Merilee Karr, chair of the UK Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA) and CEO of UnderTheDoormat, has written to the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, on behalf of STAA members asking for visitor accommodation businesses to be given additional government support going into the winter season where tighter travel and hospitality restrictions will impact jobs and businesses. 

Karr said: “We are pleased that the government will expand the Job Support Scheme to cover businesses that are forced to close due to government restrictions. It’s also critical that the Chancellor recognises that many visitor accommodation businesses will be negatively affected if other sectors of the hospitality industry, such as pubs and restaurants, are forced to close to comply with government restrictions and should, therefore, be included amongst those companies that can access the scheme.

“The closure of large swathes of the hospitality sector in specific geographic locations will cause a massive downturn in demand for visitor accommodation, which will seriously reduce demand for many businesses.”

The letter from the STAA explains that if visitor accommodation businesses are not forced to close, they cannot then benefit from the Job Support Scheme or other reliefs whilst simultaneously not having any demand due to government restrictions, including the quarantine restrictions, the “Rule of Six” and now hospitality closures in over half of the country, including London.