Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Regulating Accommodation Establishments
In the OIC Member Countries
24
2.1.1 Certification Process
The certification processes of conventional and alternative quality standards for
accommodations have many common. Key elements of most certification processes include
application for evaluation, hotel assessment and evaluation, scoring and feedback to
accommodation provider, publication of assessment/certification, periodic audits, and
recertification. Sometimes, an initial self-evaluation may also be included in this process, or as
part of the application.
The AAA certification process is straightforward.34 A hotel applies for inspection, becomes
AAA “approved” if it meets the basic requirements, and receives its AAA Diamond rating after
inspection. More specifically, a hotel would review eligibility, submit application for
evaluation, pay a fee if selected for evaluation, undergo unannounced inspection
(introduction, interview, property tour and assessment, and feedback), receive Diamond
rating status and summary of findings, and undergo periodic follow up evaluations. The
following figure35 highlights many of the common elements in the alternative ASEAN Green
Hotel Standard’s certification process.
34 AAA Tourism Information Development. Approval Requirements & Diamond Rating Guidelines. Heathrow, FL: AAA
Tourism Information Development, 2012. AAA Publishing, June 2012. Web. 5 Oct. 2016.
35 ASEAN Green Hotel Standard. Rep. Jakarta: ASEAN, 2016. ASEAN Green Hotel Standard. ASEAN, Jan. 2016. Web. 17 Oct.
2016.