GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF TOURISM
(H&R Division)
MINUTES OF THE MEETING CHAIRED BY SECRETARY (TOURISM) ON 12.05.2009 TO REVIEW THE 'GUIDELINES' FOR CLASSIFICATION / RECLASSIFICATION OF HOTELS.
A meeting was chaired by Secretary (Tourism) on 12.05.2009 to review the ‘Guidelines’ for classification/reclassification of hotels. Members of the various industry associations like FHRAI, HAI, IATO, TAAI, IHM Pusa etc. attended the meeting. The list of participants is given at Annexure- I.
2. The Secretary (Tourism) welcomed all the members after which a presentation was made by Addl. Director General (Tourism) who gave a brief introduction regarding the classification process by the Hotel & Restaurants Approval & Classification Committee (HRACC) of the Ministry of Tourism. It was informed that the present guidelines were last reviewed in 2003. As per the changing requirements and the demand of the industry, a need to review the existing guidelines was felt. It was informed that four meetings had been held earlier and inputs have been received from the hotel and travel associations after which certain areas have been considered for review. Further, in view of the recent incidents in the country, issues of safety and security are also required to be addressed.
3.The issues were reviewed one by one and the following decisions were taken:-
3.1Minimum Number of Rooms: The industry representatives proposed that Ministry may continue with the existing norms. After deliberations, a common consensus was reached that the minimum number of 10 lettable rooms would continue as per the existing norms for all categories. It was also decided that it would be necessary to have attached bathrooms with all the rooms for all the categories.
3.2Room for differently abled Guest : It was decided that the existing norms of minimum one room, door width to allow wheel chair access, low height furniture, low peep hole, cupboard with sliding doors, low clothes hangers, room to have audible and visible alarm system would be ‘necessary’ for 3 star and above category hotels.
It was decided that the minimum door width would be one metre for all categories. It was also decided that new hotels of 3 star category and above, would be required to have the dedicated room for the differently abled guests to be located closest to the emergency exit and be located on the lowest floor wherever possible.
Bath Room : The room must have an attached bathroom with facilities for the differently abled viz. to be wheelchair accessible with suitable fixtures like low wash basin, low height toilet, grab bars etc. No bath tub required. Door width should be one metre wide with sliding mechanism. It was decided that all hotels should be fully compliant with the said norms by 01.10.2010.
Hotels of all categories may have ramps at the entrance for easy access. (Temporary ramps would be permissible where civil construction is not possible).
3.3 Public Restroom for the differently abled : For 3 star and above, a "Unisex" Public Restroom with door width of one meter along with suitable fixtures for the differently abled guests should be made available in the lobby/lounge area.
This condition would also be applicable for fresh classification of new hotels of one and two star categories w.e.f. 01.10.2010.
3.4 Grading of cities for the purpose of Food & Beverage (F&B) Outlets:
It was decided that the F&B outlets would be based on the location of the hotel for which the following grading * for cities was made:
- Grade - A: Delhi **, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad/ Secunderabad.
- Grade - B: Cities in the rest of the country excluding Grade A cities.
* The Ministry of Tourism may review and revise the cities falling under the Grade A & Grade B from time to time.
** Delhi would include the hotels falling in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, NOIDA and Greater NOIDA.
Number of F&B Outlets
- 1 and 2 star hotels: One Dining Room serving all meals. Room Service would not be necessary.
- 3 star hotels: One Multi-cuisine Restaurant cum Coffee Shop open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and 24 hr. Room Service.
- 4 star hotels:
- Grade A cities: One Multi-cuisine Restaurant cum Coffee Shop open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., One Speciality Restaurant and 24 hr. Room Service.
- Grade B cities: One Multi-cuisine Restaurant open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and 24 hr. Room Service.
- 5 and 5 star Deluxe hotels:
- Grade A cities : One Multi-cuisine Restaurant cum 24 hr. Coffee Shop / all Day Diner, One Specialty Restaurant and 24 hr. Room Service.
- Grade B cities: One Multi-cuisine Restaurant cum Coffee Shop open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., One Speciality Restaurant & a 24 hr. Room Service.
3.5 Dry cleaning/ laundry: It was decided that it would be 'Necessary' for 5 star Deluxe hotels to offer in house dry cleaning and laundry services.
In the case of hotels of 4 & 5 star category and below, the dry cleaning and laundry services could be outsourced.
3.6 Safe keeping/ in room safe: It would be necessary for 1 -3 star category hotels to have facilities for safe keeping at the reception.
For 4 star and above categories, it would be necessary to have in room safe.
3.7 Silverware: It was decided that silverware would not be necessary. All hotels should use good quality metal cutlery.
3.8 Drinking water: It was decided that hotels of all categories would be required to provide one sealed bottle of branded bottled water per person per day. The branded bottled water should be of minimum 500 ml. It was decided that Ultra Violet treated water will not be accepted.
3.9 Beauty Salon: It was decided that beauty salon/barber shop will not be necessary for all categories.
3.10 Trained Staff: It was decided that hotels of 4 star and above should have trained and formally qualified Heads of Departments who could in turn conduct in house training for the rest of the staff. Hotels should have qualified and trained staff. The minimum percentage of staff having skill training or certification will be as follows.
| |
1 & 2 Star |
3 & 4 Star |
5 & 5 D |
| Supervisory Level |
20% |
40% |
80% |
| Skilled Staff |
20% |
30% |
60% |
Skill Training: The Supervisory or the skilled staff may have training or skill certification in the following ways:-
- Degree / diploma from Central or State IHM's / FCI's or from NCHMCT affiliated private IHMs or from other
reputed Hospitality Schools.
