Britain’s staycation industry may soon be allowed to discover that a guesthouse and the pub opposite it are not engaged in an international dispute. A government consultation announced on 7 April 2025 proposed making it easier for accommodation providers, restaurants and attractions to bundle their services. This could end the grand tradition of booking a room, dinner and entertainment as three unrelated acts of civic bravery.
At present, a bed and breakfast can stare at a nearby restaurant for twelve years without being certain it is legally permitted to mention the existence of gravy. The restaurant may serve the guesthouse’s customers every evening while maintaining the formal distance normally associated with rival monarchies.
Staycation package proposals bring neighbours together
The staycation package proposals would make it easier for small businesses to create UK holiday packages. The government’s examples include a Lake District bed and breakfast teaming up with a nearby pub or restaurant, a Cornwall campsite linking up with a surf school, and a London hotel offering discounted theatre tickets.
Tourism broker Gilda Voucher welcomed the possibility of local businesses being treated as members of the same species. “This could transform the visitor experience,” she said. “Holidaymakers might eventually book a room and a meal together, rather than assembling their weekend from separate websites while hoping nobody regards the other businesses as a regulatory ambush.”
The consultation also covered consumer protection, including redress time limits and insolvency arrangements for packages that do not include flights. These details matter, because a holiday is improved by a discounted meal but not by discovering that the person who sold it has vanished into a legal footnote.
The reform is therefore not simply a licence for every village to create a package called Two Nights, One Soup. It is an attempt to let small businesses collaborate without requiring each one to appoint a committee capable of explaining why a surf lesson is not technically part of a holiday.
Chief Executive of Sensible Weekends Toby Mapfold said the industry was preparing for an unfamiliar era of cooperation. “We may soon be able to tell guests that the pub is across the road,” he said. “Naturally, we will present this as a pioneering digital innovation.”
The April announcement set out a twelve week consultation, not a completed change to the rules. The guesthouse and pub were offered a vision of future cooperation. The paperwork had already booked Britain’s only all inclusive break and charged itself for the privilege.
Real story: Department for Business and Trade.
