bramling
Veteran Member
The most notable period being April 12th to May 17th 2021, when it was a criminal offence to stay in a hotel for non-essential purposes, but legal to stay in a short-term rental apartment for any reason or none - despite the risk of transmission being close to identical in either case.
Indeed. It was far too easy for the government to keep such places closed down. I suspect if furlough had been finished by then there would have been much more clamour to keep workplaces open.
I remember attempting to stay in a Premier Inn in London during that time. I was tempted to stay anyway, but on phoning up to test the water it was made clear that some form of “proof of reason for stay” would be asked for. At that point I decided I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle, so camped overnight in my office instead! (Which was a pain in the proverbial, as although the soft seating was sufficiently comfortable, it was in the wrong part of London for what I had planned).