By Mike Weir MP - 15th February 2011
The government should reconsider changes to rating for holiday accommodation and engage with the self catering industry, says Mike Weir MP.
This debate concerns proposals being put forward by the UK government to change the way in consumers are able to access rating for hotel and self catering accommodation. Although tourism is devolved in Scotland and Wales, all three nations currently have a common standard for star rating of accommodation and Visit Britain is responsible for encouraging overseas tourists into the UK.
The UK government is currently looking at proposals to amend the system to move away from the star rating system towards self assessment and the use of sites such as Trip Advisor, where the general public can post reviews of holiday accommodation.
The difficulty with this is that whilst the current star rating system is a scheme based on objective criteria recognised throughout the UK, and similar to schemes operating in other parts of the world the proposals put forward could create a scheme that is entirely subjective and open to abuse. In particular there is absolutely no way in which these websites ensure that all those who are posting reviews have in fact even stayed in the accommodation which they are reviewing.
The situation is especially difficult for small self catering businesses that can, at present, join the national schemes and be assured that they receive an independently verified and fair assessment. Very few of them are presently listed on self assessment sites which could mean that they could lose out on a large amount of business, to the huge detriment of the rural economy of large parts of the country.
The government should reconsider this matter and engage with the self catering industry on the potential difficulties with these proposals before they destroy a system into which the tourist bodies of all the nations of the UK have put a great deal of work and effort to create a common standard giving confidence to both providers and consumers.
Mike Weir has been the SNP MP for Angus since 2001 and is the party spokesperson for trade, industry, energy and for environment.
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