HOTEL EDUCATION

hotel
A commercial establishment providing
lodging, meals, and other guest services.
In general, to be called a hotel, an
establishment must have a minimum of
six letting bedrooms, at least three of
which must have attached (ensuite)
private bathroom facilities. Although
hotels are classified into 'Star' categories
(1-Star to 5-Star), there is no standard
method of assigning these ratings, and
compliance with customary
requirements is voluntary. A US hotel
with a certain rating, for example, is may
look very different from a European or
Asian hotel with the same rating, and
would provide a different level of
amenities, range of facilities, and quality
of service.
Whereas hotel chains assure uniform
standards throughout, non-chain hotels
(even within the same country) may not
agree on the same standards. In
Germany, for example, only about 30
percent of the hotels choose to comply
with the provisions of the rules
established by the German Hotels &
Restaurants association. Although both
WTO and ISO have been trying to
persuade hotels to agree on some
minimum requirements as world-wide
norms, the entire membership of the
Paris-based International Hotel &
Restaurant (IH&RA) opposes any such
move.
According to IH&RA, to harmonize hotel
classification based on a single grading
(which is uniform across national
boundaries) would be an undesirable
and impossible task.