THE AVATARS OF HOTELS CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS

As the needs and expectations of the clients evolved, stimulating the development of the hotel supply, the need for regulation of the activity domain became imperative, by adopting measures for protecting the rights and interests of final consumers or clients. To this end, the classification systems of accommodation structures are conceived and implemented, either compulsory or volunteer, officially statuated at national or regional level, consensually adopted at the level of hotel owners’ organizations or proposed by other entities, consecrated by unofficial recognition from the public. The realized research is an exploratory one, based on the collection of secondary sources. In Romania, from 1991, seven different sets of norms for star classification systems were adopted. Other example is Spain, where each of the 17 governments of the autonomous communities is entitled to adopt its own regulation. Confronted with the heterogeneity of classification systems in Europe, which affects consumers’ rights and interests for information, HOTREC, which is the confederation of hotel owners’ organizations in the European hospitality industry adopted, in 2009, a series of 21 principles regarding the establishment or revision of the national and regional hotel classification systems. In December 2009, in Prague, under the HOTREC patronage, organizations from seven countries (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Sweden, and the Netherlands) have announced the founding of the Hotelstars Union – a common system of hotel classification, which is already applied. It is expected that the number of the Hotelstars Union will increase. Nevertheless, there are voices against this attempt. What is the way Romania should choose?