Muslim Friendly Tourism:
Regulating Accommodation Establishments
In the OIC Member Countries
31
Based on the previous examples, there are several key steps for standard development, which
are illustrated in the following figure.
Figure 6: Key Steps for Setting a Quality Standard
Source: DinarStandard
Role of Government, Private Sector, and Other Stakeholders
The role of the government, the private sector, and other stakeholders varies from one
standard to another. A recent review of hotel classification standards in EU countries found a
mix of markets where quality standards are administered by government and/or trade
associations.48 As noted earlier, standards can also be developed and administered by third
parties, as in the case of the AAA standard in the US. In some markets, such as the UK, third
parties namely the Automobile Association [AA] and the government collaborated to
harmonize their standards. In Egypt, the government and hotel association jointly oversee the
hospitality standard. In cases where the government or private sector do not play an active
role in the standard, they may play an advisory role.
International organizations, such as the ISO and the WTO, have a limited role in hotel
standard development and deployment. In the face of resistance from stakeholders in the
hospitality industry49, the ISO has not developed many hotel-related standards since
establishing its related technical committee (TC 228) in 2005. Only two of the standards this
committee oversees are specifically related to hotels; one related to terminology (18513)
while the other is related to improving environmental impact (13811).50
48 Diana Foris. "Comparative Analysis of Hotel Classification and Quality Mark in Hospitality." Journal of Tourism and
Hospitality Management 2.1 (2014): 26-39. David Publishing, 29 Apr. 2014. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
49 HOTREC - Key European Measures. Rep. N.p.: HOTREC, n.d. HOTREC, 09 Aug. 2011. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
50 "ISO/TC 228 - Tourism and Related Services." ISO Standards Catalogue. ISO, 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
Revisit hotels and recertify periodically
Conduct initial inspections and ratings
Develop inspection/auditing capacity
Promote new standards/criteria
Collect feedback from stakeholders and public to finalize standard
Develop and issue draft of new standard criteria
Collect input from stakeholders
Review quality standards context/status
Form body to explore standards (with stakeholder representation, experts)