"I can think of no better support system than that provided by the Bed & Breakfast Association."
Alastair Sawday
The Trade Association Forum has published a leaflet called "The Benefits of Trade Associations", with an introduction by the Minister for Business and Regulatory Reform.
Click here to read it.
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Why join the Bed & Breakfast Association?
Do you run a B&B or Guest House in the UK?
if so, we are here to help, support, inform and represent YOU...
We believe our subscription is excellent value at only £54 - just £1.04 a week. This will cover a year from the date of your first subscription. We hope you will agree that this is exceptional value. Your membership gives you, amongst other things:
news bulletins about latest tourism industry developments & statistics
exclusive member deal on credit card processing - saving £268
 SAVE with our Theatre Club - saving up to £55 per couple, per show
exclusive member deal: create a website instantly for just £6.39 a month
member briefing documents on new regulations and how they affect you
a FREE downloadable Fire Risk Assessment guidance pack, to help you comply with the new October 2006 fire regulations
FREE membership of the Special Offers CLUB, offering savings of £hundreds
FREE downloadable booklets on Fire Precautions, Food Hygiene, the new "Smoking Ban" regulations, and the star rating assessment criteria (totalling over 280 pages), worth at least £12
access to the BBA's panel of experts to answer your email queries
representation as your trade association in any dispute you may have with a regulatory body
eligibility for FREE future promotion on StayataBandB.com
eligibility to attend BBA events and meet other B&B owners
advance notice of specialist seminars on marketing, online payments, how to make your website generate bookings, and many other topics
inside information, offers or member rates on B&B services and supplies
20% off subscription to Bed & Breakfast News magazine - saving £7
50% off "Understanding Food Hygiene & Safety Regulations" - saving £10
20% off a 360 degree 'virtual tour' for your website - saving £47
Information on B&B Insurance that has allowed members to save £1,000+
Support our campaign against unnecessary red tape and regulation for small businesses
Access to all specialist information is limited to subscribing members only.
This new member in Swindon has just saved over £1,400 by joining the Association:
"We have only been a member of the Bed and Breakfast Association for a month and have
already been extremely pleased with the saving that we've made on our B & B
Insurance.
We asked a Business Link Adviser about B&B insurance brokers and he pointed us
to your association as a starting point. All we can say is 'Wow'.
Our current insurance broker was a local company and because we'd been with
them for more than 5 years, had never queried our premium. However because our
business has been dramatically affected by the Honda and BMW closures, when
the renewal premium came in at £2260.51 (9% increase since last year and we'd
not claimed anything), we thought time for a change. It's not that easy though
as very few of the brokers deal with our type of business.
Bearing in mind that we are only a small B&B with 4 rooms and then reading
your member's testimonial we decided to try your insurance brokers.
Their best quote came in at £848.64 and that included our personal bits plus Yellowtag security
tags. That's a saving of £1411.87.
Their customer service is excellent and we accepted their quote and have
already received all our documentation. We told them that we found them via
the Bed and Breakfast Assocation.
So already saved my subscription - many thanks."
This new member in Somerset has just saved £850 by joining the Association:
"I have just saved myself £850.00 on insurance through the BBA info, thank you"
This new member in Devon has just saved over £800 by joining the Association:
"Thank you... I have been thrilled with the result. I originally had [B&B insurance] quotes
from Direct Line - £1,300 and Premier Insurance - £1,200.
I contacted [member contacts] and they have quoted me just under £400!
I have taken up their insurance quote, and informed them I had got their details from
the Bed & Breakfast Association. Many thanks."
And this new member in Wales has just saved £400 by joining the Association:
"I wanted to thank you for savings already made in the month or two since joining.
One was the advice concerning [TV/radio licensing],
and the other was a reduced insurance bill of around £400 for the coming year."
Until recently, the B&B "sector" has been largely ignored by the Government and regulators, because we did not have a "voice" - ie a trade association representing B&B owners throughout the UK.
Now we do have that "voice" - the Bed and Breakfast Association. We have already seen our first major successes - our lobbying (together with other tourist industry Associations) has seen the Government state (in March 2007) that it has ruled out imposing a "bed tax" on B&Bs and hotels, despite the recommendation to do so in the Lyons Inquiry. And in December 2008, the Government (after strong lobbying from us, including our founding role in the Fire Safety SENSE campaign) introduced new guidelines for the enforcement of the 2006 fire regulations, lowering the burden of compliance for small B&Bs.
The Bed and Breakfast Association is a member of the Trade Association Forum, the collective organisation for British trade associations established by the CBI and the Government (DTI, now BIS - the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, which "works with the Trade Association Forum to develop and communicate best practice among trade associations").
