HOTELS FACE TV licence threat
BRITAIN's hotel industry could face an extra bill of at least £7.5m in TV licensing fees if a Government proposal to bring in a new system for hotels with more than 50 bedrooms becomes law.
According to Caterer's calculations, Forte would see its annual TV licence bill soar by more than £1m, while Mount Charlotte Thistle would see its charges jump by £600,000 to just over £800,000.
And Britain's biggest hotel, the 1,271-bedroom Royal National in London, would see a massive £100,000 hike in its annual fee from its present level of around £21,000.
The proposal, which appears in the latest report of the Commons National Heritage Select Committee on the future of the BBC, would overturn a 1984 agreement under which hotels must have one licence covering the first 15 bedrooms and one for every five bedrooms thereafter.
The proposals would preserve the present system for smaller hotels and the first 50 bedrooms of larger hotels, while imposing a one-licence- per-room rule beyond the 50th bedroom.
Colin Bowles, chief accountant for the Imperial London group which owns the Royal National, said: "If this went ahead we would have two choices - pass on the cost to the guest or get rid of the televisions. I suspect we would just keep televisions on two or three floors."
The British Hospitality Association (BHA) this week launched a fierce attack on the licence proposals, arguing that the current position was equitable.
Robin Lees, BHA chief executive, said: "The present position was agreed after protracted consultation between the association and the Home Office. The outcome was not a concession but considered to be the fairest balance between all interests.
"Ministers agreed at the time that it was important not to place too heavy a burden on the hotel industry. They also recognised that hotel bedrooms are not occupied constantly and that domestic guests - who make up about 78% of our clientele - have already paid a TV licence fee in their own homes."
Although the Heritage committee still recognisesthat many hotel rooms are often unoccupied, it believes the current concession is over-generous to larger hotels
The overall aim of the proposal, which will be further considered in a white paper from the Department of National Heritage this spring, is to enable licence fees for the less well off to be kept lower.
A Heritage spokesman said: "This proposal is being considered along withother licence change suggestions, such as making a charge for car radios or for more than one TV set in a household."
