Hospitality players go for star upgradation

Following the revised guidelines dated December 16, 2014, specified by the Ministry of Tourism, established hoteliers have sought re-classification. It is gleaned from sources that the inspection process for Raintree and Accord Metropolitan has been completed.  Well-known hospitality chains – Residency and Leela too have joined the upgradation bandwagon. “Official announcements are pending,” says an insider, who did not wish to be quoted. 

As per a Ministry of Tourism report currently, 37 hotels from Tamil Nadu (TN) appear as fresh cases under the unclassified segment. After approval, this would mean availability of 3,312 rooms, which would include getting re-classified ones also. Interestingly, TN leads southern counterparts on the rooms front. Kerala with 2,421 rooms, Karnataka (1741) and Andhra Pradesh (876) are behind it in the unclassified status. But, in the number of hotels, Kerala with 93 fresh cases is ahead of TN (37), Karnataka (12) and Andhra Pradesh (11). 

Three of the nine approved hotels in TN have applied for re-classification under the 5-star (with alcohol) category. Two hotels are set to get the enhanced status soon given that the preliminary formalities are over. 

From April 1, 2017, all new hotels and from April 1, 2023 all existing hotels shall have bath tubs to a specification. All 4-star category hotels will provide bath tub in 10 per cent of total number of rooms while 5-star category hotels will provide 25 per cent of total number of rooms.