New rules for hotel star rating in Serbia

New Regulations governing the classification and categorization of catering accommodation facilities, which was published in Official Bulletin on June 15, will be put in effect tomorrow (June 23, 2010). The aim of the new Regulations is to improve the standards and quality of services in accommodation facilities (hotels, motels, boarding houses, camps, suites), and they have been made in accordance with the requirements of the European Association of Hotel and Restaurant Keepers. All hotel keepers in Serbia are obliged to move to new categorization within next three years.

The main innovation is that hotels will be getting stars through "self-assessment". Namely, the institution of a categorization commission will be revoked, and hotel managers will fill in the questionnaires by themselves and get certain number of points for each service. One star will require 30 points, two stars - 50, three stars - 70, four stars - 90, while 110 points will be necessary for five stars. The categorization done in this way will be checked by the tourism inspection. As Ivana Dedijer, an adviser in the Ministry of Economy, said at today's conference in the Chamber of Commerce of Belgrade, that ministry has already conducted two rounds of training for future inspectors.

(Zira Hotel)

Aleksandar Vasiljević, the Operating Officer of Zira Hotel, told eKapija that they were extremely satisfied with the fact that the Regulations had been adopted and that they would submit request for categorization of their hotel already the next day. As he explained, according to the new Regulations, Zira Hotel meets the requirements for four stars, and it has so far had only three stars. According to him, the only reason why the hotel has three stars is the width of stairs, which is not mentioned as an obligation in the new Regulations.

Unlike the previous Regulations that are in effect since 1994, the new Regulations will not consider the number of elevators, the width of corridors and the surface of bathroom as crucial factors in hotel categorization.

(Townhouse 27 Hotel)

Townhouse 27 Hotel Manager Snežana Milenković says for our portal that the new Regulations will not drastically affect their performance. At the moment, this Belgrade-based hotel has four stars and, according to her, it also meets the requirements for 4.5 stars. As she explains, they are not interested in getting five stars. Namely, there is a trend in the foreign business world not to send their employees to five-star hotels in order to save some money. Since the representatives of that milieu are the main guests of Townhouse 27 Hotel, one more star would not do good to that hotel.

Recently opened BAH Hotel (Beograd Art Hotel) in Knez Mihajlova Street in Belgrade is getting ready for categorization. Since the hotel is built in accordance with the highest standards, people in BAH are sure that the hotel will get four or maybe even five stars. Deputy Hotel Manager Dragana Mudrić has welcomed the new Regulations because, as she says, "standards are brought in accord with European ones, while the categorization procedure is now significantly simpler".

BAH Hotel (Photo: Beograd Art Hotel)

As Ivana Dedijer from the Ministry of Economy explained, one of the innovations introduced by these Regulations is that maximum 20% of the accommodation units can have the surface smaller than stipulated for the category granted to the hotel. However, every guest must be informed on that in advance.

The Regulations governing the hotel standardization envisage the division into five categories: business, congress, family, sports, and spa hotels.

At the extended meeting of the Board of the Catering and Tourism Association, Jovan Vukotić, a hotel manager with many years of managerial experience and the owner of a consulting agency in that area, made an objection that the category of Resort hotels is not mentioned anywhere.

(Jovan Vukotić)

Vukotić is of the opinion that we will lose a large number of tourists in that way because, for example, "a German who can choose between about 100 such hotels in Turkey or 200-300 hotels of the kind in Egypt does not have with what to compare them in Serbia".

He also pointed to the fact that the Regulations did not mention standards that must be met by "foreign brands". The question is asked: Will the terms for hotels from large foreign chains will be different in Serbia than in the rest of the world, in what way the standards could be synchronized, and when all these regulations will be passed?

The share of tourism-catering industry in the national product of Serbia amounts to about 2%, while the share in total export of goods and services is 9%. The foreign currency income from tourism reached the amount of 900 million dollars in 2009 and it was significantly smaller than the incomes of the tourist destinations in the surroundings.

However, thanks to the visa regime liberalization and better air and road traffic connections, Serbia is becoming more and more interesting tourist destination, while the number of overnight stays by foreign tourists is growing from year to year.

For complete Regulations

J.Đ.