Improve the level of services: hotel certification is planned to be mandatory

Belarus is preparing a draft presidential decree, according to which it is planned to introduce mandatory certification for hotels under the star system. The relevant information was recently announced by the National Tourism Agency. At the same time, some hotels will have to seriously improve their infrastructure to bring the level of compliance to at least one star. Basic requirements include hot water, sewerage, ventilation, heating, Internet, TV and other amenities. The details were found by our correspondent.

In general, the idea to introduce mandatory certification of hotels in the country is not new. Back in 2023, the Ministry of Sport and Tourism held a public discussion of regulatory legal acts on hotel services - a draft presidential decree and two draft resolutions of the Council of Ministers. Currently, this procedure remains voluntary.

The last time the requirements for hotels and their classification, as well as for staff, were changed in October 2020. A new state standard came into force. The document established general requirements for hotels and similar accommodation facilities: resort hotels, sanatoriums, hotels located in the building or on the territory of architectural monuments, providing health services, aparthotels, hostels, holiday homes and so on. It takes into account Russian requirements as well as European approaches. The classification of hotels is based on a set of requirements for the logistical support of the hotel, the range and quality of services provided, the level of service. The score is given in points. There are six categories: from “no stars” to “five stars”. Each category is subject to a set of requirements, including logistics, the range and quality of services provided, the level of service, criteria for scoring hotels and staff.

- We have changed this standard twice before. Based on the practice of application, some requirements had to be removed, others, on the contrary, added, and modern technologies included. They are actively used in hotels, Tatyana Smirnova, head of the services certification department of the Belarusian State Institute of Standardization and Certification (BelGISS), introduces to the course of business.

The procedure for assessing compliance with the standard takes place in several stages. The first checks the mandatory requirements for hotels. First of all, it is engineering and technical equipment. Then - room fund, various services and hospitality items. In the second stage, additional requirements for each type of accommodation facility are assessed.

- For each category of hotel, depending on the capacity, the minimum number of points that must be scored is set. It consists primarily of points for quality. That's the basis. If the necessary points are not scored for quality, then the assessment is not carried out further. Additional points are added to these quality points depending on the type and capacity of the accommodation facility. For example, heating the floor in the bathroom, the presence of a service elevator, hair dryers in all rooms, a toilet table, a bidet, a mini-bar, a room service, a guarded car park, a water park, a spa, conference rooms, currency exchange offices, a swimming pool, a sauna and others. Previously, many of them were in the mandatory section for certain categories. And now the hotel can choose for itself what requirements it will meet in order to gain its maximum score. In the third phase, staff are evaluated. The work of both the top management of the hotel and employees of various services is considered here. We look at education, work experience, advanced training, knowledge of languages, job duties, fire protection requirements, sanitary rules and norms, the ability to provide first aid and so on. And already at the fourth stage, an analysis is carried out on all the protocols for each stage of the assessment. And if the hotel has fulfilled the mandatory requirements for the relevant category, scored the necessary points, a decision is made to issue a certificate. It is issued for five years. During its operation, periodic assessment of compliance with the requirements confirmed during certification is carried out, Tatiana Smirnova noted.

Today, there are about 660 accommodation facilities in the country. And, as experts note, there is a steady trend in the industry to expand the number fund. According to the relevant state program, it is planned to increase by 30 percent. And we are talking not only about the construction of new facilities, but also about the development of the entire system of accommodation facilities, including sanatoriums and other formats. Currently, Belarus has the most three-star hotels. This is called the middle segment. In total, the “star certificate” has 90 accommodation facilities. Of these, four hotels and one sanatorium are certified for “five stars”. Four stars have ten hotels, three stars — 44. One of them is also a sanatorium. "Two stars" - at ten hotels. No one has one star, 12 hotels and nine hostels are certified. The largest number of certified hotels is concentrated in Minsk. The main difference between three-star hotels and those with a lower category is the provision of food services, at least breakfast. The main requirements are for rooms and bathrooms in them. Air conditioning is not mandatory for this category. But there are requirements for the mandatory presence of a certain number of fans for the room fund and so on. As a rule, such hotels are used by those who go on business trips, and budget tourists. The main difference between the five-star hotel and others is, firstly, large areas of rooms and bathrooms in them, the presence of year-round air conditioning in all rooms, a large number of additional services and hospitality items. Also, the mode of operation of restaurants and bars, qualifications and experience of staff are especially taken into account, said the head of the BelGISS services certification department.

In the near future, the certification of hotels will be mandatory. This is stipulated by the draft presidential decree. Experts believe that this measure will increase the level of hotel services.

- Since the development of tourism is a priority direction of socio-economic policy in our country, and the sphere of hospitality is its most important qualitative component, the presence of confirmation of “star” can become a significant bonus both for the hotel and for the image and attractiveness of the country as a whole. There are a lot of tourists from the Russian Federation coming to us now, certification is mandatory there since 2018. That is why we were gradually moving towards this. The draft decree provides for mandatory certification for hotels of all types, regardless of the number of rooms. First for hotels with a capacity of more than 70 rooms, and then for smaller hotels. Certification with the assignment of even the lowest category (“without stars”) will indicate that the accommodation facility is ready to receive tourists in terms of compliance with fire safety requirements, sanitary and hygienic norms and rules, ensuring the safety of life, health of guests, safety of their property. In the future, such a accommodation facility, investing in improving the level of service, modernizing the material and technical base, will be able to increase its level of classification. In my opinion, we have already arrived at this point. That is, the hotel must represent a real facility that provides hotel services. This measure is relevant, since independent tourist travel of citizens has become more frequent and complaints and appeals are often received on the quality of services provided by accommodation facilities, including from foreigners, Tatiana Smirnova said.

Experts emphasize that there are no radical changes in approaches to hotel certification. The presence of official status works as a sign of quality: it increases the trust of guests and makes the choice clearer.

- In principle, all requirements for hotels are met. This is the presence of hot water, sewage, ventilation, heating, Internet and other basic amenities. They correspond to the requirements in the Russian Federation. We took them as a basis, and also took into account European approaches to the classification of accommodation facilities. For some states, the fulfillment of these conditions may require serious revision until the infrastructure is brought into line with at least the minimum level of “no stars”, Tatiana Smirnova summed up.