Korea Tourism Organization simplifies its rating system for hotels
Korea will change its current ratings system for hotels in an attempt to give consumers more accurate information.Starting this year, the assessment that rates accommodations using up to five mugunghwa (Korea’s national flower) will be replaced with a standard rating of one to five stars, which is more well known internationally.
“It may have been confusing for consumers to decide where to stay in Korea solely from checking the ratings before, because there have been discrepancies in arguing whether five mugunghwa are equivalent to the widely known five stars,” said Steve Yong, executive director of the Tourism Infrastructure Department at the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), during a press conference Tuesday.
“But with the launch of the new system, consumers will have an easier time browsing options, and hotels will also have smoother communication with potential guests.”
The KTO aims to send inspectors on unannounced visits to check services at hotels. Around 150 experts in lodging or consumer inspection will be part of the review team.
All hotels except hostels and special accommodations geared toward families will be reviewed using the star system.
If hotels don’t file an application to earn a rating, the organization will issue a warning and order a suspension of operations. The final step will be to shut down the business.
About 800 hotels are currently open in Korea, the KTO said.
Once received, the rating will be valid for the next three years. If a hotel wants to be reviewed based on the existing system, it can continue displaying the mugunghwa instead of the new logo this year. It can also apply for the star system before the three-year designation expires.
Previous assessments were conducted by two local hotel federations, but critics raised questions about whether this was fair as the groups rated their own members.
“We will check whether inspectors were ever affiliated with hotels they have to review to make the new rating system more reliable,” said Han Jin-soo, a hotel management professor at Kyung Hee University who assisted in setting up the new KTO rating system.
BY LEE SUN-MIN [summerlee@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)