Legal regulation of hotel services. Legal basis for regulating the activities of hotels
At the request of readers, Frontdesk.ru provides a list of the most requested documents and regulations governing hotel activities in Russian Federation. The article presents the main legislative acts, protocols and regulations relating to the scope of the provision of hotel services. To open a hotel, not counting permits for the construction of a building, it is enough to register as an Individual Entrepreneur or open entity. Federal Law of August 8, 2001 No. 128-FZ “On Licensing certain types Activities” as amended on December 06, 2007 defines the types of activities that fall under licensing. The hotel business is not mentioned in this law, therefore, it does not require licenses as such. However, if the hotel provides services in addition to hospitality activities that require a license, then such licenses must be obtained. For the full operation of the hotel, when creating a legal entity, the activity codes specified in the OKVD document for the hotel business are indicated
A means of accommodation is understood as any object intended for the temporary residence of people.
So, GOST 1994 “Tourist and excursion services. Classification of hotels" gives the following definitions of types of accommodation: hotel - an enterprise intended for temporary residence (the permissible minimum number of rooms in a hotel is 10); motel - a hotel located near the highway.
In another regulatory document of 1997 - "Rules for the provision of hotel services in the Russian Federation", the following definition is given.
Hotel - Property Complex(building, part of a building, equipment and other property) intended for the provision of services.
According to GOST R 51185-98 " Tourist services. Accommodation facilities. General requirements» a tourist accommodation means any object intended for temporary accommodation of tourists (hotels, camp sites, camping grounds, etc.).
Thus, it is quite obvious that the current legislation of the Russian Federation, which defines accommodation services, does not fully disclose the meaning of the concepts of "accommodation facility" and "hotel".
Therefore, the following definition of a hotel may be appropriate:
A hotel is an economic entity (enterprise), which is a means of accommodation that provides people who are away from home with a range of services, the most important of which are accommodation and catering services.
AT this definition indicates the mandatory presence of two main services in the hotel - accommodation and meals.
Hotels are characterized by the following features:
They have a number of rooms, the volume of which exceeds a certain minimum, have a single management;
They are characterized by a certain list of mandatory services: room cleaning, daily bed making, bathroom cleaning, room service;
They have a certain range additional services;
They are grouped into classes and categories depending on the equipment and features of the services provided.
Based on the definitions of GOST R 51185-98 “Tourist services. Accommodation facilities. General requirements”, services of accommodation facilities - the activities of an organization, an individual entrepreneur for the accommodation of tourists and the provision of hotel, specialized (health, sanatorium, sports, tourist, etc.) services.
If we talk about hospitality as an integral part of tourism, then all tourist services can be divided according to their functional purpose, and they are divided into: material and socio-cultural.
Social and cultural services include services to meet the spiritual, intellectual needs and maintain the normal life of the consumer (strengthening and restoring health, spiritual and physical development of the individual, improving professional skills), as well as medical services, cultural services, tourism, education, etc.
On the other hand, in the creation of tourist services are involved and transport companies, catering enterprises and other organizations, services that relate to the field of material services.
Consider the main services from the definition of "hotel": accommodation, meals and additional services.
First, customers are provided with special rooms(hotel rooms),
Secondly, services are provided that are performed directly by the hotel staff: porters for the reception and registration of guests, maids for cleaning hotel rooms, etc.
What is the main element of the accommodation service?
Hotel rooms are the main element of the accommodation service.
Room - a room consisting of one or more places, equipped in accordance with the requirements for a hotel of this category.
A bed is an area with a bed intended for the use of one person.
The hotels have different categories of rooms, differing in area, furniture, equipment, equipment. However, regardless of categories, each hotel room must have the following furniture and equipment:
Bed;
Chair or armchair per seat;
Night table or bedside table for one bed;
Wardrobe;
General lighting;
Information about the hotel and an evacuation plan in case of fire, etc.
