How do new EU travel rules affect UK hotels and B&Bs?

New Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangement regulations have come into force from 1st July 2018. These have been introduced to close the gap in levels of consumer protection between traditional travel packages from high street agents and packages purchased online.

Since these rules were introduced, holidaymakers now have greater protection when booking online and can rest assured that if something goes wrong, they will be compensated in the same way as if they’d have booked through a travel agent. This means that more holidays online will be sold as packages, protecting holidaymakers in events such as their airline going bust, or being unable to travel due to bad weather.

How does this affect the tourist trade in the UK?

Whilst these new rules have been introduced in order to protect tourists, they have also directly impacted the UK tourist trade. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has extended the rules to cover any service not part of the room rate, which means that hotels and B&Bs in the UK now have to adhere to certain conditions if they offer linked additional services.

These conditions limit businesses from carrying out actions such as reserving guests a table at their in-house restaurant, booking them a taxi or recommending they eat at a restaurant in which they need to book in advance. If, as a hotel or a B&B, you do want to carry out these services, you will need to take out additional insolvency insurance in order to remain compliant with the law.

Making sure you’re properly insured

If you want to check your current insurance covers insolvency cover or if you’re looking to extend the cover you have to meet the legal obligations, contact Affinity Brokers on 0141 221 9344 to speak to one of our friendly team.