Allianz UK has launched a hotels and restaurants proposition under its Commercial Select policy, adding sector-specific cover and risk management support for hospitality businesses.
It is aimed at UK businesses with turnover between £10 million and £1.5 billion, including independent restaurants and chains, business, resort, leisure and city-centre hotels, and conference centres with hotels. The core cover includes property damage, business interruption, employers’ liability, and public and products liability.
It is the third sector update in Allianz’s Commercial Select refresh, following wholesale and retail in September and manufacturing earlier this month.
The cover is built around the pressures hospitality businesses face. Chefs are covered as essential employees, and TRONC schemes, which share tips and service charges among staff, are protected after a loss, to help businesses keep their teams together.
Seasonal stock cover raises limits automatically for peak trading periods, and food that spoils because of equipment failure is covered. Customers can also get building energy inspections through Allianz Engineering Inspection Services.
Loss of licence cover protects businesses where a licence is lost for reasons outside their direct knowledge or control. It extends to the wedding and civil ceremony licences many hotels depend on.
Allianz has added compliance firm Serve Legal as a preferred supplier, giving customers a 20% discount on independent audits. These include age verification testing, which can provide evidence at a licence review, and venue safety audits that check readiness for Martyn’s Law. Serve Legal’s allergen audits and mystery shopping are designed to catch problems before guests do, and the policy includes cover for public relations costs if something goes wrong.
Martyn’s Law, formally the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, will require many venues to take steps to prepare for and protect against terrorist attacks, including larger hotels and conference venues.
Allianz said it fast-tracks smaller property claims and can make early “kick-start” payments on larger ones, recognising that cash flow is critical when margins are tight. Its engineering inspection and compliance services already support more than 1,000 customers in the sector.
“We’ve looked closely at where the pressures really bite and shaped the cover around them, so it reflects how hotels and restaurants actually operate rather than relying on a generic policy wording,” said Rob Carslake, head of Commercial Combined at Allianz UK.
Carslake said broadening Allianz’s appetite would give brokers more choice for hotel and restaurant clients.
For brokers with hospitality clients, the most practical features address risks generic policies often handle poorly: losing a key chef, protecting staff tips after a loss, and losing a premises or wedding licence.
Food spoilage cover is timely. Storms Austen and Boelo left hundreds of thousands of properties without power over the past week, and spoiled stock is a common claim for restaurants and hotels. Brokers should check whether spoilage cover responds to failures of the public power supply as well as to equipment breakdown on site, since the two are often treated differently.
Martyn’s Law also gives brokers a reason to talk to larger venue clients about compliance and terrorism cover ahead of the law taking effect. With commercial rates still falling, propositions like this let brokers compete on breadth of cover rather than price alone.
