Andrew Moth, editor of Hotel & Restaurant, always writes an interesting editorial in his monthly magazine, which is widely read by the hospitality industry. He is a true gentleman, and has become milder in his commentary over time, and now only occasionally rocks the boat. In the March edition, however, he questions the future of the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa’s accommodation star-grading system, which is sure to cause controversy, but probably reflects what many accommodation establishments feel.
Moth writes that the United Kingdom government-run star-grading system may soon see the withdrawal of government funding (he does not explain why, but it may be part of that country’s austerity drive, to cut spending). He also states that he has been critical of the South African star-grading system, in that “the system is far from perfect”. He writes: “But the vast majority of South Africa’s hotel rooms do not need a star grading to attract guests. The big national and international groups have their images to protect and, although there will always be cases where the experience does not match the brand promise, group-branded hotels in South Africa usually offer a good deal to savvy travellers”. He highlights the views of Steenberg Hotel GM Gabi Gramm, who quite rightly asks: “Who needs stars when you are at the top of your game?”
Moth’s biggest gripe appears to be that the annual grading fees, which are intended for the marketing of South Africa, almost all land in the civil service pot, paying for “salaries, operating costs and unnecessary and unwarranted expenditure”. He writes that our accommodation industry does not need civil servants or their marketing consultants to market our country as a business and leisure travel destination. This should be left to the tourism product and service operators.
Quite rightly Moth writes that the law of demand and supply will “deal” with those accommodation operators who do not meet acceptable quality standards, and that this does not have to be regulated by the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa.
Last year we reported about the dramatic changes that the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa had planned for its grading system, spending a fortune on consultants advising them on the new system, only to face an outcry from the accommodation industry, many establishments threatening to withdraw their support or to not renew their grading. The outcry clearly was large enough for the Tourism Grading Council to throw out most of the changes it had initially proposed, leaving the grading system largely as it had been before.
A number of Camps Bay guest houses, including Whale Cottage Camps Bay, is considering not renewing their star-grading.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
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A perfect article : I agree regarding many guest houses not renewing their star grading. Many have marketed themselves all over the web and will be on the web showing their star grading as a four-star regardless of whether they are now graded as three star. Our paperwork, our signage, our vechile branding all have been costs incurred which we are not willing to adjust because an institution has changed the way they operate and full well know what the effects of their new system will cause. We most certainly are not interested in having our business graded again – the outcome was a star down and the obnoxious factor from the person grading was unacceptable and very upsetting. What a change of attitude from last year – they could not get enough of our upmarket establishment, only for them to blame their grading on a size issue around 3 of our rooms as their top factor – therefore the drop in one star ! We are still shocked after such hard work and after our establishment has become so popular that we have been at 90% occupancy for the last 4 months !
Thank you for sharing your star grading experience. I am sure that there are many more accommodation establishments with the same experience.
Chris