Baffled by hotel grading schemes

Passing by the reception desk I sensed, rather than saw, that something was wrong. A man was checking out and there was a certain stiffness about him; an atmosphere; a definite feeling in the air. He wasn't a happy chappy.

Not liking unhappy guests checking out, I decided to get involved. What was it? A complaint incorrectly handled? A disturbed night? A missed call? Whatever the problem was, let's get it sorted out and see if he could be turned into a satisfied customer.

I introduced myself. "Why are you only displaying two AA stars?" he asked rather sharply. Not knowing what this was leading to I gently replied that two stars was all that an assessment of our facilities entitled us to. "Why do you ask?" I enquired.

He explained that this was the first time he had stayed with us, and he was quite angry about it. It transpired that he had been visiting our town on business for about two years on a regular basis, about six times a year. On his first visit a business acquaintance recommended us and he had intended to follow that advice. However, when he discovered that we had only two stars he was put off, as he had never stayed in a two-star hotel in his life.

So he found himself a higher-starred hotel, where presumably he was reasonably satisfied as he stayed with them until this most recent trip. Finding them full for this visit, however, he had to face the indignity of staying in a two-star establishment.

Then came the nub of his gripe. He had had a super stay, he said. The food, the service, the staff, the comfort and the wine list were excellent. In every area we exceeded his expectations by miles. He was angry because for the past two years or so he had been denying himself the opportunity of staying with us, especially of the dinners he had missed.

His argument was that this was all because he had been misled by the two stars. "To think I have been missing all this," he exclaimed.

He repeated his original question as to why we had only two stars so I tried as well as I could to explain how the system worked - that stars were quantitative rather than qualitative. I showed him the booklet that set out the criteria. The extraordinary thing about the whole episode was that he considered himself a seasoned traveller.

I told him we were rated two AA stars, three RAC stars and four crowns. "How on earth are we supposed to make a judgement on that?" he asked. I said that if he was confused, how did he think we felt, we had to live with it and try and reconcile the differing sets of rules.

I tried to explain the various quality ratings: the AA's percentage, the RAC's merits and the Crown scheme's commended, highly commended and deluxe. By this time he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "If your industry deliberately wanted to confuse the customer, you couldn't have set about it in a more effective way," he said.

He told me that when he had driven past two years ago and seen the two-star sign he had driven straight on. Why had there been no indication on the AA sign that we had a 76% quality rating? If he had been made aware of it, he would probably have given us a try then.

Poor chap. He departed perplexed, still pondering about an industry that goes out of its way to confuse the customer.

We often find ourselves in a similar situation when PAs and secretaries telephone to book a room for their boss. "How many stars do you have?" we are often asked. When we tell them two, they reply that they only use four-star and even though we had been recommended by a colleague, they would get in trouble with their boss. We then try to sell the quality aspect and, in as brief a time as possible, give a dissertation on star rating versus quality. We are probably successful in about a third of enquiries.

This illustrates that the public, already baffled by a star system that fails to differentiate between facilities and quality, is certainly not going to be enlightened by yet another scheme (the Crown scheme), which has been inadequately thought-out and which the industry, and the public, doesn't appear to want.

The British Hospitality Association has spoken for all hoteliers in putting the case for a simpler, rationalised, more uniform system of customer guidance. On our behalf it is working very hard in consulting with operators, the AA, the RAC and the tourist boards of Scotland, Wales and England.

Let's get behind them and shove. There's a pretty clear consensus as to what the industry and the customer wants. Let us all, large and small alike, give them support to ensure we get there.