How the Consumer Contracts Regulations affect the hospitality industry

Article reference: UK-IA-SGA28
Last updated: August 2022 | 2 min read

About this series of articles

This article is one in a series about the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, often abbreviated to CC (ICAC).

Unfortunately, like most European law, the Regulations are anything but clear and practical.

A guide for businesses in the hospitality industry

This is a brief guide to some of the most obvious requirements of the Regulations as they might affect a hotel, restaurant, B&B, hostel, holiday accommodation provider, conference centre or other hospitality provider.

The hospitality industry contains an infinite number of business models. Some may be exempt from the Consumer Contracts Regulations; others are not.

Examples

  • A drink in a pub or bar is exempt, whether your customer walks in and buys a drink to consume in-house or take away.

  • A purchase from a vending machine is exempt.

  • Your menu is information supplied. It may not be enough and alone, it does not enable you to comply with the Regulations.

  • If an overnight traveller walks in off the street and asks for a room for the night, we assume your contract is subject to only information requirements of the Regulations.

  • A telephone booking for a specific menu or time in your restaurant is exempt.

  • A hotel booking limited only to a particular day and not a particular time is subject to the Regulations.

  • Food sold from a stall or a vehicle is exempt.

  • A booking for your hotel or B&B by phone or via the Internet is subject to the Regulations.

  • Caravan hire for holidays is subject to the Regulations.

Further information

If you haven’t already read our more general article on how the Regulations affect businesses that offer services, we recommend that you do so.

We recommend that you read why the date of the contract is so important next.

Unless you are exempt from the Regulations or are already compliant, you are likely to need to update your customer contract templates. These are likely to include your website's business terms if you sell online and your offline customer contract if you sell offline.

If you have any questions about the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013, or would like help updating your contracts to comply, please ask us. We’d be delighted to help.

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