BarTalk

Should people pay an extra tax for staying overnight in pubs and small hotels?

Anita Adams

Golden Slipper

York

Certainly not! It would be just one more way the government finds to extract more money from people. In a tourist city like York it would have a major effect on the local economy and discourage people from visiting. We only have two letting rooms but they have been closed all summer because of a problem with the fire authority. We have invested a lot of money on our rooms over the years but we try to keep rates at a sensible level.

Suzy Turner

The Pack Horse Hayfield Derbyshire

We do not have letting accommodation here

but the Peak District is a big draw for tourists and I imagine

a tax like this would hit the area hard. The more people who stay over provides a spin-off for other businesses so it would not be good news. It might just boost local camp sites, though, and we have one nearby which could benefit.

Neill Smith

The Hare & Hounds Foulridge Lancashire

We run five letting rooms and this would not go down well with a lot of our guests - particularly contract workers who stay midweek. We would like to charge more for our rooms but we have to pitch our prices to what the market will stand. Overheads such as laundry and cleaning are colossal and a tax like this would be another financial burden for us. I guess the government see this as easy revenue.

Ken Harris

The Seven Stars Shincliffe

County Durham

It would probably affect our weekend tourist guest trade most because the majority of our weekday stays are business people who are on company expenses. We have eight rooms so could be hit quite hard although the average stay here is two nights. Five per cent does not seem that much but we charge an average £55 per room so we would have to do our sums and possibly review our rates.