Consumers are increasingly demanding when it comes to hiring tourist services. It is no longer serves only to find a roof where to spend the night. The trend is increasingly focused on finding accommodations that have added value to the customer. The type of accommodations, as well as the quality of these, may vary depending on the location, the infrastructures, or the services they offer.
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Hotel classification by stars
Hotels are conventional and best-known tourist accommodations. The basic services offered are rooms, generally with private bathrooms, bar and/or restaurant service, and cleaning service. To classify tourist accommodation by stars, we must attend to the requirements of each region. To acquire one to five stars, even six or seven (although the regulations do not contemplate these cases), certain minimum requirements must be met. These requirements contemplate the minimum surface area of the rooms and the equipment and services it offers, among others. These are the requirements:
- 1-star hotels: a double room of 12 m 2 minimum and single room of 7. The bathroom of a minimum of 3.5 m 2. Heating and elevator.
- 2-star hotels: a double room of 14 m 2 minimum and single room of 7. The bathroom of 3.5 to 4 m 2 minimum. Telephone in the room, heating, elevator, and safe.
- 3-star hotels: a double room of 15 m 2 minimum and single room of 8. The bathroom of 4 m 2 minimum. Telephone in the room, heating, air conditioning in common areas, elevator, and safe.
- 4-star hotels: a double room of 16 m 2 minimum and single room of 9. Bathroom with bath and shower of minimum 4.5 m 2. Telephone in the room, heating, air conditioning in the room, elevator, bar, and safe in the room.
- 5-star hotels: a double room of 17 m 2 minimum and single room of 10. Bathroom with bath and shower of 5 m 2 minimum. Telephone in the room, heating, air conditioning in the room, elevator, bar, and safe in the room.
Types of accommodations according to their location
Currently, there is a great variety of tourist accommodations and hotels. Classifying them is difficult, as it depends on various factors, some of which are not related to each other. To put ourselves in context, we will first classify them based on their location.
Urban accommodation
They are all those hotels or apartments that are within the urban or metropolitan nucleus. Some of them have privileged locations, although others are located in less crowded streets or areas more remote from the center. The services offered by these establishments vary depending on the stars they have. Likewise, they focus on both tourism and accommodations for business reasons.
Hostels
They are establishments where there are rooms with various numbers of beds. Some rooms are singles, while others have four to six, eight, twelve, and even more beds. The bathrooms and common areas are also shared. They are very cheap, especially if you select a shared room with a greater number of beds. They usually have lockers to store personal items.
Business Hotel
These accommodations are designed exclusively to attract businessmen and women. They are located near financial centers and are usually equipped with meeting and conference rooms, event and networking rooms, office-like workrooms, and, of course, VIP rooms where you can do a bit of leisure.
Capsule Hotel
This new trend of accommodations is not yet found in many cities. It consists of a kind of structure with numerous rooms of no more than 3 or 4 square meters, similar to a beehive. They are usually intended for travelers on the go or on a budget who only go to the hotel to sleep.
Bed & Breakfast
They are accommodations that include breakfast in the price of the rooms. The bathrooms of these can be either individual or shared and the owner usually lives in the same premises. They are common in cities or small towns. Another trend similar to the B&B is the Guest House, where the owner does not live in the house and the common areas are shared by the clients.
Hostel or Pension
They are cheaper than a conventional hotel. They offer, in addition to breakfast, lunch, dinner or both (half board and full board). There are usually both in towns and cities and the number of rooms is smaller than that of hotels or aparthotels.
Accommodations in nature
These establishments are located in natural environments surrounded by forests, beaches, natural landscapes, natural parks, reserves, and protected areas. The tourism that characterizes them is rural, ecological, gastronomic, agro-tourism, and adventure tourism. Clients who come to this type of hotel want to disconnect from the routine and urban chaos, be in contact with nature, and do outdoor activities.
Rural Houses and Rustic Hotels
They are found in areas far from cities, usually in small towns and mountain areas. These accommodations are usually based on restored traditional buildings, such as farmhouses or villas. They have a special charm and are ideal for a relaxing and disconnecting getaway. The current trend similar to rural houses is the Lodge, tourist accommodation built with ecological and natural materials: wood, stone, palm leaves, etc.
Campsites
The campsites are usually made up of a large number of pitches where motorhomes or other vehicles set up their tents or tents. There are usually public toilets and showers and barbecue areas. The plots vary in size depending on the client’s needs. Also, some campsites have bungalows, small individual houses of a few square meters and equipped with beds and kitchen.
The current trend for camping is called Glamping, the union of glamor and camping. Combine the benefits of camping outdoors with the comfort and luxury of conventional accommodation. There are simple ones but there are also those that are truly luxurious.
Resorts and Beach Hotels
Resorts are large vacation complexes located near beaches or other tropical settings. They also have huge swimming pools, sports facilities, several bars, restaurants, and lounges where you can relax and have cocktails. They usually offer the all-inclusive service, bed, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Other types of accommodations
Apart from the hotels and tourist accommodations mentioned above, there are other types of residential establishments. For example, aparthotels are buildings that have numerous apartments equipped with one or more bedrooms, a bathroom, a dining room, and a kitchen. The client hires room service, which includes cleaning. The food, however, is at your expense, since you have a kitchen equipped with everything you need, and you only have to buy the food and cook it. It is usually a fairly inexpensive option.
Other accommodations are the Love Hotels or passing hotels, generally frequented by adults where they only stay for a few hours. They are usually used for intimate encounters. In the same way, we have Motels or road hotels, and their use is similar. The cost is usually per hour and the services they offer are basic. There are hotels by the hour, however, equipped with all kinds of luxuries.
Spa hotels and casino hotels, on the other hand, are establishments located in spas and in complexes. In the case of spa hotels, they usually have discounts to access the thermal baths if you stay at the hotel, or vice versa, as well as various packs and promotions.
The tourist accommodations sector is also committed to innovation. More and more, they try to offer a personalized and differential service to the customer, so that their experience in the establishment is unique and they want to repeat.
