Bed and Breakfast Association | CORONAVIRUS information for members

Coronavirus information for B&B Association members

We will keep this page updated as a useful 'one-stop' resource for B&B and guesthouse owners, with links to the most relevant, comprehensive and useful information resources about coronavirus. If you find another site you think we should link to below, do email us.

Do click "refresh" on your browser to make sure you are reading the latest version of this page

Links to useful advice and information:

Official Government advice for accommodation providers
The Government's official advice on Coronavirus to all accommodation providers (including B&Bs and guest houses).

The official NHS Coronavirus advice page
The National Health Service's latest advice on Coronavirus.

The NHS Scotland Coronavirus advice page
The Scottish NHS's latest advice on Coronavirus.

The NHS Wales Coronavirus advice page
The Welsh NHS's latest advice on Coronavirus.

How to wash your hands properly - NHS advice and video
The National Health Service's guidance on thorough hand washing (including video).

VisitBritain's Coronavirus advice page
The official tourist authority VisitBritain has this page of information for hospitality businesses about the Coronavirus, with advice and latest information.

VisitScotland's Coronavirus advice page
The official tourist authority for Scotland has this page of information for hospitality businesses in Scotland.

UK Hospitality's Coronavirus advice page
UK Hospitality, the trade association for the hotel, restaurant and bar sectors, has a useful and informative page of information for hospitality businesses on Coronavirus matters.

Official Gov.UK COVID-19 Advice
This page has official Government advice on what do do if you have symptoms, the risk level, diagnosis and analysis, and further links.

Official Gov.UK COVID-19 Case Tracker
Public Health England has launched this COVID-19 data dashboard to track cases. The dashboard shows reported cases of coronavirus in the UK, including new cases confirmed each day, cases by upper tier local authority in England and number of deaths.

Official Gov.UK advice for those with confirmed or possible COVID-19 infection
From Friday 13 March 2020, if you have symptoms that are indicative of having coronavirus you should stay at home and self-isolate for a period of seven days. Public Health England have published guidance - click the above link.

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Guidelines for COVID-19-Secure operating:

B&Bs, guest houses and hotels are allowed to reopen to all guests on 4 July in England, the Prime Minister announced on Tuesday 23 June. He also announced that the official social distancing guidelines will change on the 4th July from 2m to 1m. The equivalent opening dates are 15 July in Scotland, 3 July in Northern Ireland and (possibly) 13 July in Wales, though Wales has not yet confirmed a date.

You will only be allowed to reopen if you operate on a COVID-19-Secure basis. In practice this will mean studying published guidelines, before doing your OWN COVID-19 Risk Assessment. This is the same in principle to the Fire Risk Assessments we all have had to do by law since 2006 to comply with the fire regulations.

Official UK Government Guidance on COVID19-Secure working for Hotels and B&Bs (24 June)

Official UK Government Guidance on COVID19-Secure working for the Visitor Economy (24 June)

The above official Government guidance documents were published following the Prime Minister's announcements on 23 June about hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses opening in England on 4 July. These are in broad general principles, so NOT with enough practical detail to be very helpful to a B&B or guesthouse. Our colleagues at UK Hospitality, the trade association for hotels, restaurants, pubs and venues, have done a huge amount of practical work putting together the "Protocols" below which, now finally approved by Government, form the nearest we have to practical and detailed "official" guidelines.

Below we list the most useful sources of information to help you do your COVID-19 Risk Assessment:

UK Hospitality Protocols (Approved by Government)
This is the just-published (25 June), Government-approved UK Hospitality "Protocols", which has gone through a Government approval process so now forms the official 'sectoral guidance' for accommodation businesses in England, alongside the more broad Government Guidance above. We are therefore sharing it in its entirety as it has this official status.

Pages 12-26 are relevant to accommodation businesses like hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses
Pages 115-122 explain the Risk Assessment process you need to go through
Pages 123-132 have Risk Assessment templates, and
Pages 134-138 are the guidelines for self-catering and short-term lets

Because the above UK Hospitality Protocols have Government endorsement, the Bed & Breakfast Association has not changed the substantive part of them; we have however created a shorter B&B / guesthouse version of the Protocols, which you can find below.

B&B Association COVID-19 Secure Guidelines
This is a shorter and B&B-focused version of the above officially-approved sectoral guidance.

