Like I’ve already said, you really don’t have a clue.

B2N2, Maybe in your rush to put forward your strong personal opinion you are failing to absorb who has actually written what and jumping to incorrect conclusions.

I only fly helicopters for a living and have been doing so for over forty years. Whatever flying ego I had was probably satisfied many years ago in my earlier, military career. I have never flown a helicopter anywhere for my own personal use and have never hired one. At any landing site I’m required to go to, the customers get the fancy lunch, and have to pay all the bills, not me. On my days off, tbh I can find better things to do than go to expensive hotels for lunch because I’ve never been one for busman’s holidays. I’m more likely to be found scratching around on an old motorcycle at a roadside cafe.

It’s quite alarming how some posters are quite happy to miss the point of the OP completely.
Grantley Hall was renovated using ex-Mrs Sykes’ divorce settlement.
Helipad provided to entertain Southerners and their expensive whims.
Hotel can only exist if they have specific guests.
Guests who don’t want to pay an extortionate fee to spend further money at the establishment can go elsewhere.
Hotel which applies extortionate fee sets its stall out early- attitude which probably is not limited just to helipad fees.
It’s an impressive renovation but you can tell for whom it was renovated for.
In my simple mind - a hotel to charge a fee for a guest when nothing extra has been provided is a hotel that is both short-sighted and discriminating. In the same manner as I would not stay in a hotel if they charged extra for me to park my car at their location.

Many moons ago An RAF helicopter from Odiham agreed to drop off a guy going on leave at nearby Speke airport, when it was still operational.

They were worried about getting the landing fees for what was really an unofficial drop-off, so hover taxied in, then sitting in the hover the guy jumped out and the crewman passed his bag down to him.

The helicopter then departed and lo and behold an invoice arrived at Odiham for the landing fees, the crew pointed out It hadn’t physically landed, Speke looked at it and realised It hadn’t so had to cancel the fee. :)

Then can I respectfully suggest you do not try to park in any decent airport hotel or indeed any hotel in a main city in the USA!

The cornerstone of the capitalist system is: willing buyer, willing seller.

The concept of exclusivity and cost exists in most places, from fine dining restaurants to golf courses.

Does carnoustie do anything magical to their links that justifies the difference in cost to a local club? Not really but they are packed.
Is Dinner by Heston justified for charging what they do for a roasted pineapple? Definitely not, but they are also full.

No one forces any one to go to these places.
Yet when I go read internet reviews of a high-end restaurant there will be 1-star reviews.
The most common one is from the bloke that has had a terrible time and taken them apart not because the food was average, but the cost was "ridiculous".
Yet they knew this in advance, still went for a meal and was irritated the whole time.

Value for money is a concept that varies depending who you are and what you consider important or enjoyable.
The most I have spend on a meal out was around 1000 pounds a head at a lovely place in Oslo, it was the meal of a lifetime, but I have spent a tenner on lunch and felt ripped off.
Each to their own, don't blame a proprietor for having a market.
No one spends 70M if you aren't going to get a healthy return.

Topic officially beaten to death by handbags.

I think that it's very simple, the hotel has set itself up as 'high end' to attract 'VIP's' as such they will have to provide a pad in the event that some footballer or perhaps the Queen would like to visit but they really don't want it used by just anybody. So if Mr Chav in his 44 decides he would like to land there they are going to charge like a wounded bull to discourage or at least penalise him if he absolutely insists.
For the same reason many 'top end' car dealers don't conduct their own MOT's because if they did, they would be obliged to accept any car for test just so Joe Soap can say he took his car to a Ferrari garage.
THEY DON'T WANT YOUR BUSINESS, they are above all that.

I would ask the forum/thread to please stop using “football players” as some vaunted income or social bracket. Among the business and finance sector, this socio-economic group is a pariah and not really welcome anywhere (dodgy nightclubs excepted).

In the big picture, they don’t really make/have that much money and providing financial services to them is deemed the “dirty side” of finance.

That's really not the case here. Have a look at the planning permission that GH submitted. They applied for 1000 movements (500 take-offs & 500 landings) per year, with up to 28 on a single day.

The locals were concerned about a 'new airport' being established on their doorstep.

Ask for loads, planning authority knock it down to what you want.

@RMK you may not like it but footballers are considered VIP's, not the same as Royalty but in the Instagram world they are. Their money is no more dirty than Prince Charles's. Perhaps we should talk about top F1 drivers instead.

@Bravo73 Perhaps they reconsidered their business model?

After four pages of moaning and hearing “B2N2” cry about rich folk going to lunch via helicopter, I picked up the phone and called them myself. My result, was:

ME “I’ll be in the area next month and interested in a possible lunch booking; I’ll be arriving by helicopter, is that OK?

Hotel “Yes, we just ask for a completed form and copy of your insurance

ME “That’s customary; is there a landing fee if I have a lunch booking?”

Hotel “No Sir, there’s no charge, just let us know the dates you’re interested in”



...I can only assume I have a more soothing telephone voice than the OP.

md 600 driver,

If you are after a pleasant lunch in the area, could I suggest a very pleasant Hall just west of the A1, near J47? Helicopters do land there, although I don't know any details relating to their 'treatment' there.

Or they have a google alert up for their hotel name and are aware of this thread...

It is a nice summary of emotions towards helicopter pilots though!

RMK, did you tell them Helicopter pilots matter! :E

Gazpad - That's also my approach. If there is a landing fee, I simply thank them,don't make the booking and look for somewhere else I would like to go that wants the business. There are plenty of great places in UK that don't try to rip you off.

Off there later this month so will let you know if my night was ruined by noisy helicopters ;-)

If all else fails try this !

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7923b6b784.jpg

I clearly have too much time on my hands, did a similar exercise today with 6 high end Hotel locations in the South East that have landing areas within their grounds... Fees ranged from zero to 250 pounds, the higher fees in some instances were suddenly reduced to zero when you mention “I’ve been here before, or I regularly fly in with clients “

Seems like BS still works in all industries!

That looks like it’s adjacent to the A55, North Wales. Quite close to Michael Owen’s place ? Talking about footballers and decadence, he used to commute daily by helicopter from there to training in Newcastle as he didn’t want to leave his stud farm for too long at a stretch !!