|
|
|
Our Campaigns on behalf of B&B and guest house owners
We are here to inform, support and represent our members - and representation involves running campaigns on various issues affecting our members. These include:
TripAdvisor - be fair and honest
There is huge concern about the number of false and malicious reviews on TripAdvisor, and many owners feel their business has been badly affected by even a single malicious review, often posted by someone who has never stayed, or even a competitor.
We are compliling a dossier on this and welcome your case studies about TripAdvisor: email us at comment@bandbassociation.org, putting "TripAdvisor" in the subject line.
NOTE: "Reviews" on TripAdvisor and other similar websites are covered by the laws of Defamation, so reviewers (contrary to what many of them seem to think) can be sued in UK or US courts for damaging and libellous statements.
Saturday 9th Oct 2010: The Daily Telegraph ran a major report on TripAdvisor in its travel section, which will help to bring some of the major doubts over TripAdvisor to the public's attention.
Click to read the article here: TripAdvisor Reviews - Can We Trust Them?
28 November 2011: the Dec/Jan issue of "Bed & Breakfast News" (above), published today, includes a major 6-page article about TripAdvisor, including the latest legal moves, the Government's initiative on user-review sites and more. Members of the Association have access to every issue of Bed & Breakfast News.
PRS for Music
PRS for Music have been accused of using aggressive telephone 'sales' techniques. We believe their charging of a much higher licence fee for B&Bs and guest houses where a TV or radio is present in a "public" area (eg dining room or lounge) is unfair double-charging, as there is no "public" access, only the same guests who are staying and listening to the radio or TV in their bedrooms.
(There is much more detail on our member pages.)
 The 2006 Fire Regulations
Our biggest campaign over the last few years has been against the over-zealous and disporoportional enforcement of the 2006 fire regulations. Our Fire Safety SENSE campaign garnered support from organisations representing some 460,000 small businesses, and two shadow ministers, and our 10 Downing Street Petition was better supported than over 98.5% of all the many thousands of petitions on every subject, on the 10 Downing Street website.
OUTCOME: New, much less onerous guidelines for small B&Bs were introduced by both the Scottish and Westminster Governments. The Scottish Government announced that the resultant saving in cost burden on B&Bs in Scotland has been £100 million. In England and Wales, some Fire Authorities withdrew Enforcement Notices issued under the previous guidelines against small B&Bs. (There is much more detail on our member pages.)
 The "Bed Tax"
The Lyons Inquiry for the last Government looked at Local Government Finance and (in 2007) recommended the introduction of a "local accommodation tax" on all hotels, B&Bs and guest houses - the so-called "bed tax". We and other tourism trade associations lobbied vigorously against this.
OUTCOME: The then Government quickly rejected the Lyons Inquiry's "bed tax" recommendation, so this was a win - or temporary reprieve. The Coalition Government in 2010 is again looking carefully at Local Government finance with a view to making huge savings and/or increasing tax revenues - so we must be vigilant for a reappearance of the "bed tax" proposal.
 Take Tourism Seriously
The Bed & Breakfast Association is part of a united industry-wide campaign by tourism trade associations under the banner "Take Tourism Seriously" to persuade the Government to recognise the true value of tourism to the UK economy.
This is a long-term campaign with many separate strands, but at least the new Coalition Government is making the right noises, as the Prime Minister's speech on tourism of 12th August 2010 shows. We must keep up the pressure and hold the Government to its proclaimed aims to promote tourism in and to the the UK, and to cut the burden of red tape on small tourism businesses.
To join the Association and support our campaigns, receive regular member bulletins, news about new and imminent regulations, and access to discounts and offers, click on the "Join Now" button below:
You can email us at: comment@BandBassociation.org
|
|
|