Virgin Hotels has confirmed that bookings in its U.S. hotels are stable despite an unstable political environment. Bookings from the UK and Europe are also steady, which the hotel group attributes to the fall of the dollar against the pound and euro.
Speaking at the launch of a new Hidden Grooves lounge at the Virgin Hotel London Shoreditch, Sir Richard Branson said: “If the dollar weakens against the pound and other currencies, it’s already going to cost outbound visitors around 12% less when they get to America. Added to that, fuel prices are less than average because of that too.”
James Bermingham, Chief Executive Officer at Virgin Hotels Collection, who was also at the launch, said that “this effectively puts the U.S. on sale for outbound travellers” and that across its U.S. portfolio “we are currently exactly where we budgeted we would be and have not seen a disruption, yet.” He confirmed this is the case for Virgin Voyages too.
When asked if he had spoken to President Trump over growing concerns that his flurry of surprise policy announcements are creating uncertainty among international visitors, Branson said: “I do think business leaders need to be braver in what they say. It’s worrying that people in a country should be afraid of speaking out because of the consequences.”
He added: “America is the land of the free. It shouldn’t be the land of the afraid.”
Both Branson and Bermingham confirmed that when it comes to new hotel openings Virgin is still planning to make U.S. openings and is “aggressively looking at opportunities in Atlanta, Denver, and Charlotte.”
They also indicated that strategic focus is on Europe too, especially as Britain “suddenly looks very attractive” because of its stable business and political environment.
“I was in Toronto the other day, and the Canadians were all saying they were avoiding the U.S. and are all coming to the UK,” said Branson.
He added: “At the moment, Virgin is fully recovered from COVID-19 and we are on a roll.”
Virgin Hotel London Shoreditch’s new Hidden Grooves lounge is inspired by classic vinyl. Guests can sip cocktails while choosing their favourite vinyl records to listen to on a record player.
