Accommodation (SIC division 55)
Division 55 of the UK SIC 2007 list. It holds 5 codes, listed in full below with the number of active UK companies filed under each.
What sits in division 55
Division 55 is where places to stay register. Hotels, guest houses and B&Bs all share 55100. The holiday-let wave shows up under 55209, the usual code for serviced holiday cottages, apartments and hostels. Broader short-stay accommodation uses 55900. Caravan and camping businesses take 55300. One line trips people up, and it is about tenure. Short-stay furnished accommodation for visitors belongs here. Letting a home to tenants on an ordinary tenancy belongs in division 68. A landlord and a holiday-let operator can own similar buildings and still register quite differently.
Accommodation businesses buy all year, so a wide crowd sells to them. Channel managers and booking software vendors lead. Linen and laundry services, housekeeping and cleaning contractors, utility and insurance brokers follow. Marketing agencies pitch direct-booking websites. Accountants target holiday-let companies over furnished holiday letting rules and VAT thresholds. A new incorporation often marks a property purchase, or a move from personal to company ownership. Both are moments when owners want advice. An accommodation code plus the poor-website filter is a strong opening for anyone selling booking engines or photography.
How to read a division 55 code
A UK SIC code is five digits and division 55 is the first two of them. Everything filed under 55 shares those digits: all 5 codes below begin 55, then the third digit narrows to a group, the fourth to a class and the fifth to the subclass a company actually picks. Division 55 sits inside section I, accommodation and food service, which is the broadest tier of the classification. So a code is read left to right, from an industry down to a specific activity.
More on how division 55 codes are built
Companies choose their own codes at incorporation and can change them on any confirmation statement, and Companies House does not check the answer. A company may list up to four. That is worth knowing before you treat any division total as a headcount: the numbers here are what companies said about themselves, on the August 2026 register, and the largest single code in this division is 55100, hotels and similar accommodation.
Working division 55 as a list
Division 55 holds 5 codes and 51,641 active companies between them. 55100 is the largest at 36 per cent and the top three take 91 per cent, with the rest spread across the remaining 2 codes. That is balanced enough that the division is a reasonable unit to work, though the leading code alone will usually give you a cleaner list.
More on working division 55
A caveat that matters more in some divisions than others: a company may register up to four SIC codes, and the figures below count every position, not just the first. A business filed under two codes in this division appears under both. Treat the totals as reach rather than a headcount, and if you need a clean list, filter to companies whose FIRST code sits in the division. Every company you pull carries the Companies House record, the director's name, a verified website and a verified email, and the ones we cannot complete are not charged.
Every SIC code in division 55
Prospecting this division
Division 55 companies, as leads
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Division 55 questions
Should a holiday let company register under 55209 or a property code in division 68?
If you offer short-stay furnished accommodation to guests, 55209 is right. It covers holiday cottages, serviced apartments and similar. Letting property to tenants on standard residential tenancies is 68209 instead. A company doing both can register both codes. Companies House permits up to four and never vets the selection.
Which code fits a guest house or B&B?
Use 55100, hotels and similar accommodation. It covers hotels of every size, plus guest houses and bed and breakfasts. There is no separate code for small operators. A two-room B&B and a city hotel sit side by side. Choose the code at incorporation, or amend it on a later confirmation statement. There is no approval step.
Find companies across division 55
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