Hoteliers in the United Kingdom are frustrated the government has seemingly put hotels and hospitality at the end of the queue in its reopening plan.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled on Monday the plan for lifting the latest lockdown restrictions, beginning on March 8 with the reopening of schools and colleges. This has marked the third lockdown since the onset of the pandemic nearly a year ago.

Hotels are expected to be allowed to open on May 17, but only if recent reductions in positive COVID-19 cases and transmissions continue to be supported by data.

Hoteliers expressed concern that their U.K. properties are not allowed to reopen sooner, but also some relief that a timeline has been set so they can prepare.

Kate Nicholls, CEO of the U.K. hotel industry’s principal membership organization, UKHospitality, said it is unthinkable that hotels have gone through so much to accommodate key workers, National Health Service staff, vulnerable people and those needing to quarantine, yet are at the back of the government’s reopening timeline.

Hotels "have been operating successfully and securely. They already have their tried-and-tested systems in place to keep guests and staff safe. Pushing back the reopening of hotels to late May makes little sense,” Nicholls said.

Hoteliers are conscious of more lost revenue and more challenges to the survival of their businesses.

Peter Hancock, chief executive of Pride of Britain Hotels, said “while it is regrettable that we shall miss Easter, with all the losses that entails, it is very good to have some certainty that finally allows hoteliers to plan."

On the bright side, he said, "we can expect a huge amount of interest in stays from May 17 onward, fueled by our customers’ long incarceration, the obstacles to overseas travel and the substantial savings many have accrued over the last 12 months."

The government did not outline what travel to and within the country might look like after May 17. There will likely be no international guests yet, and each of the four U.K. nations also likely will not be able to accept bookings from the other domestic nations.

The government said no decision on international travel, inbound and outbound, will be made until May 17 at the earliest.

Hancock said hoteliers and guests should start to prepare now for an immediate rush in domestic bookings once the lockdown lifts.

“Our advice [to guests] is to book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment and to book directly with the hotel of your choice to ensure flexible cancellation terms,” he said, adding he also expects a great deal of upselling by hotels to make stays memorable.

Some hoteliers expressed concern that the work put in since the start of the pandemic seemingly has been ignored by politicians, who regard the industry’s bars and lobbies as likely places of transmission.

“The hospitality industry appreciates and respects the requirement to open slowly and gradually to protect public health," said Lionel Benjamin, co-founder of Ago Hotels.

"However, the government has demonstrated it is possible to have safe hotels, with its quarantine accommodation, and should trust the sector to open in a responsible and safe manner at the same time as self-catering accommodation,” he added, referring to the government’s decision that any self-contained holiday accommodation — caravans and cottages, for example — can reopen starting April 12.

Danny Pecorelli, managing director of hotel firm The Exclusive Collection, said he also regards hotels as a scapegoat for the government.

“It’s hugely disappointing that once again hospitality is last in the queue to reopening, despite the enormous efforts made to provide safe and secure environments and the lack of evidence of hospitality driving transmission rates," he said. “We are going to lose so many more amazing restaurants, pubs, cafés and hotels. ... Three more months of being unable to fully trade will be the final straw for many."

Benjamin said he hopes the government will reconsider the May 17 reopening date.

“Simple measures such as limiting food services, closing communal areas and reserving areas for people who are fully vaccinated could significantly enhance safety and bring the risk level closer to self-catering accommodation," he said.

More government support inevitably will be needed for the hotel industry, UKHospitality’s Nicholls said.

“The job for the government now is to make sure that our sector survives this further period of closure intact. The Chancellor has just nine days to save thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of jobs that simply will not be there without a substantial package of compensation," she said.

“According to the latest government data, nearly two-thirds of hospitality businesses will run out of cash before May, before they are allowed to reopen. In the immediate term, we need a generous compensation package that goes beyond what was offered in January,” she said.

Nicholls added that help can include the cancellation of tax bills and loan repayments, an extension of cuts to value-added taxes, sales taxes and business rates, and extensions of employee furlough schemes.

“We must also have an extension of the rent moratorium … in order to give businesses some breathing room from the ruinous mountain of debt that has built up for too many. Asking businesses to start paying this money back to [the government] when they are not even open could be terminal for many,” Nicholls said.