Buying the right levels of hotel insurance cover can be hard. But making the right decisions in terms of the features and benefits that you get might mean the difference between having adequate cover and having to pay to make something right yourself which might put your very business at risk.

One of the problems that many hotel owners come across is that a lot of general commercial insurance policies might not actually be set up to work from a hotelier's perspective. They may offer a range of general features and benefits such as buildings and contents cover as standard, but not much else.

You may, of course, be able to add on specialist features and benefits to a basic standard policy but this may not be the most efficient or cost effective route to take. In addition, you may not find all the options you need in any case. So, could a specialist hotel insurance policy work better for you? In many cases you may find that it comes with other advantages.

Most policies of this type will give you all the standard benefits that you might expect plus some others that are useful to have. You may, for example, also be given employers' liability insurance as standard - this isn't just a 'useful to have' feature, it's usually legally required if you employ any staff. Public liability insurance is also a key feature for many hotel owners. This will typically cover any claims for loss or damage by a third party against your business for which you are legally liable.

There are many features and benefits that may also be useful to your hotel and your needs. Cover elements such as business interruption, glass replacement, signage damage, and employee theft, for example, might save you a lot of money if you need to make a claim. Plus, a specialist insurance intermediary may well be able to help you find those optional cover extras that could suit any special needs you may have.

It might be hard to really know what kind of hotel insurance cover you need. Often a hotel owner will only realise what they should have had insured against only after an incident has occurred. Obviously this is not necessarily the best way to learn the ropes! As specialist brokers we can take you through the different cover options available so you can make sure you get the right protection for your hotel.



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As a publican looking for public house insurance you may think that a standard commercial insurance policy will do the right job for you. With a little investigation, however, you may find that there are better options out there for you.

Pubs are difficult businesses in the eyes of some insurers. The fact that your business revolves around bringing in the general public and allowing them to drink alcohol can sometimes make you seem like a high insurance risk. Whilst standard insurance sources may give you basic cover you may find that this isn't quite enough for your own particular needs and that it doesn't allow for the way that you run your own pub.

A specialist public house insurance policy, however, may be worth investigating. These policies will usually give you all the essential and general cover that any business needs, plus offer features specific to protecting a business within your industry.

For example, you may get standard building and contents as you need it as well as employers' liability benefits (which you usually must have by law if you employ other people). You may also be given public liability insurance and legal benefits cover, both of which may be very useful given your dealings with the general public.

The fact is that there are extras that you might find useful depending on what your pub actually offers and on those related issues that might be important to you. Some examples of these sector specific benefits include:

* Business interruption cover to give you financial assistance to help you replace your income if you have to close your pub for a while due to something like a flood or fire, for example;
* Entertainment/equipment cover that could be useful if you run TV screens, jukeboxes, discos or karaoke evenings;
* Extended stock cover to make sure that your valuable drinks, cigarette and food stocks are adequately insured against theft or damage;
* Loss of license cover should you lose your license in certain circumstances and cannot trade;
* Assault and injury cover to protect you and your staff if there is an incident where you or they get injured / assaulted;
* Glass replacement cover to help you replace windows if they get broken or you become a target of vandals.

Some standard insurance policies may cover some or all of these extra benefits but some may only give them as additional extras, which may increase your policy costs. Or they may not be offered at all. You may therefore find that getting specialist public house insurance might get you better levels of protection to match your own needs - and possibly more cost effectively too.



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As a shop owner you may realise that whilst you share many common factors with other retailers, your own shop may have its own particular needs in many ways. You may also find that this is the case with the different kinds of retail insurance available, as not all of the options on offer will necessarily provide the same features and benefits.

For example, if you go to a traditional insurance source you may be offered commercial insurance, and in some cases this may well cover your own individual needs but, in many cases, it may only go so far. A standard business insurance policy may not offer you all the industry-specific elements that you need.

In some cases you may even find that you are viewed as being a high risk when it comes to certain things simply because you work in the retail sector. All of the shop insurance features and benefits that you need may be on offer to you. However, some of them may come with an additional cost simply because an insurer has classified these particular areas of protection as being high risk within your industry.

So, what do you need to consider when choosing your cover? In general terms you may be offered a basic mix of standard insurance elements, including:

* Protection for your shop - ie. buildings/contents cover as applicable;
* Protection for your staff - ie. employers' liability insurance (this is in most cases a legal requirement if you employ any staff);
* Protection for your customers - i.e. public liability cover.

So, for example, you may want to consider other features and benefits such as:

* Glass replacement services - having 24 hour access to a glass replacement service could be extremely useful if your shop windows get damaged or are broken;
* Business interruption cover - if your shop has to close after an incident such as a fire then you will immediately lose your income unless you have this benefit which could assist you financially;
* Flexible stock insurance - most shops won't hold the same amount/value of stock year round. Busy periods such as Christmas could, for example, see you with increased stock holdings. This kind of cover has built in flexibility to increase your stock insurance coverage during pre-defined times.

The benefits you need as part of your retail insurance policy may be different from those of your neighbouring shop owners and you may find that many standard commercial insurers cannot take this fact fully into account. You may want to consider getting some expert help before you buy a policy to ensure that you get suitable cover for your needs.



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Could your retail business benefit from supermarket insurance? If you run your own supermarket(s) then you are probably aware of just how important a business insurance policy can be to protect you and your livelihood. However, the retail sector may be perceived by some insurance providers as being a high risk as so much can potentially go wrong. This might actually make it harder for you to find suitable cover.

So, why is the retail trade held to be risky by some insurers? It is to do with their assessment of what can and does go wrong with this kind of business. Insuring an office, for example, may be relatively easy by comparison.

Supermarkets, on the other hand, may employ more staff, will have a regular footfall of customers and visitors; and may be more vulnerable to theft and vandalism.

So what can supermarket insurance offer? Typically they can include:

* buildings and contents cover;
* employers' liability insurance. (You will usually need to have employers' liability cover by law, if you employ any staff);
* And, as you are dealing with the general public every minute of every day that you are open, you may also want cover for public liability and legal costs in case something goes wrong and a claim for injury, loss or damage is made against you.

But, what else might you look at? One of the easiest ways of working out the kind of specialist cover you may need is to think about what might go wrong and how much that would cost you if you weren't insured. So, for example:

· what would happen if you had a flood and a lot of your stock got damaged?

· how would you pay for replacement windows if local youths decided to have fun throwing a few stones at your windows?

· would your business go bankrupt if you had an electrical fire and had to close down until the electrics and any damage to the buildings and contents had been repaired?

These kinds of questions may help you assess exactly what kinds of supermarket insurance cover you need and why. Bear in mind, however, that not all general commercial insurers might offer all of these benefits. You may wish to talk to a specialist insurance broker first to see what options are available and what you should be looking for as part of your cover.



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