Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Regulating Accommodation Establishments
In the OIC Member Countries
17
2 Conventional Tourism Quality Standards and Regulations
Hotels have been subject to evaluation and rating for many decades. While the hospitality
sector does not have a unified global accommodation standard, many hotel quality standards
have successfully emerged over the years. These standards exhibit best practices at the
country, regional, and international levels, which can guide the development, propagation,
and implementation of MFT standards and certification processes.
Various conventional quality standards have emerged in different markets. National
governments and regional associations have set official quality standards in many markets,
typically through governmental bodies such as a department of tourism or a tourism ministry.
National associations of accommodation establishments also set local standards in some
cases. In markets like the US, independent third parties (e.g. auto associations) have
developed and maintained widely accepted but “unofficial” quality standards for decades.
Attempts at international quality standards have had limited success, though several
countries have simply adopted the standards of neighboring leaders or agreed on adopting
regional standards. More recently, online booking platforms have developed hotel ratings,
which are used globally alongside or instead of traditional quality standards by aggregating
the personal feedback of millions of guests. 13 Some multi-national hotel chains are also now
using an internal rating system for their own hotels to signal quality in more than one
country.14
Table 5: Attributes of Selected Quality Standards
Quality Rating
System
Standard Setter Standards Certification
and Auditing
National hotel star
rating systems (e.g.,
AA, Egypt NN)
Government hospitality-
related agency/ National
associations
Quality (attribute,
feature) focus;
Typically published
Yes
Global online rating
systems (e.g.,
TripAdvisor)
Online booking or review
sites
Quality and
experience focus;
Details n/a
No (continuous
reviews)
Regional star rating
systems (e.g.,
Hotelstars)
Regional tourism
associations
Quality (attribute,
feature) focus;
Typically published
Yes
Alternative
specialized ratings
(e.g. environmental,
ISO 14001)
Industry bodies / Private
operators
Alternative (e.g.,
environment) focus;
Typically published
Yes
Source: DinarStandard
13 The Joint WTO & IH&RA Study on Hotel Classification. Rep. World Tourism Organization and IH&RA, 16 Apr. 2004. Web. 4
Oct. 2016.
14 "Marriott Rewards Points Grid." . Marriott, 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.