2. Catering services consist of a combination of different processes:
Production (cooking in the kitchen),
Trading (sale of ready-to-eat products, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages),
Service (serving guests by waiters in a restaurant, bar, cafe, hotel rooms)
The legislative framework governing the activities of the hotel industry in Russia includes:
1. Civil Code of the Russian Federation (parts one, two and three), defining the basic rights and obligations of entrepreneurs, ensuring and protecting the economic and personal rights of citizens, establishing rules on property and market turnover.
2. The Tax Code of the Russian Federation - part one, which defines financial obligations to government bodies, municipal institutions.
3. The federal law "On the fundamentals of tourism activities in the Russian Federation" defines the principles of state policy aimed at establishing the legal framework single tour. market in the Russian Federation, which regulates relations arising from the exercise of the rights of citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens and stateless persons to rest, freedom of movement and other rights when traveling.
Article 10. Information about goods (works, services)
5. Federal Law of August 8, 2001 No. 128-FZ “On Licensing Certain Types of Activities”.
6. Federal Law No. 184-FZ of December 27, 2002 “On Technical Regulation” entered into force on July 1, 2003.
8. International Hotel Convention concerning the conclusion of contracts by hotel owners and travel agents, which entered into force on June 15, 1979, designed to regulate the signing and execution of hotel contracts of an international character.
9. International Hotel Rules, approved by the Council of the International Hotel Association on November 2, 1981, designed to inform the guest and the owner of the hotel about their mutual rights and obligations.
10. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 25, 1997 No. 490 “On Approval of the Rules for the Provision of Hotel Services in the Russian Federation” (as amended and supplemented on October 2, 1999, September 15, 2000). In our country, this decision is the main normative document for businesses such as hotels. Based on the requirements of this document, business entities providing hotel services organize the process of their provision.
11. Sanitary and epidemiological rules approved by the decision of the Main State sanitary doctor RF dated November 14, 2001 No. 36.
12. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated July 15, 2005 No. 1004-r “On the classification system for hotels and other accommodation facilities”. Order of the Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation dated July 21, 2005 No. 86 "On Approval of the Classification System for Hotels and Other Accommodation Facilities".
On the termination of the application on the territory of the Russian Federation of GOST 28681.4-95 “Tourist and excursion services. Classification of hotels" in connection with the order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated July 15, 2005 No. 1004-r from August 1, 2006.
13. Gosstandart of Russia Decree of June 27, 2003 No. 63 decided to “recognize as national standards the current state and interstate standards put into effect before July 1, 2000. for use in the Russian Federation".
List of the main national standards of the tourism sector:
GOST 30335-95 “Public services. Terms and Definitions".
GOST 28681.1-95 Tourist and excursion services. Designing tourism services.
GOST 28681.3-95 Tourist and excursion services. Requirements for ensuring the safety of tourists and sightseers.
GOST 30389-95 " Catering. Classification of enterprises.
GOST 30523-97 “Catering services. General requirements".
GOST 30524-97 “Public catering. Requirements to service personnel».
GOST R 51185-98 “Tourist services. Accommodation facilities. General requirements".
GOST R 50690-2000 Tourist services. General requirements".
GOST R 52113-2003 “Public services. Nomenclature of quality indicators.
GOST R 52024-2003 “Physical health and sports services. General requirements".
- 196.00 KbUndoubtedly, the hotel markets of Astana and Almaty have a dominant influence on the state of the country's hotel industry as a whole. However, in recent years there have been some shifts here, which are manifested primarily in a reduction in the share of capitals in the overall sectoral balance. The process of deconcentration is taking place against the background of the revival of the hotel markets in other regions. Among such rapidly developing areas is, first of all, the resort city of Sochi, whose investment attractiveness is not inferior to capital cities. In a number of regions, the hotel business is developing even more dynamically than other sectors of the real estate market: housing and retail and office. To a large extent, the segment of mini-hotels and hotels of the middle price level is actively developing there. [ 7, p. 43]
3.2 Problems of the hotel industry in Kazakhstan and ways to solve them
All hotels are divided into two segments - hotel chains and non-chain hotels. Labor productivity in hotel chains (consisting of 6 hotels or more) is approximately 50% higher than in non-chain hotels, which is associated with the use of chains standard forms organization of work, with economies of scale in areas such as branding, acquiring necessary resources, and training staff (due to greater promotion opportunities).
