£728 a night? Hotel prices soar as Cheltenham continues capacity plans

Last year's festival may have taken place behind closed doors, but despite the surging Omicron variant of Covid-19, Cheltenham took the positives out of Boris Johnson's announcement on Tuesday and are continuing plans for a full-capacity event.

And it seems the sport's fans are doing so as well, with many hotels sold out and causing prices to soar for the few that remain, with a room in the three-star Holiday Inn Express in the town centre costing £728 on Gold Cup night.

Prices range between £653 and £813 at the four-star Malmaison on the same night and £917 to £972 on Tuesday night, compared to £637 at the four-star Hotel Du Vin on Gold Cup night. In comparison, a night's stay at the five-star Dorchester in London is £770.

The four-day festival, which takes place from March 15-18 this year, is estimated to be worth £100 million to the regional economy and the Jockey Club Racecourses-owned track took encouragement from the prime minister's latest Covid briefing, when he stated his intention to "ride out" the Omicron variant.

Johnson added there was "a good chance" he would not impose fresh measures and Cheltenham is hopeful of attracting a typical crowd of around 20,000 for Festival Trials day on January 29.

Ian Renton, managing director of Jockey Club South West, said: "We projected a similar trajectory that things are going to get worse before they get better with the Omicron variant. Hopefully it peaks this month, and with any luck, we see a decline in the figures as we come to the end of January.

"A lot of people are seeing Covid becoming something that we are going to have to live with and the messaging we hear coming out of government is that hopefully that will begin to appear in the spring. With any luck, there will be no further restrictions imposed between now and then.

"We're hopeful Festival Trials day will be in a similar position to where we were on New Year's Day and we tend to attract a crowd of around 20,000 for then.

"At the moment, we're planning on being able to carry on normally for the festival unless we hear to the contrary, but we have learnt to be very flexible over the last couple of years."

Cheltenham's New Year's Day fixture saw the enforcement of new Covid certification requirements, with racegoers needing to show certification of double vaccination or proof of a negative lateral flow test to access the track. Among the 29,000 crowd, just two racegoers were refused entry.

Renton said: "Our New Year's Day meeting is typically our most difficult day of the year as the vast majority of our attendance decides on the day if they are coming or not and arrive shortly before the first without a ticket, but it was the smoothest entry we've had this time with most people booking tickets in advance.

"People were aware of the messaging, arrived early to avoid the queues and it went remarkably well. We've had very positive feedback on the Covid protocols and everyone arrived well prepared. Our team had done a fantastic job in informing people about what was required, be it through marketing or with signage and loudspeakers on the day."

Lingfield hosts the inaugural Winter Million fixture this monthCredit: Edward Whitaker

Arena Racing Company similarly welcomed the news from Tuesday night's Covid briefing and look forward to hosting their inaugural Winter Million jumps fixture at Lingfield on January 21-23, but believe there are still signs of uncertainty among potential racegoers.

Mark Spincer, managing director at Arc, said: "We were certainly pleased to hear the news from the prime minister last night and will continue to work towards our plans for hosting all our upcoming race meetings in England, including the Winter Million weekend at Lingfield Park.

"We have been really pleased with the level of interest for what is a new fixture in the calendar, but even with the updates from the prime minister, we are definitely still seeing some uncertainty from bookers for events in the coming weeks, which is understandable.

"We very much look forward to the inaugural Winter Million and there are plenty of offers that racing fans can take advantage of still available online."

The government reported 334 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test on Wednesday, those figures including a backlog reported by NHS England overnight, and 194,747 positive cases.

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