Quality in Tourism ratings are offered
THE owners of hotels, guest houses and self-catering accommodation in Alderney are being offered the chance to join the UK tourist board grading system from this season.
The Policy and Finance Committee agreed to appoint inspectors from Quality in Tourism – the organisation employed by VisitEngland to rate premises – to issue accommodation permits this year.
They will also grade the accommodation according to Quality in Tourism standards, with business owners being able to opt out if they so wish.
Responding to concerns about the extra cost of such a system, the States has agreed to keep fees to what they were last year for standard accommodation permits and initially do it on a one-year trial basis.
Accommodation owners attended consultation sessions last October with the Tourism and Marketing department and Norma Paris, the States member with special responsibility for tourism.
About 40% of those who attended were in favour, with 30% neutral and 30% against the proposal.
Francis Simonet and Louis Jean voted against the roll-out of QIT grading. Mrs Paris said that if participants had obtained an accommodation permit in previous years, then they would have no problem gaining one this year.
'We've listened to concerns that accommodation owners had about the financial implications of the scheme, so we have decided to try it for one year at no extra cost to participants,' she said.
'There will be other advantages to entering the scheme – inclusion in the Guernsey brochure, for example. They may find that by carrying out just a couple of tweaks, they gain another star.'