The low productivity of the staff of non-network Kazakhstani hotels is explained by a drop in demand, low incomes of the population and failure to comply with tax discipline, as well as the fact that a significant part of them is state-owned. In Kazakhstan, 47% of hotel rooms are owned by municipal, regional or federal authorities. Another 36% of the room stock is partly owned by local or federal authorities, and partly by enterprises (mainly heavy industry enterprises). Whereas management contracts tying manager remuneration to hotel profitability are widespread in the US, in Kazakhstan, contracts (essentially with the state) do not provide sufficient incentives for non-chain hotel managers to get rid of excess staff and improve work organization. In addition, some hotels of this kind are run directly by government employees, and they are usually required to keep rooms for officials in reserve, and, of course, these rooms do not make a profit.
A very serious problem in the development of the hotel industry in Kazakhstan is the lack of qualified personnel, which, in particular, explains the inefficient organization of labor. US hotel chains are coping with seasonal workforce needs by tapping into an existing pool of trained workers. In countries such as Kazakhstan, there are no such reserves, and it takes a long time to train an inexperienced worker well. The losses from the use of untrained workers are obvious. So, a skilled maid can clean 60% more rooms per day than an inexperienced trainee. To no lesser extent, the increased need for employees is due to the cumbersome and imperfect accounting procedures and the great need for security services.
Almost all major international chains are present in Kazakhstan, but their activities are concentrated in the four- and five-star segment and are usually managed by international companies and owned by joint ventures involving private investors and local authorities. Here high quality service dictates high prices available for large businessmen, business tourists, famous artists, athletes. But there are almost no tourist-class hotels with a good level of service for a person of average income who comes to see our country.
Three-star hotels remain the most demanded segment, the shortage of which is felt in all major cities of Kazakhstan. Formally, there are such hotels, but in reality most of them do not correspond to this category either in terms of the level of staff training or the quality of service, and they received this category according to the old systems.
Today, the problem of interaction between hotels and tour operators is relevant for the development of the Russian hotel industry. Often these partners make claims to each other. Complaints relate mainly to violations of contractual discipline.
Hotels suffer losses due to the fact that tour operators who practice advance reservations for their groups do not always redeem booked rooms. Late cancellation of bookings (i.e. cancellation of previously made bookings as soon as possible, which does not allow rooms to be re-listed for sale) is one of the risk factors in the hotel industry as a whole. As a counter to such unfavorable factors, hotels include various provisions on advance payment and deposits in contracts, i.e. a standard set of measures used by all hotels, regardless of the home country, to reduce losses from disruption of preliminary financial plans.
Tour operators, in turn, also have claims to partners - accommodation facilities. It is not uncommon for hotels to take a wait-and-see attitude and do not confirm booking requests within the time limits specified in the contracts. Especially often hotels do this on the eve of major events, holidays, causing a high demand for accommodation services. Since there are not so many hotels that accept foreign tourist groups, tour operators do not agree to terminate contracts with violating hotels. Some hotels deliberately cut off group tourism, setting prices for tourist groups higher than for corporate clients, or offering accommodation without discounts. It can be quite difficult for tour operators to defend their positions, especially when demand exceeds supply.
Another problem is connected with the imperfection of the legislation and the complexity of the bureaucratic procedures for licensing, certification, etc. And this, in turn, is the source of other problems. Thus, due to the imperfection of the legislative framework, investors with some caution invest in the construction of new hotels in Kazakhstan, especially in Astana. This is mainly due to the fact that there are no convenient places for building in Astana, and due to the high cost of land. The city government has repeatedly declared its readiness to promote the development of the hotel services market, but bureaucratic barriers are still strong. In addition, according to experts, the Moscow authorities are rather unsuccessful in initiating the reconstruction and replacement of the existing hotel stock. Over the past three years, the Moscow market has decreased by 3.5 thousand rooms only in demolished hotels. And this is almost a quarter of the number of rooms in the middle segment. Demolition of hotels meanwhile continues. This reduces competition for existing hotels, which entails the high cost of hotels, a drop in the quality of services.
