A CARIBBEAN tourism representative delivered harsh criticism of Bermuda's hotel standards, telling industry members in the Cayman Islands of the poor experience she had at a four-star property here.

Karie Bergstrom, president of the Cayman Islands Hotel Association, said she had been horrified by her Bermuda stay, citing poor standards as the cause of her disappointment.

The complaint came as part of a speech she delivered to industry representatives who attended the Hotels Licensing Board's Tourist Accommodation Inspection and Licensing Seminar in the Cayman Islands, and was reported in the Caymanian Compass.

As reported by the newspaper, the tourism head is said to have been "horrified at the standard of a four-star hotel she stayed at in Bermuda", concluding it was probably "because she is spoiled with" the accepted standard in the Cayman Islands.

The hotel was not named and further details were not given.

Contacted yesterday, Ms Bergstrom did not deny having made the comments but refused to elaborate on the matter, saying she would rather deal with it out of the eye of the press. The issue, however, is one that was raised by Tourism Minister Ewart Brown last November. At that time he laid the blame for the island's declining occupancy rates on hoteliers, saying as many as 84 per cent of properties were not operating to the required standards.

Because of that, he said 49 of the 58 licensed properties on the island failed the annual hotel inspection in April of 2005.

To counter that, Dr. Brown said the Hotel Merit Award scheme would be replaced with a hotel classification system, which would aim to raise all of the island's licensed properties to a higher standard.

Asked what he thought of Ms Bergstrom's comments, Dr. Brown said it was his long-held belief that "properties were parading" a grade they did not actually meet.

"We have just completed our assessment of hotel properties and as soon as we share the results with the hotels we will present that information to the public."

He added that he was not particularly concerned that the comments came from a tourism official.

"You have to take into account the source. If she is like some other people and didn't get what she paid for then she has every right to say it. But the fact that she is (the president of the Cayman Islands Hotel Association) doesn't add any weight to it."