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policy

Policy

What city halls and regulators are deciding next.

The government published the table. Guaranteed hours is the cheapest of the three rights in every scenario.
The UK's zero hours reform costs more in shift notice than in guaranteed hours
employment law, competition law, licensing, United Kingdom

The UK's zero hours reform costs hotels more in shift notice than in guaranteed hours. That is the government's own figure.

The government published its costing of the zero hours reforms on 12 August 2026. The headline everyone quoted, £2.9 billion a year, is the top of a range starting at £350 million. Inside the range, the right to reasonable notice of shifts costs employers more than the right to guaranteed hours in every scenario modelled. The rota is the expensive part, not the contract.

By Guneet LambaSep 225 min read
Policy

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Figures reported by Google after its December 2024 test in Germany, Belgium and Estonia. Google produced them during an open investigation, has not published the method, and no independent party has verified them.
Google, Digital Markets Act, European Commission, direct booking, OTA, competition law, primary sources

Google built independent hotels their own unit in European search. It only appears when an online travel agency's unit appears first.

Google rebuilt its European search results on 8 September 2026 under a €460 million non-compliance decision and published the documentation the same day. Direct suppliers, including individual hotels, get a dedicated unit that costs them no feed work. Google's own page states it appears only when the aggregator unit appears. An independent's free placement is now conditional on an online travel agency showing up first.

By Guneet Lamba · Sep 17
Brussels set a score of eight before a city can touch short-term rentals
European Commission, short-term rental regulation, licensing, planning, Airbnb, primary sources

Brussels set a price-to-income score of eight before a city can touch short-term rentals, and none of it reaches the rules Barcelona already has

The European Commission proposed the Affordable Housing Act on 9 September 2026. Before a city can restrict short-term rentals it has to show a price-to-income ratio of at least eight, a rising trend over ten years, and three years of evidence that letting caused the harm. The restriction then expires after five years. Hosts letting their own home are excluded, and existing city rules sit outside the text entirely.

By Guneet Lamba · Sep 16
The UK gave pubs another 20% business rates discount
business rates, UK hospitality, Spain VAT, short-term rental regulation, tourist tax, competitive distortion, European Commission

The UK gave pubs another 20% business rates discount. Spain just hiked tax on hotel competitors to 21%.

The UK government announced a 20% business rates cut for pubs in July 2026, building on a 15% relief from January. Hotels were excluded from both. The selective relief creates a local distortion where hotels pay thousands more than pubs competing for the same food and beverage revenue. Spain took the opposite approach in June, targeting short-term rentals with a 21% value-added tax while keeping hotels at a protected 10%.

By Guneet Lamba · Sep 14
The UK charges double the hospitality VAT rate of France and Spain, and nearly triple Germany's rate on hotel rooms.
Policy

300,000 signatures won't cut UK hospitality VAT. The EU comparison makes the case anyway.

UKHospitality's #VATsTheProblem campaign passed 300,000 signatures on July 30, 2026, with chef Tom Kerridge calling it "creating so much noise," and its core ask is cutting UK hospitality VAT from 20% to 10%. The UK charges the highest hospitality VAT rate in Western Europe, more than double France's and Spain's 10% rate on hotel accommodation. Chancellor John Healey delivers his first Autumn Budget on October 28, 2026, under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and a full VAT cut remains unlikely even as the campaign's numbers grow.

By Minal Mehta · Aug 19 · 2 min read
Scotland taxes by percentage of the bill. Wales taxes by the night. England hasn't picked either yet.
Policy

MPs just told England to slow down on its visitor levy. VAT reform comes first.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hospitality and Tourism published inquiry findings on July 30, 2026, chaired by Chris Webb MP, calling for a full impact assessment, a national framework, and a VAT cut to 10% before any English visitor levy goes live. No English mayoralty has implemented a levy yet, but Edinburgh's 5% levy launched July 24, 2026, and Wales's £1.25-a-night levy is confirmed for April 2027. For independent hotels, the APPG's seven recommendations are the clearest signal yet of what England's eventual levy will look like, and what it won't.

By Minal Mehta · Aug 18 · 2 min read
Pubs got a rate cut. Hotels got excluded from the same announcement, twice in a row.
Policy

Pubs just got a 20% business rates cut. Hotels' own recovering trade is what's pushing their bill up instead.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a 20% business rates cut for pubs, clubs, and live music venues on July 23, 2026, effective April 2027, per the official GOV.UK announcement. Hotels, restaurants, cafes, and cinemas were explicitly excluded, and Skift's Luke Martin reported on July 31, 2026 that the 2026 revaluation is pushing hotel taxable values up 76% on average, and 97% to 110% for four-star-plus and chain properties. For independent hotels, the exclusion isn't just a missed discount. It's a valuation method that ties their tax bill to their own trading recovery.

By Minal Mehta · Aug 17 · 2 min read
The new partnership has flagged 470 cases so far, against an estimated 5,800 suspected nationally.
Policy

Airbnb is sharing UK council-tenant data with local authorities. Independent hotels are not affected.

The UK government and Airbnb launched what the Cabinet Office calls an industry-first data-sharing partnership on July 8, 2026, letting London boroughs and other councils cross-reference Airbnb listings against social-housing tenancy records. The partnership has already flagged 470 potential fraud cases against an estimated 5,800 social homes suspected of illegal subletting nationwide, at a cost the government puts at roughly £78,300 per case. For independent hotels, the initiative creates no new compliance obligation, but it is the clearest sign yet that UK enforcement against short-term rentals is shifting from complaint-driven to data-driven.

By Minal Mehta · Aug 10 · 2 min read
Two national tipping laws, almost two years apart. A compliance guide was still needed after both had taken effect.
Policy

The UK's tipping law is nearly two years old. Most independent hotels still can't prove they follow it.

HOSPA published a practical compliance guide this week on the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, covering troncs, written policies, and record keeping. The guide arrives roughly twenty months after the Act took effect in October 2024, a gap that suggests many UK hospitality businesses still lack the paperwork the law requires. Independent hotels without a written policy, a three-year record system, and agency-worker coverage are exposed the moment a tribunal claim tests them.

By Minal Mehta · Aug 6
England's councils could get STR restriction powers by 2027.
Policy

England's councils could get STR restriction powers by 2027.

With the UK government considering new local powers to manage short-term lets, English independent hotels face a potential shift in the competitive landscape. Here is how to prepare for the 2027 outlook.

By Sharon Biggar · Jul 16 · 2 min read
Malaga blocks new hotels on residential land
Policy

Malaga blocks new hotels on residential land.

Malaga City Council’s new planning mandate effectively closes the residential development route for tourist accommodation, forcing developers to navigate a complex, multi-month approval process for all new projects.

By Sharon Biggar · Jul 16 · 2 min read

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