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7
June 2010
SUBJECT:
CHANGES TO LIQUOR LICENCE LEGISLATION FOR VICTORIAN BED &
BREAKFASTS
BBFAA
welcomes today’s announcement by the Victorian Premiers
Department that from 2011, bed and breakfasts who supply
alcohol as an incidental part of their operations will no
longer have to pay liquor licence renewal fees.
Following
a 400% increase in the annual licence renewal fee over the
last two years BBFAA lobbied for changes to the legislation on
behalf of the industry in Victoria. This was to bring it in
line with provisions for bed and breakfasts in South Australia
and New South Wales where a liquor licence is not required
providing those businesses comply with set criteria.
BBFAA
Chairperson, Geoff Chapman, said "We acknowledge that
excessive alcohol consumption in some parts of the community
presented the Victorian Government with a real social problem,
but indicated in our meetings with Consumer Affairs Minister
Tony Robinson and his Department that bed and breakfasts pose
a very low risk and the increased fee was a major impost on
business causing many operators to cease serving alcohol to
their guests.
"The
new legislation will make it easier for bed and breakfast
owners to comply with the legislation and will contribute
significantly to the quality of the hospitality that this
important sector of the tourism industry provides."
The
details of the criteria for Victorian bed and breakfasts have
yet to be finalised and BBFAA will continue to consult with
the Department to assist in this process.
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The Bed &
Breakfast Institute has now launched a self-paced series of
B&B courses for people contemplating entry into the business and
for those already there.
Each student is allocated a mentor who
is a professional in the accommodation industry and in particular bed
& breakfast.
Click onto
http://www.bedandbreakfastinstitute.com.au/index.cfm for your free
prospectus.
Proposed
Victorian Liquor licensing fees - Many hosts welcome their
guest with afternoon tea or coffee and cake, even a glass of sparkling
wine with canapés. You might even serve a glass of wine with dinner?
Or if you run self contained accommodation you might leave a welcome
hamper with a bottle of wine in the fridge. It's the point of
difference between your accommodation and all the others. Well that
looks like it's going to get more expensive, particularly if you live
in Victoria.
Not so many years ago, hosts would need to go through quite a rigorous
and expensive procedure to be given the permission to serve drinks with
dinner or a glass of port after dinner. Then, the restrictions for the
serving of drinks (alcoholic) were eased in most states around the
country.
But 'times are a'changin'. BBFAA have told us that changing regulations
in Victoria have seen the fee for B&B hosts to serve drinks rise
over the last few years from less than a hundred dollars to several
hundred dollars. Now, with higher application and license fees it could
rise to over a thousand dollars. As a consequence hosts are not
renewing their licences deciding not to serve drinks – including the
bottle of port life on the sideboard as a nightcap.
Another host contacted us this week concerned that she had to install a
commercial kitchen, in her rural B&B to serve meals, yet quite
recently several other accommodation properties have opened offering
meals (but operating without a commercial kitchen) and her businesses
has suffered. Regulations regarding the serving of food are determined
by councils or local government, yet state government is responsible
for the serving of alcoholic drinks. Whether you serve meals or drinks,
you should check on the regulations to ensure you are complying.
Do you serve drinks to your guests? Have the changes in Victoria
affected you? Do you serve meals and have a commercial kitchen? Will
you change your business practises if the rules change
The above article was written by Carl
Southern.
NOW AVAILABLE - the
following two titles can be downloaded as 'interactive' files, which
means all the spreadsheets have built-in formulas (where applicable).
They are; A Feasibility
Study for Aspiring Bed & Breakfast Operators - Cost $21
A Business Plan for Bed & Breakfast
Owners - Cost $21 Go to the
publications page and get your downloaded copies now.
Would you be able
to tell your readers about our new idea?
My husband and I own Craigievar B&B in Edinburgh, Scotland and are
trying to
start a website with a list of B&B's that would like to 'swap'
rooms. eg. we
would offer a double room and breakfast as an exchange with a B&B
somewhere
else. It would be free for them to stay with us and for us to stay with
them
meaning that we would only have to pay for transport - a free holiday!
Obviously people would only offer to swap in quiet times. Each
B&B would have
to be ensuite and have a website so that we can all see what we are
getting.
I am emailing B&B's abroad but it is hard to get to more than 1 at
a time - so
it will take some time to get international members but that's what
we're
aiming for.
We have set up a site at http://www.bedandbreakfastswap.com
please have a
look. It's only in it's infancy just now but we would love to get more
members
or even just some feedback.
Thank for reading this, Jacqui Gold - 112 Glasgow Road, Edinburgh EH12
8LP, Scotland UK
Tourism
NSW Regional Campaign
Tourism New South
Wales has just launched their new regional campaign based on seven new
Zones (Sydney is the eighth Zone):
- Sydney
Surrounds (areas within a 3 hour drive from Sydney)
- South
Coast of NSW
- North
Coast of NSW
- Heart
of Country NSW
- Outback
NSW
- Murray
- NSW
High Country
Contact Tourism NSW
for more details - www.tourism.nsw.gov.au/
The new Accommodation
Directory (the Egg Book) will support the TNSW thrust by utilising the
new Zones and the map provided by TNSW.
It is essential we, as an organisation, closely follow the
marketing push by aligning our own promotional material with that of
TNSW as well as utilising artwork provided by them (this also saves
money).
Online Bed &
Breakfast Course:
Watch
this space for two new online self paced B&B courses - one
for beginners and one for those people already there.
For
further information email us at: - www.bedandbreakfastinstitute.com.au/index.cfm
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