If you find yourself in Manchester for some reason and need to stay the night, be prepared to pay more as the city introduces a £1 tourist tax for overnight visitors
Add £1 to stay in the area – Image, Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District
This is part of the Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID) to improve the delivery of better visitor experiences and drive more staying visitors to the city.
The move comes from Manchester’s hotel and serviced apartment providers.
According to ABID, the initiative will enable Manchester to compete better in a global market and increase overnight visits at a time when there is an unprecedented level of new supply set to join the Manchester and Salford accommodation market, with an additional 5,850 confirmed new bedrooms incoming across the city-region within the next three years.
Of course, these activities don’t come free of charge, with the Manchester Accommodation BID utilising the City Visitor Charge – a supplementary £1 Charge per room/unit per night for guests, which will b added to the final accommodation bill.
Some hotels may even try and diddle you an extra 20p, when they add Value Added Tax to it.
The Charge will be collected from 73 hotels and serviced apartments that fall within the Manchester ABID zone and will apply to all bookings from 1 April 2023.
According to The Manchester Accommodation BID, funds will be used to: amplify marketing campaigns that drive overnight stays; help secure large-scale events, conferences, and festivals in low-season months; improve guest welcome and street cleanliness; and provide opportunities to futureproof the city’s growing accommodation sector and wider visitor economy.
The site explaining the charge is at https://manchesterabid.com/
Economy Class and Beyond reached out to the ABID in regards to a map of hotels – this has been provided at https://manchesterabid.com/manchester-abid-zone/. The Zone covers most of CentralT Manchester and Salford, roughly around the ringroad.
Manchester ABID Hotels and Accommodations taking part – Data points, Manchester ABID, Map Data, Google. Source: https://manchesterabid.com/manchester-abid-zone/
The list of properties taking part can be found at https://manchesterabid.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Accommodation-Establishments-March-2023.pdf
In Quotes
Manchester Accommodation BID Board Chair, Annie Brown, who also represents Budget Hotels in her role as General Manager for Hampton by Hilton Manchester Northern Quarter, said:
“This is a historic moment – the accommodation sector in and around Manchester is growing rapidly, with almost 6,000 new bedrooms incoming over the next few years, and the goal of the Manchester Accommodation BID is simple – we need to increase overnight stays in line with that growth so that hotels and serviced apartments in the city can continue to thrive.
“The Manchester Accommodation BID will create a more sustainable and thriving sector, helping to bring visitors from around the world to experience the best of what Manchester and Salford have to offer.
“I’m grateful to all of the accommodation providers who have supported the initiative and I’m looking forward to working together as a sector to achieve our shared objective of increasing occupancy.”
Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, Joanne Roney OBE, added:
“This innovative initiative will enhance the experience of visitors to Manchester by creating new events and activities for them to enjoy. It is anticipated to generate around £3 million of funds a year which will be invested directly into these activities, supporting Manchester’s accommodation sector to protect and create jobs and benefiting the city’s economy as a whole.”
Mad for it? Hardly.
Hands up who amongst you loves to pay extra fees?
I thought not.
I’ve had this charge tacked on at various major cities in the past (Geneva and Brussels are two off the top of my head) and I’ve always felt it is a cheap “add-on”, rather than anything else – a chance to gain a few extra pennies.
Some cities have done good things with that charge – for example, Geneva introduced a free transit scheme for visitors. Others like Brussels have seemed to have done nothing with theirs.
If You’re overnighting or staying for a few days, I would love to know how that £1 will go to improve my quality of stay, because this isn’t how to improve the experience. Whilst Manchester ABID have listed aspirations of what they are going to do, they have not listed one solid programme of work.
And with a possible £3 million a year being quoted, it had better deliver
Tourist levies are one quick way of pushing people to places outside the Business Improvement district zone.
I live around 100 miles away, and frankly, if I had to overnight in Manchester, I’d honestly now consider staying in the outskirts of the city, or even in places like Liverpool, Warrington or Stoke, rather than having to pay a few extra pennies for a zone that yet to define one physical benefit it will deliver.
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