Hospitality Insurance: What It Does and Why You Need It

Restaurants, clubs and bars and employees of the hospitality industry are breathing a sigh of relief as all of the venues have reopened and returned back to normal opening hours after two years of lockdowns and restricted trading. As footfall returns, it is vital that you review your current insurance cover and ensure your business is protected, so here is what you need for your hospitality insurance.

Why do I need Hospitality insurance?

Businesses in the hospitality industry are at higher risk of slip and trip accidents due to the high level of footfall that they attract and it is, therefore, important that insurance cover is in place. 

• Public Houses
• Gastro Pubs
• Restaurants
• Guesthouses
• B&Bs
• Hotels
• Late Bars

Does your business fit into any of these categories?  

If you answered yes, then it’s time you take into consideration the risk you are taking by not having insurance. You need to check if there are any risks of trips, slips or falling over for the employees and the public. Consider the type of work your employees do, do they do the heavy lifting? Do they handle broken glass or rowdy customers? Are all of your staff well versed in what to do if there is an accident or a complaint? Is your computer system holding any sensitive information? Or any information you cannot risk losing?

If any of these questions made you a bit nervous, you need to think about speaking to us at LHK about insurance coverage for the hospitality industry. 

Main Insurance Covers in the hospitality industry include: 

Public Liability

This provides cover for your legal responsibility to your customers in respect of death, injury, illness, and disease or property damage caused by you in the course of your business.

Products Liability

This protects you against any injury or damage to third party property that may arise as a result of the products you have sold or supplied.

Employers Liability 

As an employer, it is essential to protect both you and your employees by providing a safe place to work. Employers Liability provides cover for accidental death, illness, injury or disease sustained by your employees during the course of their employment by you.

Property

A standard property owner’s policy will cover the property for material damage, contents or landlord’s fixtures and fittings as well as property owners liability. Our clients include single and multi-investment property owners as well as management companies. 

We recommend that you shop around particularly if you have recently acquired the property and or if your tenants have recently changed. We would be delighted to complete a review of your existing cover at our expense. 

Business Interruption

Business interruption insurance generally covers damage or loss to your property. This could mean fire, storm damage, hurricanes, or earthquakes to name a few. This can come as a huge benefit if your company has suffered through a natural disaster or accident. 

Unfortunately, business interruption does not cover shutting down due to government mandates like with covid-19. A lot of insurance agencies ensured that this was not an option after the SARS outbreak in 2003. So, it came as a surprise when clients apple for their business interruption insurance only to have their claims rejected. As there was no damage incurred by the virus they did not receive their claims. 

Loss of Licence 

If you serve alcohol you need an alcohol licence. In a bar or restaurant, it can be extremely damaging to lose your licence. Loss of licence insurance will protect against losses when your licence is revoked and will help you to cover costs when applying for your new one.  Licences can be revoked for reasons out of your control and it is important that you are not affected by them. 

Ancillary Insurance Covers in the hospitality industry include:

Directors and Officers 

The requirement for Directors & Officers Liability Insurance cover is increasing by the day and all Directors and Management are at risk. LHK Group Insurance brokers are available to ensure you have the right Directors & Officers Liability Insurance cover in place.

Leading a business means making important decisions, which can sometimes mean making the wrong decision.

D&O insurance (Directors & Officers Liability Insurance) provides financial protection for the potential defence and damage costs for the leaders of an organisation if a claim is made against them due to decisions or actions they have made during their regular duties. There is a common misconception that it is only for companies but it is also required for committees, charities, sports clubs and the like.

Cover can be extended to include Entity Liability Insurance, Crime Insurance, Pension Trustees Liability and Employment Practices Liability – designed to protect employers against claims from employees for sexual harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination and other employment-related litigation.

Covid-19 is currently placing businesses and their executives under considerably higher D&O litigation risk. Management capabilities are being tested and challenging business decisions are required in areas such as personnel, supply chain management, financial stability, refinancing, and the sustainability of internal systems and technologies. Contact us now to ensure you have the correct cover in place. 

Cyber insurance

If your business has never been the victim of a cyberattack, it can be difficult to comprehend how vulnerable your business could be.

Our team are very familiar with the digital risks businesses are exposed to and we are well placed to support and protect your business. Property and liability insurance often take precedence with many clients not seeing the value in standalone cyber policy. While there may elements of cover within traditional insurance policies, it tends to be partial cover at best, falling very short of what is covered under a standalone Cyber policy.

Most information is now transferred digitally and Covid-19 has certainly accelerated this. The shift to remote working is believed to have generally increased security vulnerabilities.  

Typical covers under a standalone Cyber Insurance policy:

• Data Breaches
• Business and Network Interruption
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Damage to Third-Party Systems
• System Failure
• Cyber Extortion

Commercial Legal Expenses

Why LHK as your insurance broker

Our Business Insurance Team has many years’ experience effectively placing hospitality type risks and understands the exposures you face. We can cater for all types of risks in the hospitality sector, from the country pub to city centre hotels, and can help mitigate the risks you face with the right insurance solutions which will allow you to chill and concentrate on taking care of your customers.  With the assistance of our partners in European markets, we can cater for various risk solutions and provide the covers applicable to your business. 

What we promise you!

• We will provide you with a market document showing a breakdown of all the Insurers we approach and their responses.
• Where possible we will try and make the process easier for you by having one renewal date for all your policies.
• We can provide flexible payment terms to help cash flow.
• Quick turnaround on quotations and queries.
• Access to our in-house claims executive who will streamline the claims management process and provide you with sound risk management advice.

How do I get a quote? 

Easy! Please fill out our online contact form here and one of our Business Insurance team will get in touch with you.

In addition to the Hospitality cover, our experienced team can arrange cover for you across the following products: Home insurance, Car insurance, Gadget insurance, Marine insurance, Personal accident insurance, Self-build insurance, Travel insurance, Commercial legal expenses, Commercial liability insurance, Commercial motor insurance, Commercial property insurance, Contractors all risk insurance, Credit insurance, Cyber insurance, Directors and officers insurance, Engineering insurance, Farm insurance, Group personal accident insurance, Marine cargo/ goods in transit insurance, Moter fleet insurance, Moter traders insurance, Office insurance, Professional indemnity insurance, Shop and retail insurance and Special types vehicles insurance.