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HOTEL CLASSIFICATION

Issue: One single international hotel classification scheme?
Historically, hotel classification systems were developed to ensure safe and reliable lodging and food for travellers at a time when very few such trustworthy establishments existed. With the unprecedented growth of international tourism in the past fifty years, during which hospitality has reach the status of a mature industry, the focus has moved from consumer protection (generally guaranteed by national regulations and legislation) to consumer information. Today, standardization and competitive marketing of hotel services to foreign customers and tourist professionals have emerged as driving forces for instituting a local or national hotel classification system.

However, within the hotel industry the debate continues as to whether formal classification is in fact necessary or not - as instanced by HORESTA the Danish Hotel Association and the Israel Hotel Association, respectively for and against hotel classification at national level . At the same time, there are currently moves afoot in a number of world regions – Scandinavia, South East Asia, Middle East and even Europe – for some form of harmonised regional system.

As a result, the question of how hotel ratings compare across the world is periodically raised by various public and private-sector interests.

Attempts by international agencies to set up some form of international classification for the hotel industry crop up periodically, generally prompted by a desire to ensure better consumer information and provide some basis for comparison of establishments across the globe.

Read here why attempts to create such a scheme are doomed to failure.

IH&RA Position
Attempts by international agencies to set up some form of international classification for the hotel industry are made periodically, generally prompted by a desire to provide some common basis for comparison of establishments across the globe.

Following an extensive audit and analysis of worldwide grading systems, IH&RA contends that current national hotel classification and grading systems already give an indication of the level of standard offered by a hotel in that country or region, enabling consumers to make an informed choice.

IH&RA believes that setting up an international hotel classification scheme is an unfeasible and ill-founded undertaking. Hard and fast quantitative criteria (eg room size, height of ceiling, construction standards, language proficiency, etc.) vary from country to country and even more so from one geographic region to another. Qualitative criteria remain highly subjective, particularly as regards delivery of services. In addition, IH&RA notes that consumers already have access to a broad array of guides and, more recently, to Internet-based sources of information. The fact that Tour Operators and other bodies, including on-line travel agencies, often establish their own rating systems, providing enhanced, current evaluations, further supports the position of IH&RA.

  • IH&Ra opposes the concept of harmonising hotel classification at the international level on the grounds that creating a single grading system extending beyond national boundaries would be an impossible and undesirable task.
  • IH&RA supports the idea of informing consumers on the facilities provided by hotels and resorts and therefore advocates consistency in the criteria used to describe tourism and hotel services.
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