Reach for the stars

Beach Rotana Hotel & Towers received a five-star rating.

Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority director tourism standards Nasser Al Reyami explains how the emirate’s new hotel and hotel apartment classification system was established and reveals why it is a best-in-class system that will deliver considerable confidence to consumers

Hotels in Abu Dhabi have recently been awarded classifications following the preliminary ratings received in January. Can you explain the classification process so far?

Nasser Al Reyami: Our classification scheme was launched in May 2008. Hotels/hotel apartments were notified of their preliminary ratings in January and given six months in which to implement suggested improvements if they wanted their preliminary ratings to be reconsidered before the June 2009 deadline.

Let me stress, no property has been downgraded. This is the first classification scheme in Abu Dhabi emirate so there is nothing to downgrade from. Prior to this, hotels had self-styled rating, which was mainly for marketing purposes.

This system was built from scratch and benchmarked against worldwide practices to ensure that it exceeded current applications and became a best-practice standard. This classification system was prepared with two years of consultation with hotel industry professionals in Abu Dhabi who were involved through several workshops during the design process.

After designing the system, which features a ground-breaking online facility, we worked on the procedures and manuals that clarify how this system would be implemented and, as a result, we produced the customer’s classification manual and internal classification Standard Operations Procedure (SOP).

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NR: Hotels are classified on a sliding scale of one star to five stars, and hotel apartments are classified as either deluxe, superior or standard.

Ratings criteria were established after the detailed international study already explained and to considerably raise the bar to ensure we had the best-in-class procedure.

Classification inspections took place afterwards to compare hotels against the standards and rate accordingly. Exceptions that required high investment and/or a long time to be implemented were give a grace period — this varied based on a case-by-case scenario — to complete their compliance to the classification system.

Why are these criteria the most appropriate to hotels in Abu Dhabi?

NR: They are appropriate because, as explained, we want to be best-in-class. We want to ensure our clientele base of quality and service levels and give our guests confidence in choosing their accommodation.

The system will deliver much-needed consistency to tour operators selling the destination, successfully manage the expectations of our respected visitors and ultimately ensure a level of quality performance from the emirate’s accommodation providers in line with the development of a world-class destination. The system also provides a framework for hotel investors when designing their properties to include the necessary facilities and services to attract their desired market groups. It is also an incentive to hotel owners and managers to upgrade their facilities.