THE CATEGORISATION OF CATERING
AND
HOSPITALITY FACILITIES IN CROATIA
I
THE LEGAL BASIS FOR CATEGORISATION
The
categorisation of catering and hospitality facilities in Croatia is carried
out pursuant to the Catering Industry Law (Official
Gazette no. 46/97 – revised, 68/98 and 45/99 and the Regulations
about the Classification of, Minimum Conditions for and Categorisation of
Catering and Hospitality Facilities (Official
Gazette, no. 57/95, 110/96, 24/97, 61/98, 137/98, 19/99,
39/99, 52/99,
II THE
KINDS OF CATERING AND HOSPITALITY FACILITIES THAT ARE CATEGORISED
Catering
and hospitality facilities, depending on the preponderance of the services
provided in them and the manner in which they are made, are classified into a
particular kind. The particular
kind of catering and hospitality facility is also determined
by the minimum number of catering and hospitality services that must be
provided in it, and the minimal conditions that a catering and hospitality
facility must satisfy.
The
category of catering and hospitality facility is designated by the star
marking system.
Categorisation
is obligatory for the following kinds of facilities: hotel, villa, hotel
village, hotel and apartment village, aparthotel, apartment village,
apartments (Article 13a of the Regulations), motel, guest house, camp,
apartment, holiday home and rooms.
III
THE CATEGORIES OF CATERING AND HOSPITALITY FACILITIES
Facilities
are categorised into the following groups:
Hotel from category one to category five (from five stars to one star)
Hotel village from category one to category three (from three stars to one star)
Hotel and apartment village from category one to category three (from
three stars to one star);
Aparthotel from the category one to category five (from five stars to one
star);
Apartment village from category one to category three (from three stars to one
star);
Motel from category one to category three (from three stars to one
star);
Guest house from category one to category three (from three stars to one star);
Villa of category one and category two (five and four stars);
Camps
from category one to category four (from four stars to one star);
Apartments from category one to category five (from five stars
to one star);
Studio
apartment from category one to category three (from
three stars to one star);
Holiday house from category one to category five (from five stars to
one star);
Rooms to let from category one to category three (from three stars to
one star).
IV
ELEMENTS AND CRITERIA FOR CATEGORISATION
Catering
and hospitality facilities are categorised according to the regulation
obligatory elements and criteria such as: size of room and bathroom,
furnishings and fittings of rooms, bathrooms and other areas, the services
provided in the facility, the level of maintenance and so on.
For
a given category, a facility has to meet all the regulation elements and
criteria.
The
Regulations make a distinction between existing and new facilities.
Existing
facilities are deemed to be all those catering and hospitality facilities that
were actively in business (either all year round or in season) when the
Regulations came into force (16 August 1995). Existing facilities also mean
all facilities that because of the war stopped doing business before 16 August
1995 and facilities from the Hotels group the construction of which was
commenced at least a year before the Regulations came into force.
New
facilities, excepting those defined above as existing,
imply all other facilities: existing buildings or parts of buildings
originally meant for other purposes that through change of use after 16 August
1995 became catering and hospitality facilities, and also such facilities that
were built after 16 August 1995 and cannot be classified as existing
facilities because of the date on which the construction of them started.
With
due attention paid to the fact that most facilities were built 20, 30 or more
years ago, according to various building and other norms, the existing
facilities are categorised with somewhat milder conditions concerning certain
elements (bedroom and bathroom area and some other elements) than new
facilities.
Divergences
from certain elements are also envisaged for facilities that are monuments of
culture or that are under special protection, because of which existing
constructional elements and other things cannot be altered.
V
THE STATE OF CATEGORISATION
Since
the publication of the categorisation regulations in 1995, categorisation has
been carried out for all those facilities for which a request has been made.
Only
those facilities in which displaced persons are accommodated are exempted from
this obligation. But by a year at
the latest after the displaced persons have moved out, all hospitality
facilities are bound to submit a request to be categorised.
VI A
SURVEY OF HOTELS THAT HAVE BEEN CATEGORISED WITH THREE TO FIVE STARS
VII SUMMARY
OF HOTELS THAT HAVE BEEN CATEGORISED WITH THREE TO FIVE STARS