The Bed and Breakfast Association is a member organisation of the Tourism Alliance, along with the trade associations for each other sector of the domestic tourism industry (self-catering, hotels & restaurants, holiday parks, attractions, etc. etc.), and this grouping allows the industry to speak with a united voice on issues of common concern, without compromising the dedicated focus of each trade association on the needs of its own sector.
There is plenty of lobbying to do, with consultations and planned regulations in the pipeline on many areas which affect B&B owners.
We have also held meetings with Government ministers and their shadows, and forged links with UKinbound and VisitBritain - all on our members' behalf.
Besides representing your interests to the Government and regulators, our aim is to inform B&B owners of developments which will affect you, and support your businesses with advice, information and guidance. If you find you are being treated unfairly by your local authority, for instance, and are unsure whether they may be exceeding their powers or misinterpreting the legislation (which sadly is all too common!), the BBA is here as your national trade association to fight for your interests.
We have been running an online survey on our website, and the results to date show that 96% of respondents agree that "there is a need for an independent trade association to represent B&B owners in the UK". As to the most important functions of the association, 90% of you told us that "championing my interests" was important or very important, and 91% said that "impartial information on relevant issues" was either important or very important. The next most valued function would be "the chance to talk and network with other B&B owners", which 26% rated "useful", 32% "important" and 40% "very important".
All these benefits will of course cost money, which is why we have to ask for a membership subscription. We are a non-profit making trade association, with no funds of our own, so can only serve you with some financial help from you.
We are taking all prudent steps to minimise our costs, and to obtain commercial sponsorship in ways which will not compromise our independence, but the fact is that to do the professional job that bed and breakfast owners deserve, your national trade association needs at least a minimum level of funding.
Without any of the sponsorship we have received, we would have to ask an annual subscription of over £100. This is of course not unusual for an organisation like ours, and indeed many similar trade associations charge their members well into three figures.
However, B&Bs are small businesses, and budgets are tight. We are determined to keep subscriptions to an absolute minimum so as to maximise our membership. This is important to ensure we serve the widest number of members and are truly representative.
FREE membership of The Special Offers CLUB, which rewards members with a wide range of offers, discounts and promotions from top brands. These cover both deals for your business, and consumer deals for you and your family. These include deals (typically 5% to 15% off, but up to 34%) from Apple Store, HP, Laithwaites, Esso, Tom Tom, Axa PPP, BT, Europcar, RAC, Viking Direct, Royal Mail, House of Fraser, Npower and many others. Membership for a typical family B&B can yield potential savings of many hundreds of pounds annually. Full membership is now included FREE with your B&B Association membership subscription.
The Special Offers CLUB** is a division of the e-marketing company Special Offers Ltd., which sponsors the Association's website and e-Newsletters, and which celebrated its 12th successful year of trading in 2008.
Three Months Trial Membership for Only £15
We now offer a three to four month trial membership with no obligation to continue. Read more...
By subscribing and giving us your email and postal addresses, you are granting permission to the B&B Association and to its contracted database manager, Special Offers Ltd. (established over 11 years and registered as a Data Controller by the Information Commissioners' Office (ICO), Registration Number Z1079141), to contact you with information relevant to your membership and to your B&B business. Your details will not be passed to any third party, but carefully selected, relevant advertisers may sponsor clearly-defined sections of our email newsletters or of our website. This is in line with our key objectives of providing relevant information and offers to our members, and keeping membership subscriptions as low as possible.
If you are not yet ready to join or don't qualify (perhaps you are only at the early research stage), do in the meantime register free of charge to receive email information updates.
**Special Offers Club: this service is managed for Special Offers Ltd. by LogBuy, well-established international experts in this field, who negotiate the deals for us and manage the Special Offers Club Member Benefit website. If you have any questions on the Member Benefit deals, please do call the helpline, on 0870 6091505 or email memberbenefits@logbuy.co.uk.
Disclaimer: Special Offers Ltd and LogBuy act as facilitators to introduce members to suppliers, and neither LogBuy nor Special Offers Ltd receiving LogBuy services accepts any liability for supplier or member obligations.
LogBuy is a registered trademark of LogBuy Aps., and all other company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. LogBuy takes care to ensure that the information contained within it’s communication is correct but regrets that it, or any organisation receiving LogBuy services, cannot be held responsible for any loss incurred as a result of omission, inaccuracy, misjudgment or misunderstanding. All prices quoted are excluding VAT. All offers are subject to availability and suppliers’ Terms and Conditions. General: neither the Bed & Breakfast Association nor Special Offers Ltd. can offer any warranties or guarantees in respect of any of the providers of services offering member benefits listed above and in our members' section, and the listing of such member benefits does not constitute an official recommendation by the Association of the supplier concerned.
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