There is no such thing as a "Model" B&B Risk Assessment
The whole principle of a Risk Assessment is that each business must do their own. Not doing one or not properly implementing it may mean you have broken health & safety law and may be subject to enforcement. If we or other bodies posted a "Model" B&B Risk Assessment and a business simply copied it as their own, that business might be open to legal challenge as not having gone through the Risk Assessment process. In that case, you would not be protected legally and you would not be protecting yourselves, your guests and staff.

SCOTLAND: UK Hospitality Protocols for Scotland (18 June 20)
This is the UK Hospitality COVID-19 Protocols for SCOTLAND, published on 18 June 2020, when the Scottish Government published various elements of guidance for hospitality & tourism businesses in Scotland ahead of their anticipated opening date of 15 July 2020. It is effectively the official detailed practical sectoral guidance for businesses including B&Bs and guesthouses in Scotland.

SCOTLAND: COVID-19 Tourism & Hospitality Sector Guidance (18 June 20)
This is the Scottish Government's official web page, launched 18 June 2020, for its guidance for the tourism & hospitality sector in Scotland.

VisitBritain "Get Ready to Open" Resource Centre
To help tourism businesses prepare for reopening, the business support team at VisitEngland/VisitBritain have developed this new website to bring together all the guidance and resources available to businesses. This is an excellent resource for all businesses and will be added to when the new Government Guidance for the industry and associated protocols are published. It also include a wide range of webinars that businesses can sign up to on topics ranging from market insights to how to using technology to maximise business.

WTTC Global Protocols for Hospitality
The global organisation the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has published these high-level "Protocols" for hospitality businesses worldwide. You may find this useful for general background, but these are not detailed workable guidelines for small UK businesses.

Republic of Ireland Guidelines for hotels & guesthouses
This is the official guidance document from the Republic of Ireland for its B&Bs and guesthouses - not legally valid in the UK of course, but for a Government document it seems well presented and useful, so we thought worth sharing as much of its contents are applicable anywhere, and you may find it helpful.

PASC cleaning Protocols (self-catering)
The Professional Association of Self-Caterers (PASC) has done great work producing this set of cleaning protocols for short-term let and self-catering businesses.

Example Risk Assessment (self-catering)
This is an example risk assessment from PASC - this relates of course to a self-catering business, so excludes risk elements relating to breakfasts etc.

PASC guidelines on Legionella Risk
An often forgotten risk, especially after premises have been closed for some time, is "Legionnaire's Disease" or "Legionella". PASC has produced this very useful guidance document on how to mitigate that risk.

Commercial Cleaning Materials and PPE (from PASC)
Once we get the green light to re-open, there may well be a stampede to get the required PPE and cleaning materials, so PASC did some research and (with thanks to them) we are making it available as early as possible, in case you want to pre-order and beat the rush.

Managing risks and doing a Risk Assessment
This is guidance from the Health & Safety Executive - the safety regulator - on managing risks for small businesses, and writing a Risk Assessment, with templates and examples.

Consumer Confident Accreditation Marks for COVID-19-Secure B&Bs:

VisitBritain "We're Good to Go" mark
"We're Good To Go" is the official VisitBritain UK mark to signal that a tourism and hospitality business has worked hard to follow Government and industry COVID-19 guidelines and has a process in place to maintain cleanliness and aid social distancing. "We're Good to Go" is supported by VisitScotland and VisitWales, and the B&B Association is one of the partner bodies. It is free to join if you are a member of a partner body.

AA Covid Confident Assessment Scheme
The AA's new COVID Confident assessment scheme supports the hospitality industry in re-establishing and rebuilding consumer confidence as parts of the UK come out of lockdown. It's a free scheme and open to all hospitality establishments that pass the AA's stringent criteria. All applicants are encouraged to make a donation to the industry charity Hospitality Action. The accreditation will indicate to customers that an establishment has in place the necessary risk assessment, safety measures and staff training to reopen safely, in line with the UK's respective government and trade association guidelines. The scheme is supported by the B&B Association.

Support for businesses:

Go to our main member page for links to the official guidance, and additional notes and analysis on the Government help available to: (a) support employees, (b) provide grants for small businesses with a Business Rateable Value up to £51,000, (c) for the self-employed, and (d) for B&Bs paying Council Tax.