TWO Weymouth hotels have been refurbished after a coach holiday company ploughed more than £1million into its properties.

Daish's Holidays used the quiet time enforced by the pandemic to upgrade its premises in the town along with the rest of its portfolio.

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The Russell Hotel and Hotel Prince Regent are both on Weymouth's esplanade.

The internal public areas of the Prince Regent have been redecorated, including the restaurant. A number of bedrooms have also had walk-in showers installed to aid older guests.

READ MORE: Daish Holidays to axe 177 jobs amid coronavirus crisis

At the Russell Hotel, the bar, restaurant, reception and ballroom have been redecorated. Some of the bedrooms have been given a “refreshed look” including the en suite bathrooms.

The Bournemouth-based company owns 12 hotels in 10 tourist destinations.

%image('12824818', type="article-full", alt="The Prince Regent Hotel in Weymouth has been refurbished as part of a £1m investment by Daish's Holidays")

Paul Harper, commercial director of Daish’s Holidays, said: “We used our enforced closures over the past year to carry out an extensive refurbishment programme which would prepare our hotels for the current staycation boom.

“Daish’s has received bumper bookings across the board that lead right up to Christmas, so it was important to make this investment now.

“Daish’s would never usually have the opportunity to carry out a refurbishment of this scale while our hotels were fully operational, so we proactively used this downtime to carefully plan and roll out these works.

“We are so proud of the final results and look forward to receiving feedback from our loyal guests and new faces this summer.”

READ MORE: Hotel Prince Regent and the Russell Hotel in Weymouth to close until February 1

Daish’s Holidays expanded last year when it took over another operator, Robinsons Holidays, adding two hotels and 13 coaches to its business.

Daish’s made 177 jobs redundant at the start of the coronavirus crisis in March 2020, but later recruited 83 people – many of them staff returning to the company.

The company offers package deals including half-board and coach transport, with nightly live entertainment. Its coaches serve pick-up points from West Yorkshire to Cornwall.

Bournemouth Sands Hotel has also undergone a “significant” refurbishment, with a number of bedrooms and en suite bathrooms modernised “to give a new, contemporary look”.