Class 43 includes restaurant services. Similar services, such as catering services and those provided by cafeterias and snack-bars or fast-food outlets, are also in this class. In general, these services involve preparing food and/or beverages for immediate consumption by the consumer. Services related to the preparation of food, such as cake decorating, are also in this class.
Class 43 is also the class for temporary accommodation services like those provided by hotels, boarding houses and day-nurseries or crèches. The qualification "temporary" is important as it highlights the difference between Class 43 and services which belong to Cl. 36, such as the rental of apartments or other real estate. It may be difficult to determine what is considered "temporary" as certain services in Class 43 provide accommodation for an extended period of time, for example, retirement home services. However, this is not a real estate activity in the nature of renting an apartment (Cl. 36) which is intended to be someone's private residence for an indefinite period of time.
It should be noted that not all activities related to hotel services belong to Class 43. For example, providing entertainment services for a hotel is a Cl. 41 service, and the services of a company that cleans hotel rooms would be in Cl. 37.
Providing temporary accommodation also includes the rental of meeting rooms and the rental of rooms for social events such as wedding receptions and birthday parties. These services thus belong to Class 43. Furthermore, in accordance with General Remark (b) for Services, the rental of furniture and tableware often used for such events is classified in this class as well.
It is also worth bearing in mind that travel agency services cannot be classified in one class. Indeed, such agencies provide services that belong to a number of different classes, such as booking hotel rooms in this class, booking travel tickets and travel tours in Cl. 39 and booking tickets for cultural or entertainment events in Cl. 41.