Brittain made her remarks as Whitbread reported a revival in coffee sales at Costa that helped it overcome a weak London hotel market that has affected business at Premier Inn.
Some readers said my theory rested on weak examples: hotel workers who seemed fearful of going off script.
Because of weak reservations, hotels in London and throughout England are offering discounts.
In a weak market, hotels realized they had to choose to lower their rates or eliminate their fees, and with so many guests complaining, they did away with the fees.
"To the extent that airlines cut back on Saturday-night-stay requirements, it will definitely have a negative effect on many hotels -- in a year that is already very weak for the hotel industry," said Robert Mandelbaum, an analyst with the research firm PKF Consulting.
Although Cartan has not trimmed the prices of these packages, Don Williams, its vice president for sales and marketing, said that weak demand for hotel rooms in the Blue Mountains -- about 90 minutes by train from the main Olympic site in Sydney -- led the company to create one-week packages for $3,349 a person, double, available each week of the Games.
Even their unhappiness is of a more pedestrian kind -- at jacked-up prices at hotels, weak American beer, traffic that makes them late for their favorite sports -- than any kind of lingering anxiety from the Sept. 11 attacks, the war that followed or the potential for more terrorism.
Online travel sites are also benefiting from the weak economy, with hotels giving them more inventory.
With weak bookings for summer, hotels, tour operators and other related businesses all over Britain are cutting prices.
Weak bookings caused several hotels on St. Lucia to close this winter, while the island's 285-room Hyatt Regency was notified in December that a receiver had been appointed to supervise the hotel; reservations will not be accepted for stays beyond March 25.
