Egypt Shall Revise the "Star" Classification of Its Hotels

Authorities of Egypt intend to "revise" the country's hotels and their "star" classification. The Ministry of Tourism, supported by the UNO World Tourism Organization, has begun elaboration of a new hotel classification scheme that shall first pay attention to the quality of service, including comfort and hospitality, operative and efficient work of the personnel, as well as sanitary conditions.

"Earlier the emphasis was made on exterior, that is on the look and quality of buildings, their load capacity, as well as the household aspects", Hala Al Hatib, the Ministry representative, reported and added, "However, together with introduction of the new system special attention shall be paid to certain aspects that are often ignored although they refer to professionalism of service and make up an important factor of successful tourist business. The major standards shall be determined by the Hotel Association and are to fully meet norms of the International Hotel and Restaurant Association". According to Al Hatib, the Ministry of Tourism plans to elaborate its own "star" classification in order to avoid "raising hopes of the guests regarding the level of service that cannot be provided by the hotel".

The number of stars often fails to correspond to the level of service in Egypt. Very often this happens after transfer of management from foreigners to the Egyptians. When foreign owners hand over the full management of the hotel to the local party, the quality of service abruptly turns to the worse, while the fare for "stars" remains as high as it had been.

Egyptian authorities seem to be tightly occupied with the touristic affairs. They have recently copyrighted the symbols of Pyramids But the problem seems to be elsewhere, because those who already has been in Egypt recommend not to drink tap water there.