Despite the fact that this procedure is not mandatory, most hotels still seek to obtain state "recognition". For only officially recognized facilities will receive advertising support from Rostourism.
"Our hotel has two stars, but this floor is four", - such a phrase a tourist has to hear quite often. That is why in summer the Russian government approved the directive on a new classification of "accommodation facilities" developed by the Federal Agency for Tourism. But even after it came into force, the situation with Russian hotels has not yet changed for the better.
It is quite difficult to make a tourist believe that in Russia "three stars" really mean that the hotel is a three-star one. In practice, it often turns out that a room in a hotel supposedly of this class has everything necessary, but at the same time the whitewash is falling off, the furniture is falling apart, and the taps are constantly leaking. Over the past 10-15 years, many have been abroad and now know exactly that a hotel with three stars is better than one with two, but worse than one with four.
"Now tourists simply do not imagine where they are going," says Mikhail Romanov, general director of the company "Orpheus". "Often we have to explain literally on the fingers what kind of hotel it is and what conditions are there. So a new classification system is definitely needed, it is important. Of course, it is most needed by tourists: when choosing a hotel, it will be easier for them to find hotels on the map and formulate their requirements. And for us - to meet the needs of each client without possible subsequent complaints and claims."
At the moment, 80% of hotels in Russia are not certified at all, even according to the old classification systems. Therefore, to assume what level of service a traveler will encounter in a hotel where a room has been booked for him is the same as drawing a lottery ticket. A win is not guaranteed. And it is not that the employees of Russian hotels do not want to work well. Simply, the staff are mostly unprofessional, they have not been taught how to do it correctly, they have no special training.
Hotels such as the "National" or "Baltschug Kempinski" were among the first to undergo classification. Large hotels are interested in the state confirming their status; they count on foreign tourists and are aimed at business development. For them, confirmation of their "star status" is an extra plus. Official recognition is also necessary for smaller hotels.
Unfortunately, one cannot rule out subjectivity or bias in the expert assessment of a hotel's level. And in Russian conditions this means that theoretically an "extra star" can always be bought and prices can be jacked up accordingly.
Nevertheless, if a hotel counts on foreign clients, it has no reason to artificially inflate its "star rating". In any case, a foreign partner, planning to place its tourists there, comes and thoroughly inspects everything himself.
At the same time, as "Financial Izvestia" notes, the developers of the new system assure that such a check is carried out not in order to take away or award a star. "We need unified rules of the game for everyone," says Natela Shengelia, deputy head of the Federal Agency for Tourism. "Hotel managers may think: okay, if I don't pass this certification, I'll pass another one - there are more than a hundred certification bodies in Moscow alone. But now all classification requirements have been brought together - this will make the procedure of assigning stars the same for everyone." And ultimately, the consumer should gain confidence that, having paid money for a "star" hotel, he will not end up in a hastily converted barrack.