When it comes to hotel ratings in Panama you never know what to expect. The reason is that any hotel operator can say they are a five star hotel as there are no official rating services. That is about to change as the hospitality industry is taking it upon itself to rate hotels and provide consumers with more reliable information.
From La Prensa
About 30 companies, including hotels, guides and tour operators will participate in a pilot scheme to implement the tourism certification scheme that will evaluate the services offered by companies. Annette Cardenas, president of the Panamanian Chamber of Tourism, indicated that this pilot scheme will start in a period not exceeding three months.
For Solomon Shamah, administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority (PTA), this certification will verify tourism businesses meet the services they offer, because "there are hotels that advertise themselves as five-star when they are not."
There will be a committee composed of private business, the ATP and the Spanish company Applus, international consultancy specializing in certification processes, who set the parameters that will have to follow the companies.
According to Cardenas the lack of a culture of service and good treatment of the visitors are areas where improvement in the short term to ensure the development of this sector.
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