The Bell Inn in South Newton fearing closure after Booking.com's change of policy

The Bell Inn, in South Newton, is run by David Hydon, and he says the search area that The Bell Inn lies inside has been changed, and is no longer classified as Salisbury.

It comes after the closure of The Swan at Stoford, which ceased trading last month after seven years, as a result of declining accommodation and food sales.

The Swan team claims Booking.com is to blame for the loss, as the travel search engine changed geographical information about the pub’s whereabouts on its website.

Instead of leaving its location as Salisbury, Booking.com edited the establishment’s details to be categorised under Stapleford, which in turn meant it came up less in searches.

David Hydon and Nicky Bishop

David, and his fiancée Nicky Bishop, took over The Bell Inn just under four years ago, having previously ran another pub in Wimborne.

David said: “We have also been affected by a new Booking.com system. We’ve been told pubs and hotels are classified as in Salisbury if they are up to a maximum of 7km from their pin point, which is around the train station.

“We rely on the income from our five rooms to keep the pub going, which is not viable without it.
“The impact on us is not yet known, as our rooms are busy from May to September, but if what has happened at The Swan happens to us, by the end of September our occupancy could be significantly down and we will also probably have to close.”

What is even more annoying, David says, is that The Old Mill Bed and Breakfast, also in South Newton, has kept its place in the Salisbury search on Booking.com, as it is 6.9km away from Salisbury train station, but The Bell Inn has been removed because it is over 7km (7.2km) away. 

David added: “This is what is particularly galling. We are in the same village as The Old Mill, and we have people coming here for dinner but then staying the night at the Old Mill, because they didn’t know we did rooms, because we weren’t listed on Booking.com.”

A Booking.com statement said: “Our overarching aim at Booking.com is to provide our customers with transparent information that empowers them to find the stays and travel experiences that are just right for them, and this includes how we assign properties to a specific destination.

"Although we have not made any recent changes to our geolocation policies, if we are made aware of an inconsistency, we take steps to address it as part of our continuing efforts to set accurate expectations for our customers.”