Obviously, every country in the world is anxious to ensure that its tourism industry meets the expectations of its national and international customers. To achieve this objective, high standards are set nationally  - optimally after consultation with the industry. In addition, as a market-driven service industry, hotel and restaurant companies are often pro-active in formulating their own standards designed to meet their customers’ expectations. Anticipating, meeting (and even exceeding) customer expectations is the art of all successful hospitality businesses. As operators well know, just what these expectations are varies considerably from country to country, from culture to culture and from customer to customer. Each traveller can wear more than one hat on the same trip - a demanding time-pressed business traveller during the week can turn into a carefree but cost-conscious leisure traveller on the weekend. International standards just can not cover the multiplicity and diversity of tourism services around the world.

So why is it important to oppose international standards for tourism services?

• The development of international standards is a costly exercise – for the industry too since it must ensure representation at all relevant ISO meetings to make its voice heard.
• The development of these International Standards is ultimately costly for consumers as well (see: https://ih-ra.com/advocacy/issues/standards/checkin_checkout.doc).
• International standards are formulated by ISO whose specific mission is to draft standards – even when these are not requested or required by the hospitality industry.
• Similarly, national standards bodies participating in ISO’s work generally do not have any particular understanding of the hotel & restaurant industry and its needs in their own country, let alone internationally.
• Indeed, there is a general lack of transparency in the way in which these bodies operate.
• ISO’s structure makes it more responsive to needs expressed by consumer organisations than to industry bodies.
• Although “voluntary”, experience shows that once international ISO standards come into existence, they serve as a benchmark in legal proceedings or as precedents for additional legislation at the national level.
• Private 3rd party certification companies favour ISO standards drafting – hotels and restaurants and their customers will ultimately foot the bill when they are required to seek certification!
• The hospitality industry is already working proactively to ensure high quality service and to protect the well-being, safety, security and comfort of its guests. International standards would in many instances only add an additional layer of legislation cutting across existing legislation and imposing an additional financial and administrative burden on operators – and ultimately their customers.

What IH&RA is doing
IH&RA has already individually contacted the national hotel & restaurant associations around the world - urging them to lobby their national standards organization against the inclusion of hotel & restaurant services in the TC’s work programme. Click here to see IH&RA's action.  This work programme will be debated next week in Tunis (27-28 March).

IH&RA will be present at the ISO meeting in Tunis next week to voice the global hospitality industry’s opposition to this ISO initiative.