Basic Guide to starting a Hotel Business

In essence, a Hotel offers overnight sleeping accommodation for visitors in not less than 15 double rooms, all of which must be en-suite*, and provides meals (including breakfast and evening meal) and midday refreshments.

A hotel should also provide daily cleaning of bedrooms when visitors are resident and should be exclusively or primarily used for the provision of sleeping accommodation for visitors. Meals and refreshments will be provided at all reasonable hours on a daily basis.

*Applies to hotels certified for the first time on or after 11/11/09

Tourism legislation requires all tourism/visitor accommodation to hold a current Tourism Northern Ireland (NI) certificate. This involves a visit to the property from a member of Tourism NI’s certification team, who will inspect the property to ensure it meets certification requirements.

Under current legislation, a statutory (legal) inspection of the premises is undertaken every four years. A certificate issued by Tourism NI, following this inspection, is also valid for four years.

Applications can be submitted online at https://forms.tourismni.com/Forms/  accompanied by a fee. £20 is payable for every room you intend to let, subject to a minimum fee of £300 and a maximum of £2,000.

Payment and application can also be made by post by downloading and completing the application form here.

You can also request an application pack by contacting the Quality & Standards team by email to qa@tourismni.com or telephone 028 90 441545. When a completed application form and fee are received, a member of Tourism NI’s inspection team will contact you to arrange a suitable time and date for the visit.

The requirements and recommendations set out here are intended for guidance; they are not comprehensive. During an inspection you will be advised on matters not specifically detailed here, however, inspections do not cover all aspects of tourist accommodation; it is the responsibility of certified premise operators/owners to make every reasonable effort to ensure that visitors enjoy a safe and secure stay. As part of your duty of care to visitors, you should remain vigilant of the potential risk to visitors and of how you describe your premises in marketing and promotion.