International Hotels & Restaurants Association 160 Years of Service to the Global Hospitality Industry

UNWTO SESSION ON THE PROTECTION OF TOURISTS ACCOMODATION Berlin,9 th March 2012 By Ghassan AIDI President

Hospitality Industry Yes our Hospitality sector is an Industry and an important Industry employing more than 60 million and contributing about 1000 billion USD annually to the Global Economy. This Industry will continue its expansion with various degree following the regions in the World

Hospitality Growth Current Demand/Supply ratio will help to push the performance of our Industry. Do you know that every day 10 Hotels are opened somewhere in the World, IHRA statistic show 3000 Hotels are opened every year. The demand is growing for all various type of Hotels where Luxury and moderate type share each one 25% of the market, the Business type is getting 50%.

Our Hospitality Industry cannot be regulated completely by standards criteria as we have several factors that interfere in our normal operations and differ all the times thats make difficult to regulate and standardize our Industry. We are always trying to explain this issue to our consumers.

We have to remember to have a normal and healthy relations together, we do have have to respect the importance of the triangle formed by Investors, Hoteliers as well as Consumers to protect each angle of this triangle for the interest of all..

The consumers with the Help of Internet is becoming more and more educated and we need to fight to fill up our rooms and offer the Consumers what he needs, we have some obligations toward consumers and also remember that we do have some rights.

One of the issue involved is the time of Check in and the time of check out. Normally a Guest is paying his room in a Daily rate. The definition of a day is 24 hours. If we do follow this logic, a Guest who check in at 2h00 In the morning is entitle to stay in his room till 2h00 next day. And a Guest who check at midnight have the right to stay till Midnight next day. This is the Logic But……

When a Guest check in the rooms has to be cleaned and ready for full use. This is why Hoteliers have decide that a time should be indicated for Check in and check out. Usually it has been agreed that check out must be before 12:00 Noon and check in after 2:00Pm to allow the room to be refreshed and cleaned and be ready for the next guest. But Hoteliers are also ready to accommodate the desire of consumers id he do arrive early morning and want to leave in the afternoon and the occupancy of the Hotel do allow that, then there is no problem.

Otherwise a chaotic situation will occur: Giving the guest 24hours right of stay without predetermined check in and check out will lead to a higher operations cost as all employees should be working full 3 shifts and will have a cost incidents also the issue of Noise where the housekeeping department need to work also 3 shifts to prepare the rooms.

And the major issue will be the planning for reservation, planning for sales and marketing and planning of occupancy will be very difficult if not impossible to realize.

For all these reasons check in and check out time has to be fixed by each Hotel without any standards issue but left to the management of hotel to determine the best time.

The second issue that I want to talk about it is the responsibility of the Hotel and its employee towards a guest staying at a hotel.

A guest in a hotel when he register and do check in and give his credit card, he is entitled to a room with all related services. This room space will become private and not anymore public, as guests did lease it for a specific time.

As this room is his own space during his stay he is responsible to his belongings as well as the unit itself that the hotel did consent to lease it to him except when the responsibility of Management is proved.

This is why the Hotel Management has a limited liability for the guests belonging in the room if he did not deposit them in a safe that has been provided by the Management, and under its controle.

The Management also has to provide in their premises for a safe if guests feel not comfortable leaving precious materials in his room safe. The Management will be responsible in this case.

Usually the Management of the Hotels was liable for any loss or theft of a guest property. NOT ANYMORE TODAY It differ the legislation between country, Nations and even cities. In the USA as an example most Hotels the responsibility is very limited for belonging. As for Cash, Jewelry,the Hotel is required to provide a safe in the room and in the Lobby or behind the front desk. Also the Management is required to inform the Guest that they are not liable for any theft if not deposited at the Hotel safe, and even the Hotel does not have any liability at all for your belonging left in room if stolen.

Several Insurance companies do insist from Hoteliers to limit their liability for personal belonging for a limited amount, the consumers do not understand fully this issue.

Hoteliers usually exercise a very reasonable care for safety and security of the consumer specially in correcting a danger or warning of its existence. existence

We also are liable for any negligence of any of our employees including but not limiting to not honoring a confirmed reservation for a specific room or for overbooking.

The Total Obligations of Hotel Management is to honor reservation and the rate given made by guests regardless of his sex, color, religion and citizen as discrimination are not allowed TODAY in any country..

The Hotel Management may deny a guest if he is unwilling to pay the agreed rate, or guest is under influence of drugs or alcohol or if the guest will occupy the room with a higher unauthorized capacity.

A very important issue today is the protection of Hotels from act of terrorism and management of risk to keep guests safety. This is an important issues and travelers, tourist are keen right now about knowing if the Hotel has rules. We did prepare for our members some guidelines and major Hotels chains has also a special procedures to handle management of risks..

The consumers also today became very educated about sustainable development and climate change issues, more and more consumers are choosing hotels that do care about the environment. This is the new trend since 2-3 years about the choice of the consumers, and we do need to care about that.

UNWTO, IHRA and UNEP with other players did several programs concerning this issue just for the Protection of consumers, Protection of the Hotel and reducing the consumption of Energy thru its program Energy Hotels Solutions.

Today the consumer request full information from the Hoteliers before his arrival, during his stay, This is a very important issue as we already are very transparent and most of our Web site and brochures give full details about what the consumers need to know

The European council do have some regulations with Tour Operator in Europe to Protect consumers in providing full information and IHRA can discuss with UNWTO and Hotrec to have similar understanding

Conclusion 2012 will be challenging to our Industry but not impossible to get over with it. The Hospitality Industry as a whole needs to become positive and explore our unlimited opportunities Remember that our Industry is the largest employer in the History and do employ more than 950 million of workers and we are the last barrier and the major fighter against the poverty in the world

Who We Are The only international trade association exclusively devoted to promoting and defending the interests of the hotel and restaurant industry worldwide (Private Sector) A non-profit membership organization dedicated to helping members achieve business objectives and prepare for the future

What We Do Protect Industry Interests Act as Industry Watchdog Keep Members Informed Build a Business Network Help Building a structure Defining various procedures GLOBALLY

Our Vision… We are the voice Of the global hotel and restaurant industry

Our Mission… Provide a platform for: Formation of Industry Positions International Representation Information Dissemination International Connections

Who We Represent Through its membership network, IH&RA represents an estimated 200,000 hotels and 6 million restaurants

Strategic Partnerships Global Organizations & Associations Worldwide Partners

WHO - World Health Organisation WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organisation WTO - World Trade Organisation ILO - International Labour Organization Our international network The UN Family UN - United Nations UNESCO - UN Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation UNEP - UN Environment Program UNWTO - UN World Tourism Organization

International Hotel & Restaurant Association THANK YOU 160 Years of Service to the Global Hospitality Industry