Taking the complexity out of insurance for hospitality businesses

Multiple sites, varied tenancy arrangements, high public footfall and shared responsibilities between landlords and operators all create layers of insurance complexity that are rarely straightforward to manage.

For many operators, insurance sits quietly in the background until a claim, renewal or issue brings it sharply into focus. At that point, gaps in cover, unclear responsibilities or misaligned policies can quickly become costly distractions.

To address these challenges, more operators are moving towards a structured approach often described as insurance management.

Rather than treating insurance as an annual transaction, this model focuses on ongoing oversight, governance and visibility across an estate. The aim is to ensure that cover is aligned with how the business actually operates, and that risks are identified early rather than after an incident.

In practice, this means:

• Creating a clear, centralised view of insurance arrangements
• Setting consistent standards across sites
• Introducing processes to regularly review and maintain compliance

Some businesses build this capability internally, while others adopt an outsourced model, working with specialist partners to support oversight and day–to–day management.

While these challenges are common across the sector, the impact of a more structured approach can be seen clearly in practice. Marston’s provides a strong example of how improving oversight and adopting an insurance management model can reduce risk and complexity at scale.

Marston’s is one of the UK’s leading local pub operators, managing over 1,300 pubs nationwide. With a large proportion of the estate run by independent pub partners, maintaining clear and consistent oversight of insurance arrangements is both essential and inherently complex.

Operating at this scale, with a mix of tenanted and leased arrangements, creates unavoidable challenges. While partners and tenants are responsible for arranging their own insurance, the Group retains a clear interest in ensuring appropriate cover is in place across the estate.

As seen across the wider hospitality sector, this led to:

• Limited visibility of insurance arrangements across sites
• Variations in the level and quality of cover
• Potential exposure to vicarious liability where cover is insufficient
• Difficulty maintaining consistent standards across a large, distributed estate

Public liability risks, such as slips, trips and accidents, were a particular concern. Without structured oversight, it was difficult to maintain confidence that every location met the required standards.

To address these challenges, Marston’s introduced a more structured approach to insurance oversight—reflecting the broader shift towards insurance management seen across the sector.

This focused on:

• Creating a clear, centralised view of cover across all sites
• Establishing a consistent process for reviewing policies
• Maintaining standards over time through ongoing oversight

The approach was supported through Pub Protect, delivered by Tribe, and underpinned by a central Risk Register. This enabled a practical, ongoing process to gather, validate and maintain accurate records of insurance cover across the estate.

By moving to a structured model, Marston’s was able to:

• Review policies for suitability and identify potential gaps
• Support partners and tenants in putting appropriate cover in place
• Maintain clear, regular visibility of insurance compliance
• Reduce the administrative burden on internal teams through centralised management

This is not a one-off exercise, but an embedded framework designed to support long-term governance and risk management.

This approach has helped Marston’s maintain a more consistent standard of insurance across its estate and reduce uncertainty around potential exposure.

By focusing on early identification, regular oversight and tenant support, the Group has:

• Reduced the likelihood of uninsured or underinsured claims
• Strengthened its overall risk position
• Shifted insurance from a reactive burden to a structured, manageable process

What was previously resource-intensive and reactive is now an integrated part of day-to-day operations.

While Marston’s operates at significant scale, the underlying challenges – and the benefits of addressing them – are consistent across hospitality.

A combination of structured processes, sector expertise and tools such as a centralised risk register enables a more proactive approach to managing insurance, whether across a national pub estate or a smaller multi-site operation.

In Marston’s case, this is delivered in partnership with Tribe, providing both the Group and its tenants with greater clarity, support and confidence.