Sometimes a hunch is not just a hunch: Predictions that West Midlands residents would stampede back to bars and restaurants once they open for outdoor trade in April are turning out to be more than true.

Advance bookings for Coventry’s new Telegraph Hotel, ahead of the phased April/May reopening of the UK hospitality sector, show exceptionally strong demand, the company reported.

The Bespoke Hotel created in the former Coventry Telegraph newspaper offices will open its rooftop bar on 14 April, two days after outside hospitality reopens to small groups. It has already taken 800 bookings for a ‘tapas style’ menu and cocktails, Boutique Hotelier reports.

The bar is covered and heated, which perhaps explains the enthusiastic response.

The Telegraph Hotel was the work of Complex Development Projects. The £18M development includes 88 rooms.

The Corporation Street venue was due to open in 2020 but multiple lockdowns and local restrictions pushed the launch back.

Early bookings also bode well for the hotel sector, with will not reopen before 17 May. This too is a guess that is more than a hunch. The theory had been that vaccinated baby boomers, now enjoying a comfortable retirement, would kick-start the UK hotel sector once lockdown ends.

Research published this week by CBRE argued that the recovery of the European hotel market will initially be driven by domestic travel demand. However, hotel revenues are not forecast to recover across the market to pre-pandemic levels until 2024.

The findings show that European countries with strong domestic leisure and corporate demand and less reliance on international demand, particularly long haul, are likely to recover sooner. This was the case during the partial reopening of hotels in H2 2020, where domestic leisure demand was the key driver of hotel performance across Europe.

Hotels with a strong leisure offering performed strongly when travel restrictions were eased, and serviced apartments generally outperformed the market.

The challenging trading conditions and market uncertainty contributed to a decline in hotel investment volumes in all countries across Europe in the 12-months to Q4 2020, with hotel investment totalling €6.6B, a decrease of 75% year-on-year.