Fully booked?

Although rates in the pub, restaurant and hotel market are starting to show signs of hardening, brokers should not be too quick to rush into this competitive sector. It is important not to underestimate the risks, says Steve Banner.

It is notoriously difficult for insurers to make a profit out of
insuring pubs, and hotel business is, if anything, even less
lucrative.


Restaurants offer a marginally better return, according to some
underwriters, but do not offset the poor results that characterise a
lacklustre sector.


The problem lies in the combination of intense competition for the
available business, a proliferation of low-cost schemes and a steady
stream of attritional losses plus the occasional big fire or public
liability