UK hoteliers are steeling themselves for a slow economic recovery.

Choice Hotels Europe’s UK division has released a new survey which shows that 36 per cent of UK hotel owners claim the slow the pace of economic recovery could continue for some years.

Choice Hotels, which operates the Comfort, Quality and Clarion brands, questioned managers and owners on priorities for the immediate future and also what they deemed the biggest factor to losing business.

The biggest barrier in preventing the highly valued customer loyalty was found to be the attitude of staff, with 50 per cent of those surveyed sating they felt this was the largest contributor to any negative impact. 18 per cent of hotels have subsequently implemented a range of staff training and customer service initiatives designed at making the customer experience as best as possible. In particular, front of house and Reception staff, along with room cleaners, will need to improve performance to prevent a poor image of a property being reflected on the key arrival time.

31 per cent of respondents said the past six months were the most difficult ever faced, with the trading environment unlike anything seen in the past. The Choice ‘Hotelier Pulse-Check’ survey however did manage to find that around a third of those polled held hopes that the 12 months ahead would show signs of a turnaround in fortunes. The main priority for all hotels in this period is to step up marketing and advertising campaigns to attempt to attract new customers to their properties, with 18 per cent of hotels also investing in new or upgraded facilities.

A new study by ebookers.com, the European online travel specialist, has found British hotels need to clean up their act.

To help promote this campaign, ebookers is launching a new competition in which you could become a Hotel inspector. The report found that everything from beds to air conditioning, cleanliness to staff approachability all made up the overall hotel experience, which was topped by US hotels, with Spain, France and Greece coming in at the bottom.

Steven Rice, ebookers Head of Offline Marketing in the UK, France and Ireland said:”Choosing the right hotel can be a stressful task and our search for the ebookers’ Hotel Inspector aims to take some of the stress out of the decision-making process, by producing high quality reviews for our customers”. The competition is open to all UK residents, and all you need to do to enter is send an email to ebookershotelinspector@redconsultancy.com by Friday 23rd July including a recent photo and 250 words on where you believe you’d find the best hotel, what you think makes a hotel experience great and why ebookers should choose you.

“This is a great opportunity for one lucky person to travel the World to locate the ultimate hotel, sharing their personal tips and experiences to our customers along the way. We’re looking for people with a passion for travel to help uncover the best hotels on offer and if you think you’ve got what it takes to become ebookers Hotel Inspector we encourage you to get in touch,” said Rice.