Join BIGHA

bath independent guest house association

 

Cost is £5 per month

INTERESTED AND WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Find out here:

 NO NEED TO BE STAR RATED

WHAT IS BIGHA? | WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? | JOINING CRITERIA | FIT FOR PURPOSE | HOW TO JOIN

WHAT IS BIGHA?

We are a group of self employed accommodation owners that work together to ensure that visitors to Bath and the surrounding area get the very best visitor experience that money can buy - offering the best choice, quality and value accommodation in the area.

We have over 100 members with properties ranging from guest houses, small hotels and self catering apartments all located in and around the Bath area. We are run by an elected committee who work vigorously to support all the membership. As well as running our businesses we try to be involved in protecting the City’s heritage and community. We support local charities by raising funds at our social events. We lobby the Council on tourism issues. We work with local trade and preservation trusts trying to ensure the uniqueness of our heritage city is preserved and maintained. Below is a flavour of what we support and are involved in:

ORGANISATIONS AND CAMPAIGNS
  • Representation on Visit Bath Board
  • Representation of Bath Chamber of Commerce
  • Annual prize giving to the best hospitality student at Bath College
  • Purchase of street cleaning vehicle to help Bath stay litter free
  • Representation on the City Centre Management Board
  • Supports the Bath Business Improvement District (BID) to help develop a better visitor experience in the City Centre
  • Campaigning to get the Visitor Accommodation Study adopted to help promote sensible tourism planning.
 RELATED PRESS ARTICLES 

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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

  • Protect your business interests - By being one voice representing the needs of all independent guest house, hotel and self catering proprietors we have a much better chance of changing things than if we do it on our own.  Some of the things we are involved with are detailed above.

 

  • Get online with the BIGHA website - stayinbath.org  - offers great scope to increase bed occupancy levels.  Our website hits have doubled over the past year.  You have the option of joining our on-line booking system - The Booking Button. This extra facility can be added to your own site and to stayinbath.org (additional monthly charge applies). Around 50% of our members are using this system and more are coming on-line every month.  We also are keeping up to date with new media and we have a presence on Facebook and YouTube.

facebook  youtube video

 

  • Free training -  examples are: Food Hygiene, Fire Certification and First Aid, Using Online Systems.

 

  • Help and Advice  - We have a wealth of information on the members section of the website including statutory requirements, regulations you need to comply with,  local businesses, insurance, fitness for purpose, licence's you may need.  Plus we are all a friendly bunch and we like to help each other so a problem is usually a phone call away.

 

  • BIGHA Better Deals – the association is able to use the size of its membership to purchase goods and services at a favourable rate.

 

  • Free Bath Maps and Restaurant Guide -we produce our own city map and restaurant guide. The restaurants listed are all independent. Guests have always appreciated our city map and you will recieve enough maps to be able to give one to every guest that stays with you. View Map here

 

  •  Keeping in touch - By joining you will automatically be included in our e-mail notification scheme. Regular e-mail notifications are sent out on a host of different topics.  For example -  what's on information, people looking for work, or more important issues like notifications of scams and non paying guests.  We also produce a  quarterly newsletter The BIGHA News and we are always looking for contributions from all members for this so if you have any interesting bits of information that you would like to share you could find yourself in print!

 

  • An active social calendar  - This brings members together informally giving us all the opportunity to share experiences, learn from each other and just have FUN! We have 2 fixed annual events - our summer BBQ and our Christmas Dinner. Plus throughout the year we get several invitations from restaurants and attractions in the area that want to show us their product so we can recommend them to our guests. Many of these are free.

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JOINING CRITERIA

We need to ensure that your accommodation meets some basic standards in guest comfort, cleanliness and health and safety.

If you have a star rating - then you will have met all these criteria in your annual assessment.

If you have never been star rated or assessed -  then dont worry you can still join but you will need to apply for a BIGHA  'fit for purpose' assessment.  You have 9 months from your joining date to get assessed.  The cost of assessment is £75.00 plus VAT.  Please see below for more details.

 If you wish to be star rated you - then you can contact Visit Britain or the AA. 

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 NO NEED TO BE STAR RATED

FIT FOR PURPOSE

The BIGHA Fit of Purpose Inspection is a new Local Accommodation Assessment Scheme accredited by VisitEngland.  The  criteria is agreed by them to conform to other schemes run across the country. 

This entry-level scheme is aimed at Guest Houses, B&B's and Self Catering properties that do not want to apply for the national star rating award but who do wish to offer visitors reassurance that the accommodation meets all legal requirements and offers an acceptable level of cleanliness and comfort.

The assessment will consist of a short inspection primarily focused on health and safety factors as required by the law and basic good practices for a professional business.

Assessments, which will take approximately 1-1.5 hours depending on the size of the business, will be undertaken by Quality in Tourism, VisitEngland’s assessor.

Below is the brouchure which outlines the scheme.

New members just need to contact Quality in Tourism  by phone or e-mail and ask for the BIGHA Fit for Purpose Scheme

Quality in Tourism contact details:

Tel: 0845 300 9669 or E-mail: qualityintourism@uk.g4s.com

 

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HOW TO JOIN

Its easy - there  are 4 easy steps to becoming a BIGHA member

  1. Download and fill in the membership form. Membership Form (pdf)
  2. Download and fill in the Direct Debit Mandate.   Direct Debit Form.  The total amount for the whole year will be taken from your bank on 1st April.
  3. If you have had a quality check then please attach a copy of your certificate. If you have not already had a quality check then you will also have to arrange an assessment. Please indicate on the application form that you are awaiting assessment.
  4. Send all your documents to Louise Horn (Membership Secretary), Bay Tree House, 12 Crescent Gardens, Bath BA1 2NA

If you have any questions and would like to discuss them please contact Louise by phone 01225 483699 or email stay@baytreehousebath.co.uk

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