Vietnam is going to join the club of countries that offer six-star hotel accommodation. The Vinpearl Commerce and Tourism Joints stock Company have started the construction of first such hotel in the country. The facility will be located in central Khanh Hoa province. The hotel will have two presidential villas, three super luxury villas and 125 six-star suites. The whole complex will occupy more than 80,000 square meters. There will be a 3,200 square meters swimming-pool and two tennis golf courses. The facility is scheduled to start its operations in January 2009.
There actually is a number of six star hotels in the world. There is the Crown Macau casino, on Taipa Island in the Chinese territory of Macau or the St. Regis Shanghai Hotel in China. America has its only six-star hotel, Setai, on the Miami’s South Beach. The Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast in Australia is described as a six-star facility even though Australians do not use this kind of rating.
To some hoteliers, six stars are simply not enough. There are few hotels in the world claiming they offer seven star services. There is for example the Burj Al Arab (Tower of the Arabs) in Dubai, in the UAE. This luxury facility is 321 meters high and stands on an artificial island.
There is, however, a problem with these hotel ratings – no real standard. Some countries do have standardized classifications but others do not. There is also the AAA’s diamond classification. But it is often difficult for tourist to know what level of services does the number of stars really describe. Sometimes the services in a small hotel can be very good but because the facility lacks e.g. elevator they will not reach higher categorization. Other hotels may advertise themeselves as e.g. 4 stars facility even though their services do not correspond with the category.
I just always wonder, if there is no such classification for 6 or 7 star hotels, how hotelgoers can tell the difference. Someday someone may claim his/her hotel is 10 star hotel.