Choosing accommodation is one of the first issues that tourists face when they organize a trip, and hotels are the most popular accommodation choice. In fact, according to the current concept of tourism and trends, hotels are an important and motivational element of tourists’ trips.

The hotel industry represents a high percentage of tourism activity and is the tourism sector that has grown the most in recent years. However, the rapid development of the sector, its high competitiveness, the role that technologies play in the tourism industry value chain and the new accommodation business models which have arisen during the last decade make the design and implementation of differentiation strategies a need not only for the hotel industry but also for the destinations themselves. In this context, offering a quality service to guests plays a major role in the differentiation strategy.

This Standard provides a common and attainable reference for all hotels in terms of quality service provision and has been developed considering the different types of hotels in the world, existing categorization systems, business models, sizes and services offered, as well as the current demands of guests and global trends.

This Standard has been conceived as a tool aimed at offering a satisfactory guest experience, promoting direct and indirect guest loyalty by ensuring the appropriate framework for providing the minimum quality service expected by an experienced global tourist.