Visitors to Jordan will soon have a new guide for choosing their accommodations under an upgraded hotel classification system unveiled on Monday.

The new system, based on service criteria, was launched in a ceremony yesterday attended by Ministry of Tourism officials and industry representatives.

Under the previous system, developed in 1993, hotels were graded mainly on physical attributes such as size, type of flooring and the presence of a swimming pool.

Under the new standards, developed by the Ministry of Tourism, the USAID-Jordan Tourism Development Project (JTDP) and the Jordan Hotels Association, all hotels’ basic and additional amenities will be graded, ranging from electronic-locking mechanisms to the presence of safes in every room.

Each hotel will be given a three-month period to rectify its violations, and by 2011 all hotels will be reclassified in line with the new standards, according to the ministry.

Crowne Plaza Amman General Manager Oussama Massoud, who served on the committee that developed the new classification, said the system aims to serve as a tool for visitors, hotel managers and investors alike.

“Hotel owners can now understand what they have to do to reach a certain classification: Whether they have to invest in a swimming pool or a conference room, and what type of air conditioning units,” he told The Jordan Times on the sidelines of the ceremony.

According to Massoud, the standards also place an emphasis on staff, at the personnel and managerial level, in order to ensure facilities have an adequate number of employees to provide optimum service at all times.

The new classification system, developed over a period of three years, was tested in “mock inspections” and is specifically tailored to the Jordanian market, he added.

In her address at the launch, Tourism Minister Maha Khatib underlined the need to extend premium services to accompany the grandeur and variety of the Kingdom’s tourist sites.

“It is important not only to attract large numbers of tourists, but to have high-quality services in the sector… to guarantee that visitors come back for a second or third time,” she said, underlining that the classification system represented a “model of cooperation” between the public and private sectors.

USAID Jordan Mission Director Jay Knott noted that the tourism industry has grown “leaps and bounds” and has weathered the global economic downturn.

“It is one thing to have what the tourist wants, but the second thing is you have to communicate that in a way that can be trusted. This new classification system provides that,” he said yesterday.

According to Nabel Matar, general manager of the Thuraya Hotel, the new standards will make it easier for hoteliers to gauge the criteria and prepare their hotels accordingly.

“It was more confusing in the past; now we know where we stand before we open our doors,” said Matar, whose three-star hotel became the first to be classified under the new standards earlier this month.

As part of the nationwide hotel reclassification, 12 inspectors will tour facilities in the northern, central and southern parts of the country and upload their reports electronically and directly, reducing the lag time between the inspection and the recording of a hotel’s standards, the USAID-JTDP said.

In addition to the 134 basic criteria a hotel will have to meet in order to receive a 3-, 4-, or 5-star rating, 250 optional standards will determine ranking, ranging from the presence of a safe in each hotel room to wireless Internet access.

The standards also offer new classes of hotels: Boutique hotels and tourist resorts. The first must meet three-star standards, be located in a historical district and have distinct and unified design and architecture, while the second should be located near a resort area, offer fitness or wellness activities and provide meals, among other amenities.

As part of the reclassification, apartment hotels will also be held to new standards, such as including kitchenette equipment and guest bathrooms, in order to maintain their rating.

Source: Jordan Times (http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=23471)