The first of 110 signs which classify 63 hotels and 47 hotel apartment facilities within Abu Dhabi emirate went up today outside the five-star Emirates Palace as the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority’s (ADTA) classification system begins to roll out.
ADTA’s Chairman His Excellency Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan unveiled the new graphic signage which was developed specifically for the scheme and greatly differentiates it from the conventional five-star visual messaging.
"It’s all about standing out in a manner consistent with Abu Dhabi’s highly respectful style," said Sheikh Sutlan.The ADTA Chairman then went on to hail the scheme as a paradigm of inter-industry collaboration.
"This unique, sustainable classification scheme has been produced in close collaboration with the private sector and demonstrates how, together, stakeholders can deliver destination integrity to our final arbitrators - the travelling public," said Sheikh Sultan.
All hotels and hotel apartments within the emirate have been classified with hotels categorised on a sliding scale of one star to five stars, and hotel apartments classified as either deluxe, superior or standard.
"We have received extremely positive feedback for the scheme from the international travel trade which has welcomed it as a major stride forward in delivering destination confidence," explained Nasser Al Reyami, Director, Tourism Standards, ADTA.
"The system delivers consistency to tour operators selling the destination, successfully manages the expectations of our respected visitors and ultimately ensures a level of quality performance from all the emirate’s accommodation providers in line with the development of a world-class destination.
"The system also gives hotel investors a framework for property design in that they can now tailor their developments to a specific visitor category and know just what they have to provide to reach their desired classification level." The product of two years of consistent co-operation with the emirate’s growing hospitality sector, the system has been benchmarked against global well known destinations.
"Our studies revealed that throughout the entire industry, classification systems were either mandatory in nature or based on scoring methodology and they often resulted in disappointing gaps between theory and reality due to lack of implementation.
"We seized the advantage of learning from others to create a best-in-class system, with fair and transparent implementation mechanisms and one which is geared to delivering quality throughout the entire hospitality chain," said Al Reyami.
The ADTA system combines both mandatory and scoring methodologies to deliver a quality standardisation system which is aimed at developing industry standards and procedures, enhancing tourism standards in the emirate and encouraging their continuous improvement.
And, in a move designed to further differentiate the Abu Dhabi system, five value-added categories have been added - environmental issues, special needs, comprehensive detailed standards, consideration for cultural tourism sustainability and implementation planning.
All applicants have to meet minimum standards for overall general safety and security, bedrooms and bathrooms, public areas and services and amenities and will then also be rated on a scoring system covering accommodation, infrastructure, guest service and restaurants.
Six general managers of hotels throughout Abu Dhabi served on the technical committee which oversaw the system’s progression with a series of industry workshops conducted at each development stage. selected "true" hotels then assisted in testing the system with feedback being used to instigate improvements. selected "true"industry partners also assisted in familiarising the industry with the system and in the training of classification controllers.
"This is a world-class system which will be upgraded very two years in accordance with prevailing international market standards and to reflect the increasing status of Abu Dhabi as a global destination of distinction," explained Al Reyami. "We hope to complement the system next year with classification schemes covering desert camps and restaurants." ADTA operates a password-protected online classification track and trace system - eclass - which brings a high level of transparency to the hotel classification process.
"Transparency is a key element to success," said Al Reyami. "At each stage of the process, both the applicant and ADTA can review all details from inspection to classification thereby limiting the risk of error." All hotel establishments need to earn a pre-determined score, on a scale of one to 900, to qualify for a particular classification rating. Every star rating has a set of essential and necessary criteria that have to be met to qualify for a specific star rating.
Initial classification is free to the hotel/apartment operators who will, however, have to pay for a system upgrade applications. Hotel/apartment accommodation operators were given feedback following initial inspection of their properties and a time scale on which to rectify any perceived gaps before final rating. An appeals system also exists.
According to Al Reyami training, both within ADTA and its private sector partners, has played a crucial role in bringing the classification system to reality.
"Training has involved all stakeholders - from our classification inspectors, to hotel operators and their various departments, including I.T. sectors," said Al Reyami.
"This has been an exemplary project of highly successful public-private sector enterprise and one which we believe will become a case study for the tourism industry worldwide."
