Do Hotel Grading Inspections Assess What Customers and Hotel Managers Perceive to Be Important? An Innovative Assertion

Abstract

The paper presents the findings of a survey of 41 hotel grading scheme inspectors. The inspection of service products is discussed. The methodology is explained and justified and a profile of the inspectorate is presented. The inspectors expressed the assessment specificity of 65 important hotel selection attributes, indicating those which could be assessed by observation, those which could not be assessed and those which could be specifically assessed. For the latter they suggested methods of assessment. The isolation of these previously under-inspected attributes and the proposed method of inspection leads to a discussion of the possible future form and organisation of hotel classification and grading schemes.