Cornish locals have erupted in fury after the price at the ‘eco-hotel’ where G7 leaders will meet was hiked to £4,000 per night ahead of the summit.
The Carbis Bay and Spa Hotel in St Ives, Cornwall, is charging a whopping £4,000 to visitors wishing to reserve one night on June 4, and a minimum of £3,500 to those staying overnight on May 22 and 23, the MailOnline can reveal.
Holidaymakers looking to set aside one room for one adult are shown the prices on Booking.com, with the hotel’s double rooms and apartments appearing fully booked for those specific dates, leaving only villas available on the site.
Those wishing to book on June 1 can pay at least £1,200 per night for a two-bedroom apartment, with more rooms available towards the start of May, costing £550 for one night in a two-bedroom apartment.
The G7 summit is set to be held from June 11 to 13, leaving the hotel fully booked between June 7 and 17, with none of its rooms appearing on the site for those dates.
The prices sparked fury after Edward Rowe, also known as Kernow King, tweeted a screenshot of the £3,500 cost for one night, one adult.
Mr Rowe, a Cornish comedian and actor, wrote: ‘You wanna know why the Carbis Bay Hotel don’t give a s*** about planning? One night. 22nd May.’
The flurry of bookings come ahead of Carbis Bay Hotel playing host to world leaders including Boris Johnson, Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau for the G7 summit to discuss climate change.
The Carbis Bay and Spa Hotel in St Ives, Cornwall, is charging a whopping £4,000 to visitors wishing to reserve one night on June 4, according to Booking.com
Holidaymakers looking to set aside one room for one adult are shown the prices on Booking.com, with the hotel’s double rooms and apartments appearing fully booked for those specific dates, leaving only villas available on the site
Social media users reacted to the high prices, with one Cornish local posting: ‘What is this place coming to? Cornwall used to be better than this.
‘The Cornish are better than this. My parents had a hotel at Newquay which we also lived in as a family – they would be so horrified to see how their industry is going.’
Another wrote: ‘Bargain! Nice touch to include breakfast’.
A third added: ‘F***ing hell. That’s my mortgage for five months.’
Social media users reacted to the high prices, with one Cornish local posting: ‘What is this place coming to? Cornwall used to be better than this’
And a fourth tweeted: ‘I’d be wanting more than 7.8 or ‘good’ for £3.5k a night. A fool and his money are soon parted. Grotesque.’
It follows the hotel felling trees and digging up shrubs to build new meeting rooms ahead of the summit.
But it faced fury from campaigners after mature trees were removed before planning permission was sought to create three rooms.
An application was submitted in March. If rejected, the work carried out so far will have to be reversed.
Several local councillors previously spoke out against the decision to remove the trees.
Cllr Luke Rogers earlier said: ‘I think it’s a disgrace that this summit, which is meant to be looking at the effects of climate change and the environment, is being organised and hosted by people who obviously don’t give a damn about either.’
Cllr Kirsty Arthur added: ‘I have yet to see Carbis Bay Hotel make any statements about what they are doing and how it can be explained.
‘That would go a long way into people understanding why, although I can’t imagine any answer would be sufficient.
‘However, we need to remember that it’s their land and so legally not much can be done although the environmental implications and moral stance will reflect differently for all of us I’m sure.’
Despite concerns from the locals, the Government had confirmed it was not involved in the changes.
Andrew Mitchell, a local councillor, told The Times: ‘I wouldn’t want to be the planning officer, who is between a rock and a hard place.’
On their website, the Carbis Bay Hotel says they take environmental issues ‘extremely seriously’, and are ‘committed to reducing our carbon footprint’.
The estate won the AA Eco Hotel of the Year award in 2019-20, and has been praised for its energy centre, which saves 70 tonnes of carbon usage a year and eliminated the need for 12 boilers on site.
In a statement, Carbis Bay Hotel previously said that a small area of self-seeded scrubland had been removed as part of works that commenced years ago.
They said: ‘The investments in the estate over recent years, including our on-site Energy Centre, have cemented Carbis Bay’s position as one of the UK’s best and greenest destinations, in one of the most beautiful bays in the country.
Carbis Bay Hotel has removed trees and shrubland from its five star estate ahead of the G7 summit in St Ives later this year
World leaders including Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau, and Joe Biden are expected to visit Carbis Bay Hotel in June for the G7 summit to discuss climate change
‘We appreciate that our passion and commitment to the environment are shared by many, and would like to address the misunderstanding on social media, and reassure our guests and neighbours about the area that we are working on at the moment
‘Part of our long-standing plans for the estate included clearing a small self-seeded scrubland area to the side of the hotel, and work on this area started several years ago.
‘We can confirm this was not ancient woodland and there are no badger sets on this piece of land.
‘We are working closely with a local landscaping team to increase planting in this area replacing the scrubland with a plethora of trees and plants more suited to the coastal environment.’
MailOnline has approached Carbis Bay and Spa Hotel for comment.