The guidelines for the reopening of the hospitality sector on July 4th (England), July 10th (Wales) and July 15th (Scotland) have been announced and concerns have been raised about rules that aren’t immediately apparent to accommodation owners.
PASC UK (The Professional Association of Self-Caterers), a company dedicated to lobbying the Government on behalf of professional self-caterers, have found a number of issues with the plan to reopen involving the self-isolation of symptomatic guests and the one family rule.
The biggest issue facing sites was that if guests developed Covid symptoms whilst staying at the site, they would have to self-isolate at the site. This would cause utter chaos for the owners as they would then have to cancel future bookings until the mandatory 14-day isolation period had been completed.
Thankfully, due to PASC UK’s lobbying efforts, and all the business owners who contacted their local MPs, this rule has now been changed. Now, if a guest develops symptoms, they should request a test, and if this test comes back positive, the guest should return home and self-isolate. Owners will then be required to carry out a full deep clean of the accommodation to ensure that any future guests are not infected.
Another issue that remains in place, however, is the one household rule. The one household rule states that individual accommodation units can only be rented by people who live in the same household. This may not be an issue for sites that only rent out smaller accommodation units, but for sites with lodges and larger accommodation types, it is a real issue.
Part of the issue with this rule, is that to travel to the site, guests are permitted to travel via cramped public transport such as planes and trains, stopping along the way to pick up anything they might need in shops filled with other people.
While social distancing remains of utmost importance, there are some businesses that are being given far more leeway in their approach these rules than others. Many are arguing that it makes very little sense to allow people in close proximity with each other in some places and not in others.
For businesses that only offer larger accommodation units, this is a real problem and has the potential to put these companies in danger of having to close.
Another issue with the one household rule is the vagueness of the term household. A household could be a single person who lives in a flat, a family who all live together, or any number of students who live in shared accommodation. This means that it will be very difficult for site owners to enforce.
While the guidance given out so far are only guidelines (not enforceable by law) it is vital that they are followed. This is because if there is a situation at your site, such as someone showing symptoms or even an injury unrelated to coronavirus, insurance companies may have the right to refuse your claim based on the fact that you were not following the advice given by the government.
If you’d like to find out more about PASC UK and their lobbying efforts, visit their website at: pascuk.co.uk
