Terms and conditions for a bed and breakfast

A bed and breakfast is a business run in a home, and its terms have to hold the line between hospitality and the guest who takes advantage of it: the no-show who booked by email, the guest who brings a visitor, the one who stays past check-out, and the one who wanted a refund because of the weather. I draft those terms for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Bed and breakfasts, guesthouses and small inns in England and Wales taking direct bookings by phone, email and through your own website, alongside platform bookings that carry the platform's terms. These are your direct booking terms and the rules of the house for every guest.

What matters in B&B terms

Bookings, deposits and no-shows

Accommodation for specific dates is excluded from the fourteen-day cancellation right by regulation 28 of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, so your own cancellation policy applies and must be fair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. The terms should take card details or a deposit at booking, set a notice period for free cancellation, and charge the first night or the stay for a no-show or late cancellation on a stated basis that reflects what you lose.

Check-in, check-out and the room

The terms should set check-in and check-out times and what happens outside them, say that rooms are allocated by you and may be changed for a room of equivalent standard, and state what is included: breakfast times, parking, wifi, towels. They should give you the right to refuse a booking or to ask a guest to leave for behaviour that disturbs other guests or the household, without refund.

Guests, visitors and children

The terms should say that only the guests named on the booking may stay, that visitors are not permitted in rooms, and whether children and pets are accepted and on what conditions. In a family home, a guest who brings a stranger back is a safety matter as much as a commercial one, and the terms should let you deal with it.

Damage, smoking and belongings

The terms should make guests responsible for damage to the room and its contents and for cleaning costs after smoking or other misuse, charged at cost, and should say that guests' belongings and vehicles are left at their own risk. You cannot exclude liability for injury caused by your own negligence, so the terms describe the house's safety arrangements, which must meet the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the annual gas check under regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, and ask guests to report hazards. Where you hold yourself out to receive any traveller, the Hotel Proprietors Act 1956 governs your liability for guests' property and lets you limit it where the statutory notice is displayed, and preserves the innkeeper's lien over a guest's goods for an unpaid bill, which the Innkeepers Act 1878 turns into a right to sell those goods by public auction after six weeks, with a month's notice in a local newspaper; the terms should refer to that right rather than invent a different one.

Prices, dietary needs and data

Prices shown online must include all mandatory charges under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, and the Provision of Services Regulations 2009 require your business details to be available to guests. The terms should ask for dietary requirements and allergies in advance and say that requirements not notified cannot be guaranteed, since breakfast makes you a food business registered under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 with allergen duties under the Food Information Regulations 2014, and should refer guests to your privacy notice for the personal data a booking involves. Where you hold guests' card details, the terms should say why and for how long. The Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972 still requires you to record the name and nationality of every guest aged 16 or over, and passport details for guests who are not British, Irish or Commonwealth citizens, and the terms should say that this information is required at check-in.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted for your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want them checked and brought up to date. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of bespoke terms drafted for your business, reflecting the legal requirements that apply to your business and sector
• A note in plain English explaining the terms I have drafted for you
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions that protect your position and are drafted to withstand scrutiny from the other side
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly
• Your questions and comments answered by email or phone
• One round of amendments to finalise the terms ready for use

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers (I am happy to quote for this as an additional service if required)
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country
• Tax advice

Questions I am often asked

A guest booked by email, never arrived and never cancelled. Can I charge?

If the terms took card details at booking and provide for a no-show charge, you can charge the stated amount, which for a no-show can be the first night or more where you turned away other bookings. The confirmation email should have set out the policy.

Can I ask a guest to leave?

The terms should give you the right to end a stay where a guest's behaviour is unacceptable or disturbs others, with no refund for the remaining nights. It is your home as well as your business, and the terms can say so.

Do I need different terms for platform bookings?

Platform bookings are governed by the platform's terms. Your own terms apply to direct bookings, and the house rules within them apply to every guest as the rules of the stay.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Terms and conditions for a small hotel or guesthouse
• Terms and conditions for a holiday let

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.