City Hall needs to issue guidelines for the registration of hospitality businesses

When I read the article captioned ‘City calls for registration of businesses offering accommodation’ on page 17 of the Monday, April 5, 2010 issue of SN I was surprised to see my address listed as an example of an unregistered operation (guest house).

I wish to make two corrections to this article:

First, my small business is registered every year in January at the Deeds Registry as a “Business.”  My receipt number for my last registration (8.1.2010) is 514923.

Secondly, my business is a Bed & Breakfast and not a guest house.

While I totally support the efforts of M&CC to register all businesses offering food and lodging services, effective communication is crucial for the public. In consultations with different government institutions, no one has been able to provide guidelines or identify laws that govern Bed & Breakfast establishments in Guyana. Consequently, the B&Bs that I am aware of have registered their enterprises as businesses with the Deeds Registry.

To improve communication with the public, City Hall may wish to consider the preparation of a handout at the Deeds Registry to provide guidelines to interested parties for the registration of their hospitality businesses.

As soon as I discover all the requirements I will re-register my business accordingly.

Yours faithfully,
Syeada Manbodh