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 MehtaAugust 6, 2026

Two national tipping laws, almost two years apart. A compliance guide was still needed after both had taken effect.

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Minal Mehta

Content Writer

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 Lamba · Sep 22 · 5 min read

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

Related stories

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

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

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