A booking drops into your inbox at eleven at night. Two nights, the room with the good view, a couple who sound lovely in their little message. For a second it feels great. Then comes the part nobody talks about, the quiet sum you do in your head where you work out how much of that booking you actually get to keep.
The UK's current 20% hospitality VAT rate is one of the highest hospitality VAT rates in Europe. Every pound taken over the counter carries a VAT obligation that an independent operator at three percent net margin is working significantly harder to absorb than a chain with three times the margin headroom.
