Pub accommodation predicted to grow in 2024

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Overnight stays: Voucher sales for pub accommodation website soar (Credit: Getty/ Kathrin Ziegler)

Pubs with rooms website Stay In A Pub has predicted pub accommodation to grow in 2024 after it reported a 50% increase in voucher sales over the Christmas period.

The average spend has been £127 per gift with some spending £400 to £500.

Stay In A Pub now lists more than 1,500 bookable pubs with accommodation.

The company has raised an added £100,000 from its shareholders to grow traffic to the site.

Stay In A Pub founder Paul Nunny said: “We have received great support from all the major players in the industry and now our shareholders have committed extra funding to support the drive to make pub accommodation easy to book. 

“We now list approximately 20% of all pubs with accommodation in the UK and are No 1 on Google searches for many key terms.  It looks like pub accommodation will be a very important growth sector for the industry in 2024.”

Return visits

Last year, research revealed six in 10 consumers who have stayed in a pub in the past two years would prefer to stay overnight in the on-trade rather than other types of accommodation for the same spend and location.

The research was released by Stay In A Pub and conducted by from CGA by NIQ and supported by Visit England and Visit Britain.

This figure was up from just over half (53%) in 2019, the study showed. It also outlined how 60% of consumers stated the main reason to stay in a pub is it represents good value for money.

Where to begin?

Some 59% of those who have not stayed in a pub before said they would consider it if they knew where to look.

Operators also shared their top tips on launching a rooms offer with The Morning Advertiser. Lancashire-based gastropub the Freemasons at Wiswell launched its accommodation offering in 2019. The gastropub offers packages for guests that include breakfast, and for the operator Steven Smith, “it’s all about the food first then some beautiful rooms”.

Another pub proud of its accommodation offering is the Black Swan. The pub’s owner Scott Fairweather said: “While offering accommodation does involve a lot more work, more staff and also potential headaches along the way, they are certainly worth it & especially in a rural location, it could be the difference between make or break.”