Another problem related to legislative framework, is a classification of hotels. At present, the normative document on the basis of which the classification of Kazakhstani hotels is carried out is the order of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated June 21, 2003 No. 197 “On approval of the Regulations on state system classification of hotels and other accommodation facilities. Despite the fact that the document received the status of a state one, this classification system is voluntary and many hotels received their category according to the old systems, so more than 70% of hotels in Kazakhstan do not fit into any of the existing categories in terms of quality of service. Information about all enterprises that have received a category in accordance with the requirements of the state system is published on the official website of the federal executive body in the field of tourism, as well as in catalogs and other publications distributed at exhibitions in Kazakhstan and abroad.
Of course, speaking about the problems of the hotel business, it is necessary to say about the ways to solve them.
The regulation of the hotel industry should take place "from above", i.e. state. To do this, first of all, it is necessary to develop a unified marketing concept for the development of the hotel business in Kazakhstan, which should provide solutions to all problems in a complex. The state must determine the tourism concepts of the regions, the need for additional infrastructure, territorial zoning, a plan to attract investors, and much more. Thus, the hotel market in Astana and Almaty is already quite developed and it is worth reorienting cash flows to regional million-plus cities, important centers of trade and industry. Separately, it is worth considering the prospects of the Golden Ring and resort areas.
Significant work needs to be done in the field of legislation. The registration and registration processes should be simplified and understandable in order to attract foreign investment in the hotel business.
Also, do not forget about the problem of quality of service in hotels. The introduced classification system is an important step towards quality improvement, but it is not enough. Firstly, this system has a lot of complaints from hotel owners and needs to be improved, and secondly, it is not mandatory and many hotels do not correspond to any category. To improve the situation, the state should invest in these hotel enterprises, as well as stimulate them to improve the level of services.
But problem solving requires the active participation of hotel owners. They should strive to provide quality service, effective work with customers, close cooperation with the state. The personnel problem requires special participation of hotel owners. Many of them can be solved by closer work with universities, the policy of compensation and non-material motivation of staff.
Thus, the hotel business in Kazakhstan faces many problems and the solution of these problems must be comprehensive, i.e. the state and hotel owners should work together to plan and implement programs to eliminate them.
Conclusion
In this paper, the features of state regulation of hotel service were considered. The unreasonable position of the legislator in matters of regulating the quality of hotel services was revealed. And the quality of hotel services is an important factor in the development of international and domestic tourism, which, in turn, contributes to the development of the economy of our country, an increase in budget revenues, and the creation of new jobs. The existing system of voluntary confirmation of conformity not only does not improve the overall quality of hotel services in the country, but, on the contrary, creates confusion and prerequisites for abuse by unscrupulous hotel companies. Here I agree with the recommendations that propose to introduce mandatory certification on the territory of Kazakhstan.
Based on the analysis of regulatory legal acts in the field of hotel services, we can conclude that the current domestic regulation of this activity is incomplete. There is no regulation of relations with the participation of legal entities on the side of the customer of the service and individual entrepreneurs acting as a customer and recipient of services.
The main principles of state regulation of hotel activities in the Republic of Kazakhstan are:
1) promoting hotel activities and creating favorable conditions for its development;
2) identification and support of priority areas of hotel activities;
3) formation of an idea about the Republic of Kazakhstan as a country favorable for the hotel business;
4) ensuring security, protecting the rights of tourists and tourist organizations of the Republic of Kazakhstan and their associations, as well as protecting their interests and property.
Regulation of the development of the hotel business is a multi-level system, including:
Coordination and promotion of the development of the hotel business on a global scale, which is carried out through the World tourism organization with the participation of international financial organizations;
Consistency of hotel policy at the interstate level, which is achieved through regional tourism organizations and special bodies of interstate associations (for example, the European Community);
Consistency of policy in the field of hotel business at the national and regional levels, which is carried out through specially created state bodies and public associations of hotel organizations.
