Only two Rwandan hotels eligible for the EAC standardization

KIGALI - Serena Hotel in Kigali and the Gorillas Group of Hotels are the only hospitality facilities that are worth being branded as ‘hotels’ according to parameters used by the East African Community Standardization. Chantal Rugamba, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Tourism and Wildlife conservation while addressing about 100 hotel proprietors from different parts of the country in a meeting held at Laico-Umubano Hotel that after the survey there are only two hotels in Rwanda. The meeting held last week was aimed at grading and classifying all the nation’s hospitality facilities including hotels lodges, motels and restaurants using parameters used in the EAC standards. The East African Treaty, provides the establishment of “a common code of conduct for private and public tour and travel operators, standardize hotel classification and harmonize the professional standards of agents in the tourism and travel industry. An inventory assessment carried out by RDB since May last year was conducted in about 167 hotels, most of which belong to Rwanda Hotels and Restaurants Association (RHRA). Rugambwa said most of them did not have essential items to march with East African Treaty Standards.These essential items include occupational permit, qualified and experienced management and department heads, medical examination of all workers, valid operating licenses and hotel insurance among others. “All hotels are therefore required to have all essential items if it is to be graded and to fit the EAC standard, and benefit from our marketing opportunities,” Rugambwa saidRDB intends to market all those hotels that will be graded and classified by October. he classification starts from a ‘one’ to a ‘five’ star hotel.“This is a move to raise the quality of services and facilities offered to tourists with in the region,” she said “We want a joint marketing and promotion of EAC as a single tourist destination where by tourists will be able to enjoy the same facilities and services across the region and have an orderly developed industry as this is the commitment from all the partner states,” she added. All hotels, she said, will charge same prices on food, accommodation and other facilities depending on the level of grading. Ends