In a move which surprised hoteliers yesterday, Tourism Minister Ewart Brown said hoteliers only had themselves to blame for declining occupancy rates as 84 percent of all licensed properties in Bermuda were operating below the required standards. So much so that of the 58 properties, 49 failed the annual hotel inspection in April this year and had to be issued provisional licenses.

Dr. Brown told a large group of Tourism Department officials, hoteliers and the Press that at the end of May this year, 64 percent of these hotels were still operating with provisional licences, 41 percent at the end of June and 23 percent at the end of September. The annual hotel inspection consists of Health, Fire and Tourism components and failure to meet the requirements for each of these areas can result in the suspension or loss of a hotel operating licence.

The Minister, however, under the Act, reserves the right to issue a provisional licence so that the hotel can continue to operate while addressing areas of deficiency. Dr. Brown said the Department had faced the dilemma of declining hotel standards for a number of years and in recent years, in a bid to maintain the bed stock, had opted to remove specific rooms from inventory as opposed to the entire property.

?I submit today, that one of the primary reasons for declining occupancy and hotel bookings that is seldom shared or explored is the reality of the quality of the hotel product,? he said. In 2004, in the aftermath of Hurricane Fabian, the annual Hotel Merit Awards scheme was suspended as hotels struggled with repairs.

Dr. Brown said evaluation of the results of the annual hotel inspection over the past few years had prompted the Department of Tourism to replace the Hotel Merit Award scheme with a hotel classification system.

This global standard for defining the quality of hotel establishments and criteria used to determine the number of stars, or other symbols of recognition, usually corresponds to tangible, measurable factors including room comfort, room quality, furnishings and amenities.

The higher the rating, the more one can expect the room and facility to be more luxurious and costly.

Dr. Brown said a Grading Assessor till be retained within the next month to assist with the development of a Code of Conduct and criteria for the Bermuda Hotel Classification System.

A November meeting with a representative from AAA is planned. Dr. Brown said the classification system would provide the kind of incentive needed in order that all of Bermuda?s licensed properties achieve higher standards.

President of the Hotel Association, Mike Winfield last night said if Bermuda was to remain an upmarket destination, then its product in all aspects of that word, needed to deliver value for the prices being charged.

?Many of Bermuda?s hotels have re-invested millions of dollars over the past few years, but some are faced with declining numbers and therefore very little available in terms of cash to re-invest,? he said, adding that this was the catch 22 that some of Bermuda?s product is now in.

?The hotel association is an organisation is very keen to have its hotels reflect the standards that Bermuda is famous for, but the costs of operating a hotel in Bermuda are some of the highest in the world and this combined with the declining numbers make it very difficult to upgrade on a continuous basis.?

Mr. Winfield said it was a question of marketing effectively and having the product that meets the expectations of incoming visitors and this is the challenge that the tourism industry in Bermuda faces.

?We are disappointed that so many members continue to operate with provisional licences and hope that those members will cause the necessary improvements to be made to ensure that their products offer the necessary value.

?We believe in the merit awards, we understand why they were dropped immediately following hurricane Fabian, but hoped they would be reinstated, we also hope that we can work with the ministry in developing criterion that will make any proposed rating system effective and applicable to the peculiarities of hotels in Bermuda,? he said.