Legal basis state regulation of hotel activities in the Republic of Kazakhstan are fixed in the following legal acts:
Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated June 13, 2001 No. 211-II "On tourism activities in the Republic of Kazakhstan";
State program of tourism development for 2007-2011;
Concepts for the development of the hotel business in the Republic of Kazakhstan;
Laws "On standardization", "On certification of products and services";
Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated June 11, 2007 N 481 “On approval of the Rules for licensing and qualification requirements for tour operator, travel agency activities, services of a tourism instructor”;
Development program promising directions hotel industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2010 - 2014;
Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Rules for the provision of hotel services in the Republic of Kazakhstan";
Short description
The international hotel business occupies an important place in the modern world economy. At least in recent decades, it has been one of the most dynamically developing and very profitable types economic activity. Development of the national hotel industry, especially through its connection to the international hotel business, is of great importance in many countries of the world, as this economy plays an important role in providing employment for the local population, having a positive impact on other sectors of the national economy.
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YES. ZHMULINA,
Competitor of the Department of Commercial Law, Faculty of Law, St. Petersburg State University
In an article based on a detailed analysis current legislation the system of state regulation of activities for the provision of hotel services in the Russian Federation is studied, and proposals are made to improve the regulation of this area.
In the field of providing hotel services, many people are involved who serve great amount consumers. This is not an entrepreneurship designed for a narrow circle, but an industry that offers modern society with its diverse requests conditions for relaxation.
State regulation of activities for the provision of hotel services is carried out through the legal regulation of this area, as well as through the standardization and classification of hotels and other accommodation facilities, creating favorable conditions for investment in the hotel industry.
The legal regulation of services, in particular hotel services, begins with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which states that the Russian Federation guarantees the unity of the economic space, the free movement of goods, services and financial resources(part 1, article 8), as well as the fundamental rights and freedoms of a person and citizen, important for this area, including the right to move freely, choose a place of stay and residence (part 1, article 27), the right to rest ( part 5 article 37).
In the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, services are singled out as an independent object of rights (Articles 1, 2, 128, etc.). Chapter 39 “Paid services” of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation is devoted to the regulation of contractual relations for the provision of services, the significance of which lies in the fact that it lays the foundation for civil legal relations not yet named in this code. Among them are relations for the provision of hotel services. In paragraph 2 of Art. 779 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, containing a list of services, hotel services are not specified. However, this does not mean that the rules of Chapter 39 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation do not apply to such relations, since the list of services provided is not exhaustive.
The next source of legal regulation of activities for the provision of hotel services is the Federal Law of November 24, 1996 No. 132-FZ “On the Basics of Tourism Activities in the Russian Federation” (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Tourism Activities). This law applies to hotel activities only indirectly. From the conceptual apparatus of the Law on Tourism Activities, it becomes clear that hotel activities cannot be classified as tourism or other travel activities.
At the same time, the Law on Tourism Activities classifies hotels as objects of the tourism industry, and in Art. 4 declares the development of the tourism industry, which provides for the needs of citizens when traveling, that is, in fact, the development of hotels, as one of the main goals of state regulation of tourism activities.
The Law on Tourism Activities also defines that accommodation services are integral part tourism product, and activities for the formation, promotion and implementation of a tourist product are tourism activities. Thus, we can say that the state regulation of the sphere of tourism activities very significantly affects the provision of hotel services.
An important role in regulating the provision of hotel services is played by the Law of the Russian Federation of February 7, 1992 No. 2300-1 “On Protection of Consumer Rights” (hereinafter referred to as the Consumer Rights Protection Law), which regulates the relationship that arises between the consumer and the service provider, including and hotel, establishes the rights of consumers (to purchase services of adequate quality, safe for their life, health and property; to receive information about services and their performers; to state and public protection of consumer interests), and also determines the mechanism for exercising their rights.
