Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has carried out a two-day refresher course to train hotel assessors in preparation for the next classification exercises between May and June this year.
“Hotel classification is the process of assessing an accommodation facility for grading purposes using a basic set of standards covering the physical and intangible service expected from a facility in a specified category and level,” James Ssebagala, the Quality Assurance Coordinator at UTB said.
According to regulations, the Classification of Accommodation Facilities and Restaurants 2014, UTB is mandated to classify hotels and stand –alone restaurants and this is being done under the criteria approved and used by all the member states of the East African Community.
The criteria rating system is a star rating ranging from one to five apart from motels and restaurants whose star rating range from one to three and three to five respectively, all the other categories are graded from one to five stars.
For purposes of classification, the EAC criterion has grouped hotels into five categories: town hotels, vacation hotels, motels, villa cottages and serviced apartments and, lodges and tented camps.
A one star establishment has the basic facilities that provide functionality and comfort to the guest, the five star establishments provide a high degree of luxury and ambience that conforms to any internationally recognizable standards.
