It is not an easy time to be in the hospitality industry. Between poor consumer sentiment and gas prices that remain at yearslong highs over the war in Iran, many hotel owners are also feeling the trickle-down effect of fewer visitors.
The southernmost county of mainland United Kingdom, Cornwall is bordered by Devon to the East and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south. Popular both domestically and internationally, the county attracts millions of tourists every year who come to experience dramatic coastlines and sleepy fishing villages, along with key historic and natural sites such as Tintagel Castle and St. Michael’s Mount.
While still one of the most popular destinations in the U.K. outside of major cities, Cornwall saw a decline in visitors both in the last full year and the early months of 2026. The numbers of overnight visitors in February 2026 was a 10% decline from the same time a year ago, according to CornwallLive.
“Doing what airlines won’t”: Luxury hotel promises to cover 15% of guests’ fuel bill
To encourage visitors to come to their part of the country anyway, the St Moritz Hotel in the coastal village of Trebetherick is offering to cover 15% of the fuel bill that guests who get to them by car will pay.
“Fuel prices have jumped around 15% across the UK, and while we can’t fix the economy, we can fix the bit that gets you to the Cornish coast,” the hotel said of its spring promotion. “So we’re doing what airlines won’t: covering the fuel surcharge.”
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The exact amount will be calculated by asking guests for their departure postal code and then crunching the numbers based on gallon price averages that day. Travel needs to take place between April 22 and July 1. Guests do not need to be British citizens to benefit from the discount as long as they drove into the area from another part of the country.
Once a private home that was used to house children evacuated during World War II, the St Moritz Hotel was transformed into an Art Deco-inspired luxury resort in 2008. The name draws inspiration from the Swiss ski resort St. Moritz.
St Moritz Hotel
“Government is making life so difficult”: St Moritz hotel owner on fuel crisis
“We have to be very innovative, very deft of foot in the hospitality industry at the moment, because the government is just making life so difficult for us,” St Moritz founder and owner Hugh Ridgway told the Daily Mail.
Ridgway also said this strategy is meant to stand in contrast to those of several European airlines that have been trying to squeeze in price increases on tickets and ancillary services such as baggage in response to the fuel crisis.
In the case of Spanish low-cost airline Volotea, at least one airline has thus far also introduced a fuel tax “in reverse,” where some passengers who already had booked tickets received an email asking them to pay between €7 to €15 to cover the fact that jet fuel prices had risen.
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