Under a tenth of Ukraine’s hotels possess accredited star classifications.
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According to Iryna Sidletska, head of the Ukrainian Hotel and Resort Association (UHRA), less than a tenth of Ukraine’s lodging providers have validated their classification, as she mentioned in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
"One of the present-day issues is the limited quantity of categorized establishments – those that have verified their material resources, the scope and fulfillment of their services in accordance with domestic standards. At the conclusion of July of the present year, solely 220 lodging locations officially possessed a confirmed star classification (ranging from one to five stars), making up fewer than 10% of the overall count," Sidletska stated.
She clarified that this circumstance arises from obsolete, "uninspiring" regulations and incomplete laws overseeing the lodging industry. Thus, a transformation to move towards contemporary European hotel rating standards – notably the Hotelstars Union system – and to broaden them to other accommodation types (such as hostels, leisure complexes, campgrounds, and bed and breakfasts) is presently under consideration.
In terms of the collective availability in the hotel sphere, Sidletska indicated that it is challenging to determine due to the imposition of martial law, the existence of occupied areas, restricted access to records, and the current deficit of methodical data.
She reminded that in the spring of 2024, the Ukrainian Hotel and Resort Association, alongside the Hoteliero club, performed a comprehensive stocktaking of lodging establishments nationwide. They acquired data concerning roughly 3,700 locations, encompassing not just hotels but also hostels, campgrounds, bed and breakfasts, amusement parks, and rural holiday spots. Of these, 240 had ceased operations or had provisionally paused them during that period, and another 350 indicated that they functioned solely on a seasonal basis.
A noteworthy trait of the Ukrainian lodging market’s prevailing condition, she added, is that lodging facilities are regularly the victims of missile assaults and bombardments, predominantly in core sectors of regional urban centers. Amongst those that officially declared harm, 30 establishments are presently under protection or undergoing reconstruction.
"The deficiency of precise information concerning the configuration of Ukraine’s lodging sector is a longstanding concern. We anticipate that the forthcoming initiation of the Unified Tourism Register and the application of European guidelines on gathering tourism figures will rectify this scenario. Comprehending the quantity and classes of lodging locations constitutes the groundwork for the well-adjusted and even progression of the hospitality domain," Sidletska expressed.
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