Law of the RSFSR dated June 26, 1991 No. 1488-1 “On investment activity in the RSFSR”, federal laws No. 160-FZ of July 9, 1999 “On Foreign Investments” and No. 39-FZ of February 25, 1999 “On Investment Activities in the Russian Federation Carried out in the Form of Capital Investments” define the basic guarantees of the rights of investors to invest and incomes and profits received from them, conditions entrepreneurial activity investors on hotel market Russia.
Federal Law No. 184-FZ dated December 27, 2002 “On Technical Regulation” (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Technical Regulation) is extremely important for regulating the quality of services, since it regulates the relations that arise during the development, adoption, application and execution on a voluntary basis of requirements for the provision of services .
Among the sources of legal regulation of relations for the provision of hotel services, the key ones are the Rules for the provision of hotel services in the Russian Federation, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 25, 1997 No. 490 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules for the provision of hotel services).
These rules are adopted in accordance with the Consumer Rights Protection Law and contain rules governing the procedure for providing information about hotel services, the procedure for registering hotel accommodation and paying for services, the procedure for providing services, and the responsibility of the contractor and consumer.
The rules for the provision of hotel services contain definitions key concepts for the provision of hotel services. Thus, a hotel is defined as a property complex (building, part of a building, equipment and other property) intended for the provision of services. However, this definition seems to be not quite correct and does not correspond to the realities. modern relations in this area.
The consumer of services, according to the Rules for the provision of hotel services, is a citizen who intends to order or order and use services exclusively for personal, family, household and other needs not related to business activities.
Thus, if you follow the Rules for the provision of hotel services, citizens who carry out any activity aimed at generating profit during their stay at the hotel, including citizens who perform their duties under a civil law contract (for example, lecturers , lawyers, solicitors). It is ambiguous when the Rules for the Provision of Hotel Services classify as consumers citizens sent on a business trip by order of the employer in accordance with labor law and performing during their stay at the hotel their labor obligations. In such a situation, an employer, a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur orders hotel services, who sends his employee on a business trip, including for the purpose of making a profit, and the employee consumes the services, which is a “tool” for making a profit.
Consequently, the Rules for the provision of hotel services, which regulate the key points in relations for the provision of hotel services, are designed only for a narrow area of relations, which include relations with the participation of consumer citizens on the side of the recipient of the service.
State standard of the Russian Federation GOST R 51185-98 “Tourist services. Accommodation facilities. General requirements”, approved by the Decree of the State Standard of Russia dated July 9, 1998 No. 286, contains a number of rules governing the provision of hotel services. However, according to Art. 46 of the Law on Technical Regulation, the aforementioned GOST is subject to mandatory execution only in the part that ensures the achievement of the goals of the Russian legislation on technical regulation.
GOST R 51185-98 defines such concepts as “accommodation facilities”, “accommodation facility services”, “accommodation facility service provider”, classifies accommodation facilities, limiting them to a simple enumeration.
Summing up the analysis of regulatory legal acts in the field of hotel services, we can conclude that the current domestic regulation of this activity is incomplete. Legal regulation public relations in this area is carried out mainly at the sub-legislative level.
The qualitative level of legal regulation of activities for the provision of hotel services is obviously low and insufficient for successful development hotel industry in our country. In order to increase the effectiveness of the legal regulation of relations for the provision of hotel services, it is necessary, from our point of view, to finalize the Rules for the provision of hotel services, it is necessary to establish special rules dedicated to the regulation of business relations in the area under consideration. Article 17 federal law dated 08.08.2001 No. 128-FZ "On Licensing Certain Types of Activities" contains an exhaustive list of types of activities subject to mandatory licensing. Activities for the provision of hotel services are not included in this list; accordingly, licensing in this area is not carried out.
According to part 3 of Art. 4 of the Law on Tourism Activities, state regulation of the tourism industry, which, as we noted earlier, primarily includes hotels, is carried out by standardizing and classifying objects of the tourism industry. From our point of view, this direction state regulation is extremely important and necessary, as it implements the right of consumers to information about the provider of accommodation services and about the services themselves in accordance with Art. 8 of the Consumer Protection Act.
