Muslim Friendly Tourism:

Regulating Accommodation Establishments

In the OIC Member Countries

2.1.2

Renewal Timeline

Certification renewal timelines vary by standard. Some standards are renewed annually,

while others are renewed every two, three, or five years, depending on the standard.

2.1.3

Compliance Measures

Inspections are the most common method for standard organizations to monitor compliance.

Inspections may be scheduled or unannounced i.e., “mystery guests”. The frequency of such

inspections can range from once annually to once every five years or more, depending on the

standard.

The standard setter or the hotel pays the cost of compliance monitoring

depending on the standard.

2.1.4

Role of Star Rating System in Standardizing Services

In many markets, the conventional star rating system is still more focused on physical

attributes (infrastructure that can be quantitatively evaluated) of a hotel rather than services

that might require qualitative evaluation. Hotel trade groups may prefer this, as it allows

more freedom in competing on service, within a classification band denoted by the star rating.

However, newer standards, such as Philippine’s Star Rating System Hotelstars, place more

emphasis on evaluating services.

A star rating system in itself may not contribute to standardized services. The previous

Egyptian quality certification system, while star-based, forced hotels with vastly different

standards to compete on price i.e. better hotels to compete with lesser hotels at the same star

level. The New Norms were developed in part to ensure that a star-level corresponded with a

certain standard in infrastructure and service

While conventional rating systems may help standardize some services within a geography,

they have not contributed to standardization across the global accommodation industry.

Expert Zoe Chan of

notes, "There is no universal star rating system. Each country

has its own [star rating system] and in some cases more than one [system], [leading to a]

possible disparity of standards and facilities in different countries."

Chrisopher Elliott,

author of “How to Be the World’s Smartest Traveler,” goes further, suggesting that "…most

ratings systems are poorly or completely unregulated, rendering them almost completely

worthless."

The Joint WTO & IH&RA Study on Hotel Classification

. Rep. World Tourism Organization and IH&RA, 16 Apr. 2004. Web. 4

Oct. 2016.

The Joint WTO & IH&RA Study on Hotel Classification

. Rep. World Tourism Organization and IH&RA, 16 Apr. 2004. Web. 4

Oct. 2016.

Dunn, Jimmy. "A New Hotel Ranking System for Egypt."

Tour Egypt

. Tour Egypt, 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

Hu, Claire. "Do Hotel Star Ratings Mean Anything Anymore?" CNN. Cable News Network, 6 May 2014. Web. 05 Oct. 2016.