Employees having to ‘trade down’ hotels

Businesses are telling their employees not to stay in certain hotels as they try to save money in the current financial crisis, a hospitality company says.

Employers are asking their staff to ‘trade down’ when choosing a place to stay, which is causing the luxury hotel trade to suffer, according to Hilton International.

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ UK hotels forecast shows the average occupancy rates continued to fall across the country by 4.1 per cent in September compared to 2007.

Chris Silcock, vice president of revenue and service delivery at Hilton International, said the luxury hotel trade is currently under pressure.

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"If you look at some business sectors, they are mandating, so they are being told that they can’t use certain types of hotels," he added.

According to World Wide Fund for Nature, if one in five business travellers in Europe used video conferencing rather than flying, 22 million tonnes of CO2 emissions could be saved a year.