Article 5 of the Law on Tourism Activity establishes the rule that the standardization and classification of objects of the tourism industry is carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.
The standardization of services in our country is regulated by the Law on Technical Regulation. With regard to services in general and hotel services in particular, this law defines technical regulation as legal regulation relations in the field of establishing and applying on a voluntary basis requirements for the provision of services, as well as assessing and confirming the compliance of services with these requirements. The Law on Technical Regulation establishes that such requirements may exist in the form of standards or contracts. This law does not provide for any other forms of documents establishing the composition and content of voluntarily accepted requirements for services. The Law on Technical Regulation also does not allow the application of procedures for mandatory confirmation of compliance of services with certain requirements and forcing voluntary confirmation of compliance, including in a certain system of voluntary certification.
The voluntary certification system can be created by any legal entity or individual entrepreneur or several legal entities and (or) individual entrepreneurs. The voluntary certification system may be registered with the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology, but may not be registered.
It can be concluded that in Russia hotel services are not subject to mandatory certification, only voluntary confirmation of compliance with any criteria is necessary, and it is not necessary to register these criteria, they can be developed and applied by any organization. This means that the establishment and application of standards in this area, if we follow the Law on Technical Regulation, is completely removed from the jurisdiction of state bodies.
However, the state is actively involved in the development of criteria for assessing the quality of hotel services.
Thus, the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, by order of June 21, 2003 No. 197, approved the Regulations on the state system for classifying hotels and other accommodation facilities. This hotel classification system existed for two years and was canceled in connection with the order of the Federal Tourism Agency dated July 21, 2005 No. 86 “On approval of the Classification System for hotels and other accommodation facilities (hereinafter - Order No. 86). This System classification of hotels and other accommodation facilities (hereinafter referred to as the Classification System) is currently used. Let's take a closer look at this document.
First of all, in our opinion, the very concept of "classification system" in the context of the document and in the light of the concepts and definitions of the Law on Technical Regulation, as well as from the standpoint of the vocabulary of the Russian language, is incorrect. The concept of "classification" in its encyclopedic meaning is a way or process of dividing a set of objects into classes, in this case - into categories, denoted by the number of stars. Classification in the system under consideration is understood as the process of assigning a particular hotel to a classification group - category. This process consists of two consecutive steps: assessment of the hotel's compliance with the classification requirements; documentary confirmation of the established conformity of the category. Then the hotel is issued a certificate of category and mark of conformity. However, according to Art. 2 of the Law on Technical Regulation confirmation of conformity - documentary evidence of the compliance of the provision of services with the provisions of the standards; certificate of conformity - a document certifying the compliance of the object with the provisions of the standards; certification - a form of confirmation of compliance of objects with the provisions of the standards. That is, what is called "classification" in Order No. 86, according to the Law on Technical Regulation - "certification".
In this regard, it seems necessary to make appropriate changes to Order No. 86 and replace the concept of "classification" with the term "certification", which, in fact, is.
The classification system contains requirements for hotels and other accommodation facilities, criteria for their scoring and requirements for rooms of various categories and criteria for their scoring, in accordance with which hotels and other accommodation facilities are evaluated for compliance with a particular category.
The problem of developing uniform requirements for assessing accommodation facilities is constantly in the focus of attention of specialists around the world. Since tourism has become massive and the complex problem of certification of hotel services has become quite acute, different organizations repeatedly made attempts to adopt a single world standard for the services provided by hotels. However, to date, these attempts have not been successful due to many reasons, primarily the national and historical features of the tourism industry. different countries. In 1989, the Secretariat of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) issued Recommendations for the Interregional Harmonization of Hospitality Classification Criteria. It is this document that can be considered today as an international standard for hotel services. It should be noted that it is purely advisory in nature.
