THE COVID pandemic has led to one local hotel expanding whilst another is considered unviable and will be converted into two detached homes.

The Kerenza Hotel in Flexbury is aiming to provide more accommodation. Planning has been applied for a second floor extension to provide a further six bedrooms as well as a sundeck on the flat roof. The hotel currently has 22 bedrooms.

The planning statement said: “Although the impact of COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns has been very bad on the hotel industry, the new owners have rebranded the Hebasca Hotel as the Kerenza Hotel and are now prepared to invest further to improve its overall viability.”

But the former 16-bedroomed Bossiney House Hotel and restaurant near Tintagel which shut down during the COVID pandemic won’t reopen and is to be converted into two homes – one with six bedrooms and one with four.

The main structures of the existing buildings will be retained to avoid unnecessary construction works.

Bossiney House Hotel provided holiday accommodation for decades, but the owners want to retire and attempts to sell the hotel as a commercial business were unsuccessful. The planning statement said: ‘This is considered to be the result of social changes whereby holiday guests are moving towards a preference for private self-contained accommodation rather than traditional catered hotels. It was decided to close the business in 2020 due to operational difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.’

Planning permission was granted for two detached houses to be created but the attached guest house, Southcote Cottage, will remain as a guest house with owners’ accommodation.