Accommodation managers in the region are on high alert as their rooms again come under the scrutiny of AAA Tourism inspectors.
A new assessing model which has a greater emphasis on quality and condition, rather than the number of facilities focus of the past, has apparently put some accommodation providers on the back foot.
According to AAA Tourism, their inspectors review standards in three major areas; facilities and services, cleanliness, and quality and condition, and cover areas which "directly impact customer service experience."
But criticism of the rating system and its inspectors has flared, with some accommodation providers saying the system is too rigid, and that inspector's personal taste is affecting scores.
"Things that are old seem not to be valued even though they are perfectly fine," said one resort manager who chose not to be identified.
"They don't like things to be different from room to room, they want it all to be the same, and what was ok in the past is not ok this year," he said.
Some resorts are also being issued with "provisional ratings" which require providers to make significant upgrades to their facilities within a 12 to 18 month period, or risk being downgraded.
A AAA Tourism representative said these provisional ratings were introduced because they were aware the new assessing model would negatively affect some operators.
He said the changes to the rating system were made based on consumer research.
Many resorts and accommodation houses are now choosing to 'self-rate' their properties, moving away from AAA Tourism ratings.
The AAA Tourism representative said their research showed that only 10% of consumers recognised self-rating as legitimate, and the rating agency is currently lobbying booking services such as Wotif to list self-rated accommodation under AAA Tourism rated accommodation.
Have you had your rating completed? Tell us your experience.
Read more of today's news. Check out The Newsport home page.
Self-rating is of course misleading for travelers and should be discouraged.
How can an AAA inspector issue a star rating without ever staying there? It is no different to a food critic walking around a restaurant and checking the cutlery and table cloths but never eats the food. Pointless!
As we travel around, all I do is read the reviews and check the costs and then book. Star ratings do not come into the equation.
Hotels that still use AAA or rely on their stars are just not moving forward. They are stuck in the past. Social media, feedback from family and friends on Facebook or Tripadvisor or the review pages are what people really rely upon.
Hotels need to move on from this antiquated rating system and invest in the modern social media age.
AAA Tourism claims that the old system was subjective - quite the reverse as you knew exactly what was required for a particular rating. Now this new system seems to come down to a very subjective opinion on what is trendy and fashionable in the eyes of one Assessor.
I know nothing about the new AAA assessment criteria as they haven’t bothered to inform us about what the new criteria is. There probably aren’t any, as it is at the sole interpretation of the Assessor.
When the Assessor was here for an interim inspection last year she hinted that we would drop a level because our tap fittings weren’t modern and trendy ! They’re still perfectly functional and I’m not prepared to hound my owners into spending money on an unnecessary update at this time.
The ratings system takes no account of a property’s location, views, environment, size of units, customer service, guest experience etc.
The AAA rating has totally lost its significance as far as I’m concerned and it’s just not worth the cost of membership when many others are self-rating. I’m not convinced that these days guests worry all that much about the star rating (they’ve certainly never raised it with us), despite what AAA Tourism says. You would have to question the value of belonging to this organization. Given the current parlous state of the accommodation sector at the moment, my owners are not prepared, and are getting insufficient return, to spend a large sum of money on refurbishment. As self-contained, strata-titled, individually owned accommodation, we are very different to the big corporate hotel chains that can afford to completely refurbish their properties every few years. AAA Tourism are expecting us to the do the same, but does not understand the distinction.
AAA Tourism has now aligned itself with the Government’s T-Qual accreditation which I understand we automatically get if we are star rated. This is unnecessary duplication, and copped quite a bagging in a recent issue of “Resort News”, because T-Qual has got into bed with Trip Advisor (the scourge of the industry and very much discredited).
The last thing we need is yet another body trying to force us into major refurbishment. The big corporate hotel owners may have the money for this, but our Mum and Dad investors do not, and the poor returns over the last few years mean it is certainly not the best of timing.
There is a move afoot amongst a lot of resorts in Noosa to discontinue their membership en masse.
Port Douglas is not alone in the harsh assessments. Noosa is currently under the hammer. In the past seven years we have been rated 4.5 Star; now this year because our bathroom vanities and wall tiles are not the same as the Hyatt's we face demotion. The new system does not have any flexibility to consider the character differences between different kinds of accommodations. At the rate they are going no will be a member of AAA Tourism in 18 months.
1) Location - it was where I wanted to stay
2) My friends/family have stayed here before - they thought it was good
3) Good reviews on Tripadvisor and Booking.com - other people thought it was good
4) Price - it was the price I wanted to pay
No one answered 'because you have 4.5 stars'. It means nothing to them or they had no recall of our rating. Social media is far, far more accurate than an inspector's one hour visit.
AAA ratings are a thing of the past......
A long time ago, hotels would display their stars next to their hotel name. People would drive by and think, 'wow 5 stars, it must be good'. Now, people read reviews about what their peers have experienced and NOT how many stars it has.
People do not believe in AAA's room quality rating but rather believe in how others felt about the whole holiday experience at this hotel. That is, how they were treated, local's advice, offers, discounts etc. It comes down to 'how happy or satisfied I was when I left the hotel' and this is then expressed in their reviews.
People have their budget and then look at what they can get for their money. If a hotel does not reach their expectation they will write this on Trip Advisor, i.e My $200 only bought me a holiday experience worth $100. Likewise if a property exceeds their expectation, then they will also write it on Trip Advisor.
Social Media, Tripadvisor and alike are the new norms for rating a property. This is why so many hotels are no longer using AAA.
AAA is clambering to stay relevant (and failing) in a society that believes in real life experiences rather than what one inspector who never has stayed/holidayed in the hotel has rated the hotel.
Add comment