In our opinion, the requirements for hotels and other accommodation facilities mentioned above and the criteria for their scoring, as well as the requirements for rooms of various categories and the criteria for their scoring of the Classification System comply with the WTO recommendations. Similar to the WTO document, the Classification System contains requirements for the hotel building and its surrounding area, water and energy supply, heating, security issues, rooms, technical and sanitary equipment, additional hotel premises, services provided, maintenance personnel, etc. Each requirements are divided into two groups. The first applies to hotels of all categories. Fulfillment of these requirements - necessary condition to ensure the safety of the guest. The second group includes requirements for specific categories of hotels.
It seems that a significant shortcoming of the Classification System is the lack of connection between the requirements for hotels and other accommodation facilities and the criteria for their scoring and the requirements for rooms of various categories and the criteria for their scoring. The result of room categorization does not affect the category assigned to the hotel. We propose to link the two groups of requirements with a certain algorithm that assumes the availability of rooms of a certain category in a hotel of a certain category.
The organizational structure of the Classification System consists of five levels. Firstly, it is the governing body of the system - the federal executive body in the field of tourism. In terms of the Law on Technical Regulation, this is a legal entity that has formed a voluntary certification system. The governing body of the system approves the decisions of the attestation commission and creates an appeals commission. Secondly, there is a central body of the system (CSO), which creates an attestation commission and approves the documents of the system, accepts applications for peer review, conducts single register system, and also performs coordinating functions, develops methodological documents, collects and analyzes information, etc. The decision to assign or refuse to assign the requested category to the accommodation facility is made by certifying commission. Directly expert assessment accommodation facilities are produced by classification bodies, which are created on the basis of an organization determined by the CSO. There is also a commission that hears appeals on issues related to the classification. The law on technical regulation, in addition to the person who formed the voluntary certification system, provides for only one body - a voluntary certification body.
Despite the obvious external differences with the organizational structure established in the Law on Technical Regulation, the radical illegality in organizational structure There is no classification system. However, the number of decision-making levels and the excessive bureaucracy of the process seem unreasonable and inappropriate for the task being solved. In our opinion, this complicates and overestimates the cost of assessing and confirming compliance with the category.
In general, the Classification System, although it needs a number of improvements, including conceptual ones, is a coherent and integral system for the certification of hotels and other accommodation facilities. And it could well become the basis and guarantor of the stability and constancy of the quality of hotel services in the Russian Federation.
However, the Classification System has, as it seems to us, one significant drawback. It is voluntary, and no one can force hotels to receive a category certificate. It is also clear that hotels offering low quality services will either not be certified at all or will do so under another system established under the Law on Technical Regulation. And absolutely legally they will receive even the most high category within its own compliance system.
It is quite difficult to compare the quality of services provided in hotels classified according to different systems. After all, with any classification, some limited sample is made from a huge variety of parameters that can be evaluated. And the affected party in this situation is the consumer who, when ordering a hotel from another region, focuses on the category indicated in the brochure or on the hotel website, but does not know on what basis this category was assigned. He has his own ideas, for example, about the category "three stars", but he receives services at the level, in his opinion, "one star". However, at the same time, the consumer cannot make any claims against the contractor, because the latter has a certificate of conformity for a three-star hotel under a certain voluntary certification system.
It is important to note that an attempt was made to solve this problem by the state. The classification system was approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated July 15, 2005 No. 1004-r. The approval indicates that the state, represented by federal body executive authority in the field of tourism acts as a guarantor that the hotel or other accommodation facility really meets all the requirements for the category assigned to them. However, in our opinion, this does not solve the problem. Even the classification system approved by the Government of the Russian Federation does not become mandatory and remains only one of a number of possible certification systems. The consumer is not provided with reliable information about the category of the hotel.
In the light of the above, it seems necessary to introduce mandatory certification of hotels and other accommodation facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation. To this end, it is proposed in the Law on Technical Regulation to attribute the provision of hotel services not to services, but to processes, and to adopt an appropriate law on the technical regulation of hotel activities, which can be based on a revised and supplemented Classification System.
Bibliography
1 See: international tourism: legal acts. - M., 2002. S. 307-323.
