Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has resorted on a next phase grade and rating the hotels and accommodation facilities in the country starting 21st March 2016.
Under UTB’s Quality Assurance Department, the rating, which began on March 21st, confirms whether a given hotel or accommodation facility meets the essential necessities.
“To qualify for the rating, the lodging needs to meet all aspects of the essential requirements herewith attached,” James Ssebagala the UTB Coordinator for Quality Assurance said in press release a week ago.
“This practice identifies classifiable lodgings for viable readiness for the hotel rating program,” he said.
A year ago, UTB held an award festival for hotels beforehand classified under the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities. The classification festival was moved to UTB in 2014.
The Chief Executive Officer of UTB Stephen Asiimwe said the on-going inventory practice is to guide in the appraisal and standardization of hotels in the country.
“Uganda is rating hotels working with the same standards used by all East African Community members. It is a necessity that all the hotels be classified under the EAC standards,” Asiimwe said.
The current grading covers the physical and intangible services anticipated from lodging facilities in a specified category and level of classification he includes.
Background to Hotel Classification
The East African Criteria rating system is indicated by stars where one (1) star means the lowest and five (5) Star the highest grade. Save for Motels and Restaurants whose star classification extend from one to three and three to five respectively, the various classifications are graded from one to five stars. While a one star foundation has the basic facilities that give functionality and comfort to the visitor, the five star foundations give a high degree of luxury and ambience that conform to any internationally recognizable standards.
Accommodation facilities are independently assessed in traditional system and lay intensely on the facilities provided. Some consider this disadvantageous to smaller lodgings whose quality of accommodation could fall into one class yet the lack of an item, for example, a lift would prevent it from reaching a higher classification.