the roof, hardly surprising considering As an aside, I was a little surprised being able to book any number of good hotels (I’m staying in Mayfair) at short notice, especially in the school holidays. Pre pandemic it was not the case, no idea what it was like this time last year though.
Even things like premier inns have doubled in price ( or more )
Just looked for mid week next week (Wednesday) and room only for a PI in London starts at £180 and many are over £200 and Saturday night £240!
I used to do it quite often when they were £50-£90 and you could drive in, park reasonably and have a nice break
Now it’s a no go as a family for a quick break so I’m not surprised
skwdenyer said:
Post-pandemic, there was lots of availability, and low prices. Now there seems to be lots of availability, but high prices! I'm guessing hotels have adapted to a "new normal" and said "we're not going to be full, so there's no benefit to cutting our throats on price to try to catch up - instead, we need to price up to meet our numbers."
Wonder if they're struggling for staff?Earthdweller said:
M1AGM said:
For me, generally pre-pandemic, for the cabbie this year, so recently.
As an aside, I was a little surprised being able to book any number of good hotels (I’m staying in Mayfair) at short notice, especially in the school holidays. Pre pandemic it was not the case, no idea what it was like this time last year though.
Hotel prices have gone through the roof, hardly surprising considering As an aside, I was a little surprised being able to book any number of good hotels (I’m staying in Mayfair) at short notice, especially in the school holidays. Pre pandemic it was not the case, no idea what it was like this time last year though.
Even things like premier inns have doubled in price ( or more )
Just looked for mid week next week (Wednesday) and room only for a PI in London starts at £180 and many are over £200 and Saturday night £240!
I used to do it quite often when they were £50-£90 and you could drive in, park reasonably and have a nice break
Now it’s a no go as a family for a quick break so I’m not surprised
Earthdweller said:
M1AGM said:
For me, generally pre-pandemic, for the cabbie this year, so recently.
As an aside, I was a little surprised being able to book any number of good hotels (I’m staying in Mayfair) at short notice, especially in the school holidays. Pre pandemic it was not the case, no idea what it was like this time last year though.
Hotel prices have gone through the roof, hardly surprising considering As an aside, I was a little surprised being able to book any number of good hotels (I’m staying in Mayfair) at short notice, especially in the school holidays. Pre pandemic it was not the case, no idea what it was like this time last year though.
Even things like premier inns have doubled in price ( or more )
Just looked for mid week next week (Wednesday) and room only for a PI in London starts at £180 and many are over £200 and Saturday night £240!
I used to do it quite often when they were £50-£90 and you could drive in, park reasonably and have a nice break
Now it’s a no go as a family for a quick break so I’m not surprised
Im finding i can stay in some well run nice hotels for the same money as premier inn now.
Just last week i stayed at the Hilton Garden hotel in silverstone, Kettering Spa hotel and Hogarths stone manor in Kidderminster. All were within a tenner of premier inn prices. But were multile times better in every respect.
M1AGM said:
Just in the big smoke for a meeting and the black cab driver has been telling me how dead Oxford/regent/mayfair is on an evening and often during the day. Driving down Oxford Street earlier and its a shadow of its former self in terms of footfall.
It’s half term. Not sure I’m buying that from a cabbie, it’s still busy out whenever I’m in town. Just most people use something other than a rip off cab.
I maintain this view
The economy is ok, but it’s in a weird place. It feels like it could go either way. Which is strange as there is still money about but there are signs of somthing big behind the scenes 2/10s for example. The big issue is the signs have been there for almost two years……. What is the next step. Either a huge R… or we just continue and ideally grow with some interest rate cuts and the like.
The economy is ok, but it’s in a weird place. It feels like it could go either way. Which is strange as there is still money about but there are signs of somthing big behind the scenes 2/10s for example. The big issue is the signs have been there for almost two years……. What is the next step. Either a huge R… or we just continue and ideally grow with some interest rate cuts and the like.
surveyor said:
Earthdweller said:
M1AGM said:
For me, generally pre-pandemic, for the cabbie this year, so recently.
