A DETAILED RESPONSE

We are pleased to share UKHospitality’s response to a recent consultation concerning proposals to introduce a new statutory licensing scheme for the short-term let sector in Wales.

The Welsh Government believes this will help create a level playing field for established serviced accommodation businesses – such as hotels – and increasingly popular short-term let properties.

UKHospitality believes that the high standards maintained by established hotels, inns and guest houses should be replicated by the fast-growing short-term let sector. Furthermore, our Executive Director for Wales, Dave Chapman, has gone to great lengths to let the Welsh Government know.

Not only will a licensing scheme help to raise standards, but also enable relevant authorities to enforce vitally important fire, gas, and food safety regulations. This in turn will boost guests’ confidence in the safety of their accommodation.

What any new licensing scheme must not do, though, is burden hotels with any further red tape, so we recommend that they and other businesses already recorded with the Welsh Government, for example through business rates, are excluded from additional inspections and are granted automatic licences.

Indeed, the focus of a future scheme must be on shortterm lets being subjected to the same level of scrutiny as the rest of the accommodation sector, so that they’re brought up to the standard of the likes of hotels.

Because at the moment the growth of short-term lets has created something of a hidden economy, with some shortterm lets, operating as de facto hotels with a number of rooms being let out in blocks – without having to adhere to the same regulations.

This, we feel, has created an unfair level of competition throughout the market, putting hotels and other accommodation providers at a disadvantage. It is also a timely reminder of how many of those businesses are already struggling with high energy prices, Covid debt, staff shortages and food and drink inflation, not to mention unnecessary and commercially restrictive Welsh Government actions such as the Visitor Levy and 182-day restrictions on rates.

Licensing short-term lets in Wales won’t stifle their growing popularity, but will enable them to provide safe accommodation for guests in a framework that creates fairness and transparency.

Owners of short-term lets in Wales who don’t think that’s a good thing might want to question whether hospitality is the right business for them.

Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive, UKHospitality