Confusion reigns as euro prepares to visit the UK

Euro travellers' cheques went into circulation last week, but some major hotel and restaurant groups are still in a quandary as to whether they will accept them.

Bass has yet to decide if there is to be a group policy on whether its hotels, pubs and restaurants will deal with travellers' cheques, leaving the decision in the meantime to individual sites.

One Holiday Inn contacted said it would accept euro travellers' cheques but admitted that staff had received no training to prepare them.

Whitbread said Travel Inn and Marriott hotels will accept them, along with most of its restaurants - with the exception of Bella Pasta, which will only accept sterling travellers' cheques.

The arrival of the new currency in travellers' cheques will make no difference to many restaurant groups such as Chez Gérard and Pizza Express, which do not take travellers' cheques anyway.

Forte, which is accepting them, said that it has distributed literature on the new currency to all its hotels to eliminate any confusion.

Although euro coins and notes will not be introduced until 2002, the hospitality industry is expected to be one of the first industries to be affected because of visiting Europeans.

The British Tourist Authority has produced a guide to help businesses prepare for the introduction of the euro. For a free copy, call: 0181-563 3232.