It has been the season to be frugal as businesses looked to bag bargains on Christmas events for staff and clients, with some hotels reporting a drop in bookings.

According to feedback received by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, bookings for staff parties and corporate events reached the same numbers as last year but budgets were tighter this season.

“Our members are saying that bookings are very much on the same lines as last year but people were looking for a bargain,” MHRA chief executive George Schembri told The Times Business. “Pricing was a major factor this year. This is the feeling across the board.”

Christopher Gingell Littlejohn, director of sales and marketing at the Intercontinental, said there was “most definitely” a slowdown in booking pace, both for staff parties and corporate events.

“These were primarily conditioned by budgetary constraints and perceptive considerations. We estimate a 20 per cent year-on-year drop,” Mr Gingell Littlejohn told The Times Business. “Even when there is money to be spent, we have noticed that due to the demands made on employees throughout the year, companies are sceptical on being perceived as ‘splashing out’ on Christmas dos. This is evident with the event types being booked in. We have seen an exponential increase in staff-organised events as opposed to company-organised events.”

A spokesman for the Westin Dragonara Resort said that “although still healthy”, corporate event bookings were slightly down from last year.

“Pressure on price was extremely strong, coupled with very low competing offers,” the spokesman said. “Budgets of events that will occur per se have not been scaled down. However, a number of companies did choose not to organise an event at all this Christmas.”

Island Hotels Group, which incorporates the Radisson Blu Resort St Julian’s and the Radisson Blu Resort and Spa Golden Sands, is satisfied with the season’s business.

“Within Island Hotels Group bookings for Christmas staff parties and events are on similar lines to previous years,” group chief executive officer Winston J. Zahra said. “We have not noticed any major changes in demand and most companies look for good value for money as they have always done in the past.”

Meanwhile, MHRA members were reporting that bookings for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve were lagging behind last year.

The chief executive said hotels and restaurants were hoping bookings would catch up on Christmas 2008 figures as establishments faced rising costs.