New stars for vacation - Regulations governing hotel categorization introduced

The State Secretary of Tourism in the Ministry of Economy, Goran Petković, said that the new Regulations governing hotel categorization had been completed and that, according to them, the quality of hotel services would be affected the most by the number of stars.

Petković told Beta agency that the Regulations would be put in effect soon with the aim of improving the standard in hotels in Serbia.

According to the new Regulations, hotels will be evaluated by themselves, that is, all hotels will get the questionnaire to fulfill, which will include the list of points for each service. Owners will be able to see the list of conditions on the Internet that their hotels need to meet in order to be included in certain category, so that they will be able to prepare themselves.

As Petković explained, tourist inspectors will be checking hotels and controls will be more frequent now. Stars will be granted on the period of three instead of five years.

He said that the services offered by hotel would be of great importance. That means that hotels will be getting points for room service, Internet access, swimming pool, etc.

According to his words, education and training of hotel employees will be organized in order for them to improve their knowledge.

Petković said that the hotel categorization standard was different in every country, while in some countries, like in Italy, hotel categorization standard was even different for each province.

He said that the model for Serbia's Regulations was sought in Hotel Stars Union association, which was a member of European Hotel and Restaurant Association.

- Hotel Stars Union is made of seven countries - Germany, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Netherlands, and these countries brought their hotel categorization standards in accord - said Petković.