Post by Cath, User Researcher and Damien, Service Designer, Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA)

Image: Cath and Damien presenting

Recently the two of us took to the stage at The Bike Lock in Cardiff for TransformGov Talks Cymru, co-hosted with Transform Wales. Our topic was designing Wales’ first visitor accommodation registration service. If you missed it, here’s the short version.

Post by Gareth, Registration Lead, Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA)

There’s something slightly strange about launching a government service for the first time.

After two years of work, you might expect the moment it finally goes live to feel momentous. Maybe there should be a countdown, some fanfare, even a little celebration.

Instead, someone clicked a button. And there it was. Version 1 of the Register your visitor accommodation in Wales service was live. Accommodation providers in Wales now have until 31 March 2027 to register with the WRA.

Years of legislation, policy, design, user research, development and testing, distilled into a few clicks. It was, if I’m honest, a little anticlimactic. But because of all of that work, perhaps that’s exactly how it should be.

Post by Cath, Senior User Researcher, Welsh Revenue Authority

How do you design a registration service in a way that makes sense to a hotel manager, a campsite provider and a holiday let owner all at the same time? That was the challenge we set ourselves when redesigning the ‘about the accommodation’ section of the new visitor accommodation registration service.

This section is where providers tell us what their accommodation is called, what kind of accommodation they offer, how many units they have, whether those units are named, the maximum number of guests they can host, and when they are available for bookings.

To make sure we got this right, we spoke to a broad mix of accommodation providers in Wales, including self-catering hosts, campsite and glampsite operators, hotel and hostel managers, and festival organisers.

Post by Gareth, Registration Lead, Welsh Revenue Authority

In April 2026, our visitor accommodation registration service went through a Digital Service Assessment. It was carried out by Digital Public Services Wales (DPSW), who checked how we’re performing against the 12 points of the Digital Service Standard for Wales. Here’s what we found out.

Post by Gareth, Registration Lead, Welsh Revenue Authority

We are getting closer to opening registration for visitor accommodation providers in Wales. From autumn 2026, anyone who takes bookings for overnight stays in Wales will need to register with the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA). Before we open registration to everyone, we want to make sure the service works well for all providers. That is why we are inviting a small group of providers to take part in a private beta – an early test of the real service.

Post by Gareth, Registration Lead, Welsh Revenue Authority

Building a new service is about far more than what you see on screen.

From autumn 2026, visitor accommodation providers in Wales will need to register with the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA). Since the WRA launched in 2018, our approach has always been to support people to get things right first time and we’re applying the same approach to registration. We are working hard to make sure that when registration opens, you have everything you need to complete the process simply, correctly and confidently.

Post by Gareth, Registration Lead, Welsh Revenue Authority

From autumn 2026, visitor accommodation providers in Wales will need to register with the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA). When you complete your registration, you will receive a unique 8 digit number. Designing that number has been more involved than you might expect.

Post by Gareth, Registration Lead, Welsh Revenue Authority

We’ve been looking at how partnerships will register their visitor accommodation with the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA). From autumn 2026, anyone who takes bookings for overnight stays in Wales will need to register with us.

For this piece of work, we wanted to focus on the journey from start to finish. We needed to make sure what we’re designing meets user needs and captures all the information required by the policy.