Breaking all the rules... the B&Bs who want us to go on holiday NOW!
GUESTHOUSES are breaking strict lockdown rules by offering accommodation to tourists.
All but essential travel remains banned under efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus.
But some hotels, B&Bs and selfcatering properties said last week they were happy to welcome visitors – although most venues insist they allow only key workers.
The Scottish Government has warned that businesses flouting the rules could face closure and fines of up to £10,000.
The Spires Serviced Apartments, with 18 flats in Edinburgh’s New Town, offered our reporter, posing as a tourist, accommodation at £75 per night.
Asked if guests had to be ‘key workers’, a telephone adviser replied: ‘No, you don’t need to be.’
He added they were offering a ‘no contact policy’, with payment made online, keys deposited in a safe box and no room cleaning.
Our reporter was also offered one and two-bedroom suites at the company’s complexes in Glasgow’s Merchant City and Great Western Road, Aberdeen.
The Aberdeen-based firm says on its website it ‘considers the safety of staff and customers as being of the upmost importance’ and that it ‘closely monitors’ Government and NHS advice.
When confronted later, Spires said accepting our booking had been a ‘mistake’. Sales manager Craig Duguid added: ‘We have not taken and are not taking any business that is not key workers or NHS, and will be updating our website to make this clear.’
Guesthouses elsewhere were also happy to accept bookings from holidaymakers ‘looking to escape for the weekend’.
A reporter contacted Bishopcleugh Guest House in Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, through a booking website to ask if reservations were being accepted for the weekend. An email asked about a ‘weekend getaway’.
The owner said a large room was available but they had another guest and ‘wanted to stagger the breakfasts’.
Our reporter made it clear she was travelling from Glasgow to the town for leisure and ‘a change of scenery’.
After offering us a room for £100, owner Christine Sloan asked: ‘What time do you think you will arrive tomorrow?’
She later said she had been offering rooms to key workers only. Mrs Sloan pledged to ensure that all guests would have to prove they were essential staff with a legitimate reason to travel.
She added that would be made clear in her online advertising.
The Seamore Guest House in Moffat, Dumfriesshire, offered B&B to an undercover reporter who said they were considering a weekend away.
They asked what ‘extra measures’ the guest house had in place – as advertised online.
The owner said bedroom items that cannot be washed straight away, such as cushions, had been removed, and hand sanitiser was available. Asked whether breakfast was in a communal area, she replied: ‘It is in a breakfast room, yes, but I’m not taking many guests. If you book this weekend I expect you’ll be on your own.’
The online advert, on a popular booking site, offers a family room for up to £120 a night, double rooms from £70 a night and single occupancy from £40.
The owner, who gave her name only as Susan, said she had been ‘under the impression’ the person who inquired was a key worker, because she ‘can’t imagine why anyone else will be travelling’ – although our reporter had not been challenged on the issue.
Asked if she would check any further bookings, she replied: ‘Definitely, with the Government being the way it is’.
The Scottish Government has said hotels, hostels, B&Bs, campsites and boarding houses can offer rooms only to key workers, non-UK residents who are unable to travel to their country of residence, the homeless, vulnerable people and those attending family funerals when returning home is not feasible. They cannot offer holiday accommodation.
A Government spokesman said: ‘Scotland’s tourism sector has been hit hard by this pandemic and we do not underestimate the crisis this has created.
‘It is essential, however, that reopening of the sector is phased in order to ensure the protection of public health. Stay at home as much as possible.’
‘What time do you think you will arrive?’