why ?
The hospitality and leisure sector faces unique insurance challenges. You’re responsible for guest safety, valuable property, expensive equipment, food safety, licensing compliance, and seasonal fluctuations. A single incident – whether guest injury, fire, flood, or business interruption – can devastate your business financially and damage your reputation irreparably.
Standard business insurance doesn’t provide adequate protection for hotels and leisure facilities. Specialist hospitality insurance addresses the specific exposures you face, from guest liability and wedding cancellations to liquor licensing and seasonal trading patterns.
COVERAGE
WHY CHOOSE US
Protection for your buildings and physical assets, including:
Protection for your business essentials:
Essential protection against third-party claims:
Legal cover for staff-related incidents:
Protects your income when operations are disrupted:
Who we help
Typical premiums range from £500 for small B&Bs to £50,000+ for large hotels and resorts.
WHY CHOOSE US
If you employ anyone, employers liability insurance is legally required with minimum £5 million cover. Beyond this legal requirement, most hotels need public liability insurance (typically £5-10 million) to protect against guest injury claims, buildings insurance if you own the property, and contents insurance for furnishings and equipment. While not legally mandated, business interruption insurance is commercially essential to protect against income loss from fire or flood. Many mortgage lenders and commercial leases require buildings and liability insurance.
We cover a broad range of hotel leisure hotel leisure insurance, including hotels, resorts, guest houses, spas, wellness centers, golf courses, sports clubs, and conference venues.
Yes. Even if your property is not fully occupied, business interruption insurance can be essential. It covers lost income and helps with ongoing expenses if an unexpected event, such as a fire or flood, temporarily halts your operations.
Public liability insurance protects against claims made by guests or visitors if they suffer injuries or damage to their property while on your premises. This coverage can shield your business from costly lawsuits and is crucial for any establishment welcoming guests.
Yes. WS Insurance can arrange tailored policies that combine coverage for both general hotel operations and specific facilities like spas and wellness centers. This might include coverage for specialized equipment, treatment liabilities, and guest protection.
If an insured event, like a fire, forces you to close temporarily, business interruption insurance can cover lost income, enabling you to manage expenses and maintain staff salaries until normal operations resume.
If you employ any staff, even on a part-time or seasonal basis, you are legally required to have employer’s liability insurance. This covers claims from employees if they suffer work-related injuries or illnesses.
Yes, we can arrange insurance to cover the financial impact of event cancellations due to unforeseen circumstances. This can help protect your business from losses and is particularly useful for venues regularly hosting large gatherings.
Golf courses often require specific coverage due to unique risks like liability for accidents on the course, coverage for clubhouses, and equipment protection. Our team can assess your needs and arrange comprehensive insurance that addresses these specialised risks.
Contact WS Insurance, and our team will discuss your business’s unique requirements to provide a tailored insurance quote that aligns with the scope and scale of your operations.
Standard hotel insurance typically provides limited cover for guest property, usually only items deposited for safe keeping or stored in your safe. Most policies provide £500-£2,000 per guest maximum. You can purchase enhanced guest property insurance providing higher limits and broader coverage including theft from rooms. However, hotels have limited legal liability for guest belongings under the Hotel Proprietors Act 1956, so expensive items should be stored in your safe deposit facilities. Guest property insurance covers your legal liability and goodwill gestures to maintain reputation.
Business interruption insurance covers lost revenue and ongoing expenses if your hotel must close temporarily due to insured damage like fire, flood, or storm. Even partial occupancy hotels need this cover because fixed costs continue during closure including staff wages, loan repayments, utilities, and rent. The policy covers lost gross profit (not just net profit), increased costs of working from temporary premises, and costs to reduce losses. Most hotel business interruption claims take 6-18 months to fully recover, making indemnity periods of 12-24 months standard. Without this cover, many hotels cannot afford to rebuild and reopen after major incidents.
Most hotels require £5-10 million public liability insurance. Small B&Bs with under 10 bedrooms may manage with £2-5 million, but medium and large hotels should carry £10 million minimum. Hotels with wedding and event facilities, swimming pools, spas, or food service need higher limits due to increased risk exposure. Some commercial contracts specify minimum public liability requirements before you can trade. Given the serious injury potential in hotels (slips, trips, food poisoning, legionella, swimming pool accidents), £10 million is considered industry standard for full-service hotels.
No, small B&Bs and guest houses typically need simpler, less expensive cover than large hotels. A basic B&B package includes public liability (£2-5 million), buildings and contents insurance, limited business interruption (12 months), and employers liability if you have staff. You don’t typically need guest property insurance beyond basic cover, wedding insurance, or complex liability extensions. However, if your B&B offers swimming pools, spa treatments, serves evening meals, or hosts events, you need additional covers similar to larger hotels. Premiums for small B&Bs typically range £500-£1,500 annually versus £10,000+ for larger hotels.
Your buildings insurance covers rebuilding and repair costs, while contents insurance replaces damaged furnishings, equipment, and stock. Business interruption insurance pays for lost revenue during the closure period and ongoing expenses like staff wages, loan repayments, and utilities. The policy also covers increased costs of working from alternative premises if possible. Most hotel fire claims take 6-18 months to fully settle and reopen, making adequate business interruption cover with 12-24 month indemnity period crucial. You should notify your insurer immediately, secure the premises, document all damage with photos, and keep detailed records of all expenses and lost bookings.
Yes, food poisoning claims from guests are covered under your public liability insurance. This covers compensation to affected guests, legal defence costs, and investigation expenses. However, you must maintain proper food hygiene standards and comply with food safety regulations. Gross negligence or deliberate breaches of food safety law may not be covered. Your policy should include products liability covering illness from food served. Given the serious reputational damage from food poisoning outbreaks, maintaining high food hygiene standards and proper staff training is essential. Some insurers offer food contamination insurance covering loss of stock and business interruption from food safety incidents.
If you host weddings, you need specialist wedding liability insurance extending your standard public liability cover. This protects against wedding-specific risks like marquee collapse, food poisoning affecting large groups, and damage to wedding cakes and decorations. Wedding cancellation insurance protects your business if weddings cancel due to circumstances beyond control like extreme weather, illness, or venue damage. This covers lost deposits and unrecoverable costs. Given the high value of wedding bookings and reputational damage from wedding disasters, specialist wedding venue insurance is essential for hotels hosting marriages. Standard hotel policies typically exclude or limit wedding cover.
Several strategies can reduce hotel insurance costs: Install and maintain fire detection and sprinkler systems (saves 10-30%), implement robust security with CCTV and alarm systems (saves 5-15%), achieve and maintain health and safety certifications, install flood defences if in flood risk areas, maintain buildings in good condition with regular maintenance, implement thorough staff training programs for health and safety, maintain claims-free history through effective risk management, join hospitality trade associations providing group insurance schemes, increase voluntary excess (saves 10-15% per £1,000 excess), and pay annually rather than monthly (saves 10-15% in finance charges). We can conduct insurance reviews to identify saving opportunities.
Spas and wellness centres need specialist treatment liability insurance covering massage, beauty treatments, and therapies. Standard cover includes public liability for slips and accidents, treatment liability for injury or adverse reactions from treatments, products liability for cosmetics and products used, employers liability for therapists and staff, buildings and contents including specialist equipment, and business interruption. Enhanced cover includes professional indemnity for advice given, equipment breakdown for expensive treatment machines, and stock insurance for expensive products and supplies. Therapist qualifications and insurance levels significantly affect premiums, with qualified therapists reducing liability costs.
