Classifying hotels

[NewsWhore]

The Ministry of Tourism and the National Competitiveness Council have agreed to launch a National Hotel Classification System in the country's eight main tourist areas. The classification system will include infrastructure, services, environmental sustainability and consumer rights. In its first phase, the project will include hotels in Santo Domingo, Boca Chica, Juan Dolio, Punta Cana-Bavaro, Samana, Puerto Plata, and Santiago at a total cost of US$381,545. The funds will be provided by the Ministry of Tourism and the Innovation Program sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The agreement was signed by Tourism Minister Felix Jimenez and Competitiveness Council director Andres van der Horst. The companies FreemanGroup, Codexca (Spain), Diamond Hospitality Group (Canada), Instituto de la Calidad (Sevilla, Spain) and THR (Spain) have all entered the international bidding to classify the hotels. The classification is based on a five-star system, as in Europe and the US, and will involve the classification of hotels by an independent body. Currently hotels classify themselves.

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