As an aside, I was a little surprised being able to book any number of good hotels (I’m staying in Mayfair) at short notice, especially in the school holidays. Pre pandemic it was not the case, no idea what it was like this time last year though.
Hotel prices have gone through the roof, hardly surprising considering As an aside, I was a little surprised being able to book any number of good hotels (I’m staying in Mayfair) at short notice, especially in the school holidays. Pre pandemic it was not the case, no idea what it was like this time last year though.
Even things like premier inns have doubled in price ( or more )
Just looked for mid week next week (Wednesday) and room only for a PI in London starts at £180 and many are over £200 and Saturday night £240!
I used to do it quite often when they were £50-£90 and you could drive in, park reasonably and have a nice break
Now it’s a no go as a family for a quick break so I’m not surprised
skwdenyer said:
Post-pandemic, there was lots of availability, and low prices. Now there seems to be lots of availability, but high prices! I'm guessing hotels have adapted to a "new normal" and said "we're not going to be full, so there's no benefit to cutting our throats on price to try to catch up - instead, we need to price up to meet our numbers."
This logic still doesn’t stack up with me.It’s the same with car makers.
As if higher margins were just sat there for the taking.
Yes in a monopoly, or duopoly, or organised setup with price controls.
But it’s not, and if someone can drop prices say 25% and get 50% more business, you’re gonna be up on margin even more… so why not do it?
I’d say the current situation is just a market anomaly.
Nothing trends back to the mean, it’s just flip flopping around it… and the position has been way off the mean, so we’re seeing activity way out of whack to what seems rational or normal.
A lot of hotels will be struggling if volumes are low and prices are high as the fixed costs are bonkers to serve a half full hotel.
Heating, maintenance, taxes. Smaller hotels at capacity will surely be winning out here?
In my local area I’d say this is evident with pubs.
A lot have done strange stuff like food every other night, or then 7pm-9pm to keep costs down etc. But they just keep winding it back and back to the point when you want to go they’re not doing food
But a local pub that wasn’t doing so well pre covid, start food at 5:30pm (still not great as they used to be open from midday), and serve all week, and they’re full, while most others are busy, but only in their small windows.
Surely long term competition and purposeful revenue truncation is going to hurt businesses not maximising their revenue potential?
Very sudden severe drop off in many sectors but not vapes - they are selling like crazy on Amazon.
Hard to believe a young lad with 2 part time staff smashed £300k last month. Not sure why he needs be I can learn a lot from him.
Cosmetics are still huge but so many new players coming in do dilute the young hero brands.
Fashion seems good, I’m not so fast but quick fashion these days, again March was a record March.
Hard to believe a young lad with 2 part time staff smashed £300k last month. Not sure why he needs be I can learn a lot from him.
Cosmetics are still huge but so many new players coming in do dilute the young hero brands.
Fashion seems good, I’m not so fast but quick fashion these days, again March was a record March.
M1AGM said:
Just in the big smoke for a meeting and the black cab driver has been telling me how dead Oxford/regent/mayfair is on an evening and often during the day. Driving down Oxford Street earlier and its a shadow of its former self in terms of footfall.
I suspect this is dependent on the time of day. We went to the theatre on BH Monday, that area was just as busy as it's always been and the theatre itself was full. I can understand that more wfh makes the place quieter during the working day, and to an extent the week evenings.
okgo said:
Is cost of living crisis still a thing?
I genuinely thought all that was behind us now.
It’s never going to be fixed until the main political parties fix housing. That’s the main driver of the biggest chunk of most ordinary people’s outgoings. Classic supply and demand meets landers and bureaucrats. I genuinely thought all that was behind us now.
Meanwhile, the average tenure for a construction minister in the last 5 years was 8 months. Hopeless.
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