Can a hotel claim the Workplace Charging Scheme?

Only for off-street bays reserved for staff and fleet — not for guest parking. Guest-facing bays are explicitly excluded from the WCS, which is restricted to staff and fleet parking under the scheme rules. Many hotels split the project so staff bays claim the grant and guest bays sit under a separate commercial contract.

Will I need planning permission for a hotel car-park installation?

Most ground-mounted chargepoints in an existing off-street car park are covered by permitted development in England under The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order, subject to height and siting limits. Listed buildings, conservation areas and any upstand over the permitted height typically need a full application. A reputable installer scopes this before quoting.

Should we offer guest charging free with the room, or pay-per-use?

Both are common. Free-with-stay is simpler operationally and avoids the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 contactless requirement, because the bays are no longer public-access for payment purposes. Pay-per-use opens you to non-guest revenue but brings the regulations into scope at any point 8 kW or above.

What hardware fits a typical UK hotel car park?

For overnight stays, 7 kW AC is usually sufficient and cheapest per socket. 22 kW AC is worth it only where dwell time is shorter (lunch, spa-day, daytime conferences). One or two 50 kW DC rapid bays are common at roadside or motorway-adjacent hotels for non-guest passing trade.

Is charging-as-a-service or capex better for a hotel?

Depends on cost of capital, forecast utilisation and whether EV charging is core to the proposition. Capex retains the revenue and the asset; CaaS gives you no upfront cost in exchange for a revenue share and contract term. Many independent hotels go CaaS for guest bays and capex for staff bays.

How are EV bays reflected in third-party apps and booking sites?

Listing in Zap-Map, the National Chargepoint Registry and the CPO's own app is normally part of the CaaS contract. Tesla Destination listing is separate and depends on installing Tesla wall connectors alongside any open AC bays.

EV Charger Installers for UK Hotels — Verified Commercial Providers

EV Charger Installers for UK Hotels & Hospitality

For hotels, restaurants, pubs with rooms and leisure venues. 1132 OZEV-authorised commercial EV charging installers on the official GOV.UK list, filtered to those offering commercial work. OZEV does not publish a per-vertical sub-tag, so the eligible pool is every commercial installer — shortlist three and ask each for a recent reference in this sector.

Hotel and hospitality EV charging is destination charging by another name: a guest plugs in at check-in and leaves charged at check-out. Dwell time is long (8–14 hours overnight, 1–3 hours at a restaurant or spa), which lets you specify cheaper AC hardware rather than rapid DC and still send the car away full. The commercial question is whether the bays are a guest amenity, a small revenue line, or both.

The 1132 installers on this page are all OZEV-authorised for commercial work on the public GOV.UK list. OZEV does not publish a hospitality sub-tag, so this page is filtered to every commercial OZEV-authorised installer; the right next step is to ask three shortlisted installers for a recent hotel or hospitality reference of similar scale.

Typical hotel and hospitality scope

Destination AC, 7–22 kW — for overnight guests. 7 kW is usually plenty for a full charge over a stay; 11 or 22 kW only helps where dwell time is shorter (lunch, spa-day, conferences).
A small number of 50 kW rapid bays — at roadside hotels and motorway-adjacent sites where the bays double as a coffee-stop revenue line for non-guests.
Branded EV-friendly listing — Tesla Destination, Zap-Map, hotel-chain apps. The installer scope should include how the bays appear in third-party apps if you want non-guest traffic.

The grant picture is awkward — be honest about it

The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is restricted to off-street staff and fleet parking. Guest parking is explicitly not eligible. Some hotels qualify for WCS on the subset of bays reserved for staff (housekeeping, kitchen, duty managers) — but the customer-facing bays are commercially funded. The Depot Charging Scheme funds fleet depots, not hospitality. So for most hotels the project is a mix of capex and charging-as-a-service (CPO funds the hardware, shares revenue) — see the commercial EV charger installation costs guide for what the maths actually looks like.

Buying questions a hotel should ask

Are the staff bays separable so we can claim WCS on those, and the guest bays sit under a separate commercial contract?
Capex or charging-as-a-service? If CaaS, what is the revenue share, the term, and what happens at break clause?
Will the bays accept contactless payment as required by the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 for any public-access point of 8 kW or above?
How are guest charges handled — folio billing, free with stay, or pay-as-you-go via the CPO app?
Planning permission: is the site a listed building or in a conservation area, and is the bay layout within permitted-development rights?

Common pitfalls

Specifying 22 kW everywhere when a 14-hour overnight stay charges fine on 7 kW. Over-spec drives capex without improving guest experience.
Putting all the bays in one row at the far end of the car park because that's where the supply is. Guests will not walk past 60 empty unbranded spaces to reach the EV bay; siting matters more than power.
Signing a CaaS contract with a long exclusivity clause and no break, then losing flexibility when guest charging patterns change.

The installers

1132 OZEV-authorised commercial installers shown. Featured partners are labelled and shown first; nothing else affects order.

Top 5 regions for this vertical

South East — 203 OZEV-authorised commercial installers
Scotland — 132 OZEV-authorised commercial installers
North West — 128 OZEV-authorised commercial installers
London — 110 OZEV-authorised commercial installers
West Midlands — 106 OZEV-authorised commercial installers

Frequently asked questions

Can a hotel claim the Workplace Charging Scheme?: Only for off-street bays reserved for staff and fleet — not for guest parking. Guest-facing bays are explicitly excluded from the WCS, which is restricted to staff and fleet parking under the scheme rules. Many hotels split the project so staff bays claim the grant and guest bays sit under a separate commercial contract.
Will I need planning permission for a hotel car-park installation?: Most ground-mounted chargepoints in an existing off-street car park are covered by permitted development in England under The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order, subject to height and siting limits. Listed buildings, conservation areas and any upstand over the permitted height typically need a full application. A reputable installer scopes this before quoting.
Should we offer guest charging free with the room, or pay-per-use?: Both are common. Free-with-stay is simpler operationally and avoids the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 contactless requirement, because the bays are no longer public-access for payment purposes. Pay-per-use opens you to non-guest revenue but brings the regulations into scope at any point 8 kW or above.
What hardware fits a typical UK hotel car park?: For overnight stays, 7 kW AC is usually sufficient and cheapest per socket. 22 kW AC is worth it only where dwell time is shorter (lunch, spa-day, daytime conferences). One or two 50 kW DC rapid bays are common at roadside or motorway-adjacent hotels for non-guest passing trade.
Is charging-as-a-service or capex better for a hotel?: Depends on cost of capital, forecast utilisation and whether EV charging is core to the proposition. Capex retains the revenue and the asset; CaaS gives you no upfront cost in exchange for a revenue share and contract term. Many independent hotels go CaaS for guest bays and capex for staff bays.
How are EV bays reflected in third-party apps and booking sites?: Listing in Zap-Map, the National Chargepoint Registry and the CPO's own app is normally part of the CaaS contract. Tesla Destination listing is separate and depends on installing Tesla wall connectors alongside any open AC bays.