- Skill training certificate issued under the guidelines and scheme of the Ministry of Tourism.
3.11 Safety and Security:
- Metal detectors (door frame or hand held) would be 'Necessary' for hotels of 3 star category and above.
- CCTV: It would be 'Necessary' for hotels of all categories to have CCTVs at strategic locations.
- X- Ray Machine: For 5 star Deluxe hotels, it would be 'Necessary' to have an X- Ray Machine at the guest entrance
for screening of baggage. Manual Checks may be conducted for Staff and Suppliers at designated entry points.
- Under Belly Scanners: 'Necessary' for 4 star hotels and above to provide under belly scanners to screen vehicles.
- Verification: It was decided that all hotels should conduct a verification of their staff and suppliers by the
Police/ private security agencies.
- All hotels to conduct periodic fire drills and maintain 'Manuals' for Disaster Management, first aid and fire safety.
3.12 Room & Bathroom size: After detailed deliberations by the industry members, it was decided that the minimum size of room and bathroom would remain the same and that there should be no higher ceiling/cap on the maximum size. It was clarified that hotel may not be restricted for offering a larger room or bathroom than the minimum specified size as per the Guidelines. Rest of the provisions would remain the same.
| Minimum size of Bedroom excluding Bathroom in sq.ft. |
| 1 & 2 star |
120 – 140 |
| 3 & 4 star |
140 – 200 |
| 5 & 5 star Deluxe |
200 |
| Minimum size of Bathroom in sq.ft. |
| 1 & 2 star |
30 |
| 3 & 4 star |
36 |
| 5 & 5 star Deluxe |
40 |
3.13 With regards to the minimum size of rooms and bathrooms, it is to clarify that to ensure that hotels do not deliberately seek benefits applicable to lower category hotels, the hotels availing subsidy / tax benefits / other benefits would be subject to a Lock in Period of 8 years before becoming eligible for up gradation of star category as mentioned in the applicable guidelines.
4. Other issues taken up during the meeting:
4.1 Shelves/drawer space: Necessary for hotels of 1 to 3 star category to have a wardrobe.
4.2 Guest linen: It was suggested that a standard for the guest linen may be defined (based on grammage / thread counts). Hotel associations were requested to provide their inputs by 31st May, 2009.
4.3 Lock in period of classification: In the event a hotel is classified under a specific star category, then such hotel would not be permitted to upgrade to a higher category for a period of 8 years In the event the hotel has availed subsidy from the Central/ State Government, the hotel would be required to refund the interest subsidy disbursed along with penal interest before it can be considered for up gradation.
4.4 Size of Lobby: Some of the members were of the view that the lobby size should be specified while some were not agreeable to the suggestion. It was therefore decided that the size of the lobby may be best left to be decided by the architect/interior designers of the hotels and therefore no size was defined. It was decided that FHRAI and HAI may work out norms for lobby size based on the number of rooms and star category or any other formula and suggest the same to MOT.
4.5 Application / Documents: It was decided that it would be desirable for hotels to submit applications in person to enable scrutiny of the same at time of receipt by HRACC Division. It was decided that only the applications which are complete/up-to-date in all respect would be accepted.
The applications received by post would be examined HRACC within 7 working days and if found incomplete would be returned back to the hotel by registered mail.
4.6 Facilitation Certificate: The members informed that the application of hotels for classification/reclassification required time for processing, carrying out the inspection and in some cases to comply with the improvements before the final classification orders could be issued. Certain approvals/clearances from other agencies also require the classification order of HRACC viz. excise license etc. For the import of items from DGFT, it is necessary to have a classification status and due to the long processing time and delay in getting the classification order, the hotels were facing difficulty. In view of the position, it was decided by Secretary (T) that HRACC may issue a certificate stating the factual position that hotel had applied for classification and the same was under process if it facilitates the benefits/incentives that are available to classified hotels.
4.7 Proposed New Star Category: Some hotel industry members pointed out the fact that it is not the size of the hotel but it the quality and standards of infrastructure and services that can grade a hotel. It was mentioned that some of the leading hotels of the world had very few rooms, very limited F&B outlets and other facilities such as book shops, utility shops, florist etc. and yet they were graded as super deluxe hotels. It was mentioned that such hotels which were also emerging in India would never meet the requirements of HRACC's existing Guidelines for 5/5 D category due to their limited number of rooms and facilities. Such a category of super deluxe hotels having limited rooms/facilities may be classified under a special category, say "Five Star Super Deluxe". It was proposed that a special category may be formed to include such hotels, boutique hotels, etc. In response to the proposal, it was suggested that a committee may be formed to look into this aspect and make their recommendation to MOT for consideration within two months.
4.8 Ministry of Tourism will undertake regular monitoring and review of pending applications of classification / re-classification to ensure that such applications are decided as early as possible. Accordingly, list of all applications pending for more than 30 days will be submitted to the Additional DG and applications pending for more than 60 days will be submitted to the Secretary (T) every month.
It was also decided that all the remaining terms and conditions would remain unchanged.
The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the chair.
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