The season has stretched: September bookings are ahead of July
Hoteliers expect a tail running to mid-October. Finding staff is the harder part.
In coastal towns September occupancy is clearly ahead of the same month last year. Hoteliers put it down to this: family bookings drop away once schools go back, and couples booking two-night stays more than cover the gap.
The problem is not the number of rooms. Most seasonal staff go home in September, and businesses put the extra shifts on whoever stays.
Set the technical argument aside and one question is left: who ends up paying for it.
What the numbers show
The written answer we received says the process is ongoing. On timings, it says nothing at all.
The first figures from the bodies involved do not match. Two different numbers went out on the same day, both through official channels.
The staffing squeeze
There is usually a gap between what people say locally and what the paperwork shows. This time the gap is a little wider than usual.
On paper a longer season is good news. On the ground it means the same team works eight months instead of six, and the bill for that arrives the following April.
PremiumA week of delays on the line and still no explanation
Morning waits on the platform have reached twelve minutes at some stations.
A cat walks across the studio mid-bulletin and the presenters cannot keep it together
At 10.01, straight after the headlines, the cat strolls past camera one. Nobody on the desk picks the thread back up.
Weather warning issued as temperatures drop below the seasonal average
Rain in the north, a sharp fall in overnight lows across inland areas.