CCCI Holds Briefing on New Hotel Standards

With the new national standards set by the Department of Tourism (DOT) for hotels, resorts and apartment hotels, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) initiated a briefing on the New Accreditation Standards for Hotels, Resorts and Apartment Hotels last June 20 at Sarossa Hotel. The event is in line with the Cebu Chamber’s Cebu Business Month (CBM) celebration.

Speaker Maria Rica Bueno, director IV of the DOT Office of Toursim Standards & Regulations, tackled on the Toursim Act of 2009 or REpublic Act 9593, National Accommodation Standards, Differences of Old and New Standards, and the Star Rating System.

The Tourism Act of 2009 is the planning, programming, coordinating and implementing of rules and regulations to develop and promote the tourism industry in the Philippines. It differentiates licensing from accreditation where the former states as an authority granted to qualified applicants to own, operate, manage, and maintain a tourist establishment, while the latter is certification issued by DOT to a certain tourism enterprise that officially recognizes the minimum standards for the operation of tourism facilities and services.

Bueno also talked about the new star rating system for hotel classification. From the previous Economy, Standard, First Class and Deluxe, the system shall be referred to as One Star from the previous Economy and Standard, Three Stars for First Class and Five Stars for Deluxe. Bueno also cited the differences between the old accreditation standards to the new.

Among the updates are mandatory visibility of the hotel name, expansion of room sizes from 16 square meters to 25 in the old standard to 18 to 30 square meters in the new, and mandatory hot and cold water for bath and/or shower.

Criteria such as recreational facilities, entertainment, and shops use a point system where the grade level or quality catered in the criteria shall determine the number of points that will be given to that particular criteria. The number of points that a spa may get for instance shall be determined of the kind of services it offers to its guests, the more services or quality it renders, the more points.

For more info on the accreditation, log on to accreditationonline.tourism.gov.ph

Photo by Daxine Abala, USC-CAFA Intern