Buxton hotelier calls it quits - to avoid an 'early grave'

David Noon, 46, has run Alison Park Hotel for the last 15 years – along with his wife, sister and brother-in-law.

Father-of-two David told how over the last couple of years a string of family bereavements ‘one after the other’ and heart surgery had convinced him to call it a day in the interests of his family.

He told how struggling to recover from the economic slump while facing ‘staggering’ competition from big corporations and an increasing dependency on online booking agencies had affected his family’s ‘health and life’.

David said: “We’ve been struggling day-to-day since the financial crisis

“It gets more severe each year - every customer wants a discount of some kind and you’re paying out 20 per cent to online booking agents.

“The only way is through booking agents or paying a digital marketing agency to keep wadding out on your behalf.

“The pressure just gets more severe - it becomes so unbalanced that it affects everyone’s health and life.”

David - who works 15-hour days taking calls and helping guests with problems day and night - said the pressures of the business had been so demanding he had not had time to grieve the loss of loved ones.

He said: “We’re a hotel - we can’t put a sign on the door saying ‘back in five minutes’.

“People turn up expecting the same day-to-day running of the business whether there’s a family crisis or not.

“So to keep our family a family we’ve decided to call it a day.”

The Alison Park hotel has been in David’s family since 1956 - though it was a care home run by his grandparents before it was transformed into a hotel.

David said the decision to close and sell the building had been an ‘emotional’ one as his family life had been centred around the old structure.

The family are currently leasing it from a developer who they sold it to - honouring bookings made until July.