Accepting Guests

Can I pick and choose my guests?

In certain instances, the law treats all establishments offering serviced accommodation as either 'hotels' or 'private hotels'. The distinction between the two will affect your rights with regard to accepting guests.

Note! Whether you are a hotel or a private hotel, when the guest has made a prior booking, you must honour the booking unless there are legal grounds for not doing so, eg if you had accepted the booking on the basis of false statements made by the guest. For example, a couple had stated to you before they made the booking that they were non-smokers, you run a non-smoking bed and breakfast and, on arrival, they start smoking. In this sort of case, you can turn the guests away and you may also be able to claim damages from them.

Are you a 'hotel' or a 'private hotel'?

A hotel is an establishment that offers food, drink and sleeping accommodation to anybody who appears able and willing to pay and who is in a fit state to be received. 'Drink' does not have to be alcoholic.

A private hotel is any accommodation establishment that is not a hotel. For example, you will be a private hotel if any of the following apply to you.

• You do not provide food and/or drink.
• You pick and choose your guests, even if you have a free room.
• You have an advertised policy of 'no children' or 'no coaches', for example.
• Guests can only book in advance.

Can I turn guests away if I run a hotel?

The proprietor of a hotel may refuse to let a room to a prospective guest only if that guest appears unable or unwilling to pay, or is not in a fit state to be received. This would be the case, for example, if the guest was drunk or if you had reasonable grounds for believing that he would be a nuisance to other guests. Note that, by law, disability, race, gender, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or religion and belief are not reasonable grounds for refusal (see also Guests with Disabilities).

The proprietor also has complete discretion to decide which room to allocate unless the guest has already made a booking for a particular room.

Can I turn guests away if I run a private hotel?

A private hotel is free to pick and choose its guests even when rooms are available, provided that in exercising this right you are not discriminating on the grounds set out by the law (see Discrimination below and the section on Guests with Disabilities for more information).

Discrimination

It is unlawful to discriminate against guests on the following 'protected characteristics'

• disability
• gender reassignment
• pregnancy and maternity
• race – this includes ethnic or national origins, colour and nationality
• religion or belief
• sex, and
• sexual orientation.

Discrimination would include providing different standards of service, different products, charging different prices or having different terms and conditions.

However, for disability, a business operator is allowed to discriminate provided that there is objective justification for doing so. Objective justification is said to occur when the difference in good or service provided is a 'proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim'. For example, it would probably be considered justified not to sell a room in a listed building that is only accessible by a spiral staircase to someone in a wheelchair.

It should be noted that it is the inability to make alterations rather than the cost of making alternations that provides objective justification – ie, you can’t provide a discriminatory service on the basis of cost alone.

In addition to not being able to discriminate against guests on the above grounds, you cannot discriminate against anyone on the grounds of association. This means not discriminating against the parent, partner, friend or carer accompanying someone with one of the protected characteristics listed above.

To help ensure that you do not discriminate, you are required to undertake reasonable adjustments to your premises or to the way you deliver your services. This, for example, could mean providing improved access, undertaking training staff on equality issues or providing meals that comply with the religious requirements of guests.

Children

Anyone under the age of 18 does not have the same legal capacity as an adult to enter into a contract, such as making a room booking. You can accept bookings for someone under 18 to stay, but you are advised to be careful. For example, the booking itself should be made by someone 18 or over, whether a parent or guardian or another adult who can take responsibility for payment, etc.

If you would like more information about how this area of law affects you, there is a good service on the website of the Children's Legal Centre (www.childrenslegalcentre.com), which answers questions in relation to children and the law.

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