Content : Classification
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There is at present very little at European or international level in terms of common classification systems for the hospitality sector. Recently, however, the EU institutions have started putting increasing emphasis on this issue.
One of the key aims of the Directive on services in the internal market (2006/123) is to strengthen the rights of consumers as users of services, which involves requiring greater transparency and information from service providers. The Directive refers thus to the need for better information on the meaning of quality labels, in particular “in the hotel business, in which the use of a system of classification is widespread” (recital 102 of the preamble).
HOTREC position
HOTREC acknowledges the need for improving consumers’ access to information about the hotel classification systems. Therefore HOTREC has undertaken to facilitate customer access to information about the classification system in place in each country (please see section “Stars in Europe ”). On those pages, consumers can easily find out what hotel stars mean in the different European countries. All the information is provided at least in the national language(s) and in English.
Furthermore HOTREC has developed 15 recommendations for the design/review of national or regional hotel classification systems.