I'd question this business model being legal.

Your folks are unlikely be insured as most owners don't tell their insurance companies and wing it.

False economy IMHO

I had never heard of this before and now I have I can honestly say I would not entertain it. I feel uncomfortable enough staying over at friends or families houses, let alone complete strangers.

I would leave any company that tried to make me stay in someones spare room whilst on work business for them. You don't have any policies in place and if you look at it in the cold-light-of-day then you will realise that this is something you could not adequately control.

Is there not alternatives that could be explored if your company model is changing. How about recruiting home-based staff to cover sectors/ regions, if you need them field based rather then sending them all over the country from one central location for example.

I have a Premier Inn account for when i'm away from home, So much better, i would imagine than staying in peoples houses etc..  may even be cheaper with some rooms only £35.00 if you book ahead.

Nice to take the Mrs away for a nice break :-)

Edited by user 21 February 2017 20:13:08(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks Paul, Looking into that now :-)

Never had any issues about putting this down as a business expense. Saves on long journeys, and you get a decent breakfast in the morning.

Perceptions of risk have changed for the worse in my view these last 50+ years that I have been at work as people are now afraid of their own shadows & people are different even if its not admited today & companies bang people into hotels because of the money they 'manipulate' not because of safety concerns

And lets all admit that the real H&S risk in staying in a persons private home must be dramiticially below the risk of travelling to that home from their place of work & if I am wrong I will pack up today!

Sterile faceless hotels are not always the best & many millions over the years have happily & safely spent their working lives in 'digs' so I suggest that if a real risk exists then manage it & if no risk exists then let the workers get on with it as other non H&S factors are nothing to do with the H&S bod NB: what are the horror stories as mine and my staff [300] were all good - best of luck

I'm guessing that different people will have different quarms about staying in someones home as opposed to staying in a Premier Inn or Holiday Inn. 

Speaking from experiance i would sooner go to a "Faceless Hotel" as opposed to staying in someones house as i have a set standard of how i expect to find the room in terms of comfort, Wifi, work space and quality of the Bed etc... 

Having said that there are people who would prefer staying in someones house,Spare room, Settee etc.. Buy sadly thats not me.

Edited by user 22 February 2017 09:30:11(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

My response was more about my personal opinion of how comfortable I would be in this form of accomodation. However, I do believe there are still issues regarding H&S - and I'm not talking about the fear that every stranger is a serial killer! I'm sure that many of them would be more than adequate - but how would I know?

Having looked on this website it is clear there are no proper check and assessment of the standards of accomodation. No commitment to the BHA. There are all manner of potential issues. For example: is their wiring up to scratch? Is there adequate provision in the event of a fire? What are the 1st aid arrangements? What happens if a vulnerable adult or child lives there - what are the issues surounding this - are all staff CRB checked? I could go on.

No, I'm sorry I'm happy for anyone to disagree with me and bang on about how things were so much better 50 years ago when we all had much better attitudes toward risk (aparently), but for my money I would not entertain this for my workplace for the sake of saving a couple of quid. Give me a sterile, faceless hotel anyday - at least it is sterile!

We turned this down for our lads. You just cannot tell where they are going. The hosts are not subject to any regulations or checks.

Another consideration for me was, if I send a team of Engineers to someone's house, they are at risk of false accusations if someone saw fit.

Just for interest

A recent clealiness survey [watched a show on day time telly news] showed that all 5 & 4 star accommodation failed [yep failed] the test and, yep U gussed it, the 0 -1 star types of accommodat passed with 3 having a middle of the road result

NB: it was not safer years ago it was a case that people just got on with things and lawyers were not chasing cases

Thinking about this again.

Toward the back end of last year, I had a job to do in Scotland, then the last two days of the week I was on a course in London.

Now, the course & accomodation I was paying out of my own pocket.

The travel from home to Scotland, to London to home, was covered by the job I was doing, negotiated.

Now, to save money on acomoodation, I stayed with my cousin in London, only the second time ever, she's lived there for over 30 years, the first was to see Queen @ Wembley in 86, when 4 of us went.

Now I had my own room, adjacent shared bathroom, there were another two in the house, keys, wifi password & free run of the kitchen.  I was staying with family, who I have been really close with over the years, even though seperated by distance for some time.

I felt REALLY uncomfortable, I was made more than welcome, but, it didn't stop me from feeling awkward.

I prefered my own space in the Holiday Inn in Edinburgh, even though it was not as convenient, or as homely, it was just what I was used to when travelling on business.

Would I stay with her again, possibly, because it worked, and I'm thinking that the scond time, might be easier, and digs in London are stupidly expensive!  So only if I was paying myself.  If I was on business and clients were covering the costs, then I would choose a hotel.

So, just to put a personal take on things, offering a real life comparison.

HTH

I once joked about being given a VW Camper Van when the company car came up for renewal (boss was moaning about hotel bills) - I was the one breathing a sigh of refief when it did not appear on the companies approved vehicles list.

There is nowhere so remote that Air B&B is the ONLY option - plenty of decent guest houses and hotels if you contact tourist information rather than relying on biased web seraches.

As others have indicated if you plan well even the large corporates offer a decent rate for advance booking and using the rooms away from peak days. I have even made block reservations up to 6 months in advance often getting rooms for 50-66% reduction against standard prices.

If there is a large chain nearby talk to their head office - if your company is a frequent user there are often corporate rates available.

Mmmm,

While agreeing very much that I'd much rather be in an anonymous hotel room than somebody's spare bedroom, I have come across a couple of problems with hotels.

Like a colleague of mine who had a strange man walk into her bedroom at 3 in the morning, reception had accidentally given him the wrong room & key. She was OK and found it more amusing than anything else.

Or the time I opened my room, having just arrived, and thought 'somebody's left their luggage in the room', when a naked man walked out of the shower and apologised to me. Why he said sorry I don't know, it was me who had been given the wrong room and key.

Or the time a colleague of mine was woken up by the Police tasering a man in the corridor outside his room. Mind you, that was at Haydock.

These all happened in well-known hotel chains.

John

Well, the first motive of a travel safety is just to drive safe, arrive safe. Before travel we have to notice and make sure that there is no problem with engine, it does not stop in the midway. In case of any mishap or any technical failure you need to remember those men's or company who will help you in this case.

I might add as a postscript that there is a drawback to the identical chain hotel rooms. I had this fear that I would wake up in the middle of the night and not know where I was. And eventually, it happened. Your mind goes through the questions of....I'm not at home.....where the hell am I?......okay, okay, I'm in a Premier Inn....but where? It's a very uncomfortable few seconds, I can tell you.

In a previous role I had to travel the all across Scotland visiting home-workers for another organisation to do risk assessments for their staff.

Many of these houses were extremely remote (including down an unmarked farm road on the Black Isle). I stayed in Bed and Breakfast or hotel accomodation the entire time. Yes, some were rather grotty (I would like to forget the used nappy and half full bottle of baby milk I found in a hotel in Alford..shudders) but others were great and made a point of "looking after me (as a solo female business traveller) .

While I'd happily stay with a friend or family member, I'd be less inclined to stay in a room in someone's house I didn't know or had never met before. I'd need to know that the room I was staying in could be secured. I'd also probably spend time checking that the address was where it said it was etc and to save myself the hassle and book into a hotel or B&B that had been recommended to me by the client.