Fourteen months before the country hosts the Common Wealth Games, which is likely to attract around one lakh tourists to India, the tourism ministry has revised guidelines for hotels across all categories with focus on security, energy conservation and quality of service. It was in 2003 that the ministry last revised the guidelines for the hospitality industry.

The new revised norms for approval of hotel projects and guidelines for classification of hotels mandate all hotels (depending on the category) to have metal detectors, CCTVs, X-ray machines and under-belly scanners for vehicles, among others. This is in line with the emerging need for security at hotels after the terror attack at Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, The Oberoi and Trident in Mumbai.

?Every hotel property in the country ? under construction or existing — was dealing with the security differently. But with the new government norms, all hotels, depending upon their category, will have to look into the security seriously and cannot just get away with it,? said Mukesh Kumar, general manager, Ramada Plaza Palm Grove.

According to industry analysts, the new guidelines will make one, two and three-star hotels, apart from budget hotels, offer better service as new norms have made the criteria for their classification more stringent than ever before. For the Games, the country has a requirement of around 40,000 rooms, which will be needed to accommodate the tourists. Experts said the gaps are largely in the budget category of hotels.

Moreover, ?hotels of 1, 2, 3 and 4 star categories availing subsidy/tax benefits/other benefits from the Central or state governments would be subject to a lock-in period of eight years,? said the guidelines. This norm will help the country increase its pool of budget hotels and smaller category hotels, an area which is currently under-serviced in the country.

Manav Thadani, managing director of hospitality consultant firm HVS International, India, said, ?The lock-in period is a positive step as many were looking at availing the subsidy to enter the business and then exited the budget category to upgrade to a higher star category.? These hotels will now be allowed to upgrade only after the completion of the lock-in period.

The revised norms also focus on facilities for the differently-abled persons in respect of accessibility, special rooms with bathrooms and facilities in public area to be made available by all existing and new hotels of all categories by September 1, 2010. In addition, eco-friendly practices, including sewage treatment plant, rain water harvesting, waste management, pollution control method for air, water and light and introduction of non-CFC equipment for refrigeration and air-conditioning, are being implemented by hotels by September 1, 2010.

The ministry has also made it mandatory for hotels to have minimum percentage of trained supervisory and skilled staff possessing degree or diploma or skilled training certificate from central or state institute of hotel management (IHM) or food craft institute (FCI) or from National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT).

Sujata R Thakur, regional director (western and central region), tourism ministry, said, ?The ministry plans to initiate training of staff in the one and two-star category hotels. In line with it, it plans to run six to eight-week training programmes which will be run by IHM. There will be two programmes run and trainees will be paid.? She also highlighted plans of training taxi drivers for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. ?Taxi drivers have been trained by Haryana and the same module is expected to be undertaken by other states as well,? she added.

What?s new

•All hotels (depending on category) to have metal detectors, CCTVs, X-ray machines and under-belly scanners for vehicles, besides other measures

• Hotels of 1, 2, 3 and 4 star categories availing subsidy & benefits would be subject to a lock-in period of eight years. This will help the country increase its pool of budget hotels

• All hotels to focus on facilities for differently-abled persons in respect of accessibility, special rooms with bathrooms and facilities in public areas

• Mandatory for hotels to have minimum percentage of trained supervisory and skilled staff