Roman Arseniy
Head of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality of the Russian International Academy for Tourism (RIAT)
The number of ‘stars’ of Russian hotels very often remain a thing as it is. The tourists sometimes do not know what a ‘3-star’ hotel, for example, should offer and what cannot be expected from it.
EcoTourism Expert talked to an expert on hotel classification Roman Arseniy, Head of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality of the Russian International Academy for Tourism (RIAT), and found out what Russian hotels can get ‘stars’ and how many stars they can be given.
- So, why these ‘stars’ are needed? Do tourists and hoteliers need them?
- Firstly, the classification system adopted in Russia allows the state to regulate this type of activity, calculate the number of rooms in general, the number of hotels of varying degrees of comfort and services. And for a hotel, the number of ‘stars’ gives a certain tool for managing the quality of its services.
The matter is that the classification approved by a government decree in 2020 contains a number of requirements applicable to a hotel, its equipment, and its personnel. And of course, the hospitality business when it fulfills the requirements related to a particular category gives the tourists a certain level of service quality. Most importantly, it should guarantee the visitors that when they arrive at a 3-star hotel (whether in Kaliningrad, Makhachkala, Gorno-Altaisk or Ulan-Ude), they could be provided with the same service quality. The rooms should be equally equipped - with a hair dryer, for example, in the bathroom and you don’t need to take it with you on a business trip or vacation.
- And why all these ‘stars’ are important for visitors?
- On the one hand, the travelers, of course, can focus and rely on photos on the Internet, descriptions and reviews. But reviews, for example, are the subjective opinions of people who visited this hotel. And sometimes, these reviews can be posted by the hotel’s competitors and have a negative connotation.
It is clear that travelers should also read reviews but, for example, I still rely on my own conclusion. Moreover, each hotel visitor has his or her own life and travel experience, as well as own values and habits. One person can like, for example, a 4-star hotel (“wow, how great it is here”) and another visitor thinks that “something is missing in the hotel room”. It may seem to someone that a hotel employee was rude, and as a result he or she writes a negative review and puts a ‘low mark’.
In fact, it is important for hotel visitors to focus on some objective information. And the classification system provides for a number of parameters for different types of hotels of different ‘star’ categories.
- And what to do, for example, if the hotel is a 3-star one, but anything is missing? Where to complain?
- On the one hand, not all of the hotel visitors are accustomed to the ‘stars’ of hotels and not everyone knows what should be provided in the hotel room and what should not be. Perhaps, in this situation, the state should take some steps to make the system clear to consumers.
As for your question, if a guest moves in a room at a 3-star hotel and no shampoo, hair dryer are provided and only one towel is in the bathroom, the first thing a hotel visitor should do is to contact a receptionist and ask to provide all this to the room.
By the way, I had a situation when I didn’t see a hair dryer in the room, and the hotel staff told me that they had a business hotel, only men stayed at their hotel and, therefore, they didn’t provide hair dryers in the hotel rooms. “Why do not men require a hair dryer?” I asked. “They don’t!”, they answered at the reception. But in the end, of course, they brought a hair dryer.
At the same time, in a 5-star hotel, there should be a ‘full set’ in the rooms, there should be many things. Therefore, when a guest moves in and there is no dental kit or body lotion, it’s not good. In most cases, those who pay for a 5-star hotel room know what must be provided.
- Where can travellers complain?
- The most obvious thing for a guest is complaining to Rospotrebnadzor (Russian Federal State Agency for Health and Consumer Rights), or the executive authority responsible for tourism. Now, it is the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, they can use their feedback form on their official website and leave a message that the hotel does not meet the declared level.
- Are the ‘stars’ of hotels in Russia and the ‘stars’ of hotels in the rest of the world different?
- Yes, they are different. In general, there cannot be a unified classification system throughout the world, because each country differs from other ones in its history, culture as well as politically and economically. But in general, the systems are similar, they were once completely or partially borrowed from each other. But the requirements will, of course, differ from country to country.
For example, the hotel rooms in Turkey and Egypt. When travelers arrive at the Red Sea resort cities, almost all the hotels are one ‘star’ lower than declared, and sometimes even two ‘stars’ lower. In the United Arab Emirates, the ‘star’ rating is higher and the ‘5-star’ hotels, for example, are subdivided into three more subcategories according to the level of service.
When a classification system was developed in Russia, they were guided by France. It provided categories from a ‘1-star’ to ‘5-star’ hotels, but in our country, there are also ‘6-star’ hotels and ‘no-star’ ones.
- What is a ‘no-star’ hotel?
- Mostly, these are hotels where meals are not provided. By the way, the majority of hotels in Russia are of this category. These are all small hotels, hostels, mini-hotels. Next in number are ‘3-star’ hotels, and the number of ‘5-star’ hotels, of course, is not great.
I would like to mention that some hotels purposely declare to be a ‘no-star’ one, so that nobody ‘disturbed’ them. If there are no problems with booking, if clients are ready to come and they like the price, why should a hotel invest in infrastructure, in equipping rooms, and buying additional equipment?
- Everything is clear with a ‘no-star’ hotel. And what must be provided in ‘5-star’ hotel rooms?
- Let me speak in a roundabout way. All mandatory requirements must be met. And if even one requirement is not met, for example, there is no refrigerator or no air conditioning in one room at the hotel, the hotel can no longer declare it is a ‘5-star’ one, even if the problem is in one hotel room only!
The first thing we start with about ‘5-star’ hotels is the size of its rooms. The more ‘stars’, the more spacious the rooms should be; in a ‘5-star’ hotel, the rooms should be minimum 16 square meters, plus at least a 3.8-sq. m bathroom.
A ‘5-star’ hotel room should be fitted with a TV, air conditioning, refrigerator, mini-bar, as well as a land-line telephone and Internet access. A full cosmetic set with body lotion should be in the bathroom, as well as a set of towels, a floor towel, face flannels for each visitor as well as paper napkins, a cosmetic mirror and lighting above a standard bathroom mirror. Bathrobe and slippers should be provided, too, as well as a toothpaste tube and a toothbrush. By the way, some hoteliers also put a shaving kit, which is not included in the standard requirements.
- And who exercise control over providing all this? And how often do inspections take place?
- By the way, the hotel applies for the classification, it does not happen suddenly like someone comes saying “we will give you ‘stars’”. When a hotel realizes that it is able to meet all the requirements to be a ‘3-star’ hotel, for example, it applies to one of the accredited organizations (there are about a hundred of them throughout Russia), submits the necessary documents that are studied by experts.
As soon as it is clear that the hotel satisfies all the requirements, the expert examination is appointed, and a commission or an individual expert comes to the hotel and studies the situation on the spot. Both mandatory parameters and optional parameters are examined. And then, based on the results of the examination, a report of compliance or non-compliance with the declared parameters is drawn up.
The certificate is issued for three years, and every three years, the hotel must re-confirm its classification category.
