Vacation days in the hospitality

Vacation days in the hospitality CLA: what you are entitled to

The holiday year generally runs from 1 June to 31 May. According to the CLA, hospitality businesses may also choose to use 1 January to 31 December as the holiday year. This then applies to the entire company. Most employers opt to use the calendar year as the holiday year, as it makes it easier to see when holiday days expire.

The accrual of holiday hours in the hospitality sector

You accrue a total of 0.096 hours of holiday per hour worked. This accrual consists of:

• Statutory holiday (0.0768 hours per hour worked)
• Additional holiday (0.0192 hours per hour worked)

New: loyalty leave!

If you have been employed by your employer for 10 years or more, you accrue additional holiday hours per holiday year (or calendar year).

The following table applies (based on full-time employment). On the left, you see the uninterrupted years of service and on the right, the extra holiday hours:

≥ 10 years < 15 years                     7.6 hours
≥ 15 years < 20 years                     11.4 hours
≥ 20 years < 25 years                     15.2 hours
≥ 25 years and over                               19 hours

If you work part-time, you accrue the extra leave hours on a pro-rata basis. You receive the extra holiday hours from the first calendar month after you have been employed by your employer for 10 years or more, in proportion to the remaining holiday year (or calendar year). Subsequently, you accrue these hours per holiday year (or calendar year). 

How to take holiday hours

Do you want to take a holiday? Then you must submit a written request to your employer, which can be done via the scheduling system you use at work or with this sample letter. Always ensure you have proof of your request. In this request, you indicate when and for how long you wish to be off. Your employer will then, as far as possible, record the holiday according to your wishes.

Your employer must respond to your request within two weeks. If they do not, the holiday is, in principle, confirmed. A rejection can only occur if your employer does so within two weeks and has a significant reason, for example, if too many other colleagues are off at the same time. If you are unsure whether your employer has rightly rejected your request, please contact us.

Prevent your leave days from expiring

Unfortunately, holiday days are not valid indefinitely, so make sure you take them in time. Statutory holiday days expire six months after the calendar year in which you accrued them. Statutory holiday days that you accrued in the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December will therefore expire on 1 July. Non-statutory holiday days only expire after five years.

Holiday pay for hospitality employees 

Everyone who works is entitled to holiday pay. So are you. Holiday pay can be paid in two ways: periodically or annually. If it's the latter, you should receive the holiday pay by the month of June at the latest. It's important that the agreements about this are documented in writing. Additionally, your payslip should clearly specify the accrual and payment of holiday pay.

If you are a zero-hour contract worker, your employer may pay the accrual of holiday days and holiday pay as compensation together with your salary (this is also known as an all-in salary). The condition is that the compensations must be listed separately on the payslip. You are still allowed to take holidays, but you will not receive any additional compensation for it as it has already been paid with your salary.

The holiday pay in the hospitality sector amounts to 8% of the salary* you earned with your employer in a holiday year. The amount of your holiday pay is often slightly less than a gross monthly salary.

*This does not include incidental allowances, bonuses, and benefits in kind. It applies that for all hours worked in the holiday year, the sum of the salary and the holiday allowance must be at least 108% of the minimum salary.