Hotelstars Union (HSU) welcomes Janis Valodze, President of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Latvia, as the new HSU-President for 2016.
VIENNA, BRUSSELS – The yearly rotating Presidency of Hotelstars Union will be handed over from Hungary to Latvia with the turn of the year. The main goal for 2016 is to sharpen awareness and to strengthen the brand of the harmonised European hotel classification system.
Hotelstars Union (HSU) welcomes Janis Valodze, President of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Latvia, as the new HSU-President for 2016. The hotelstars family with its 16 European Members is represented by a yearly rotating Presidency, which was held by Akos Niklai, President of Hungarian Hotel & Restaurant Association, in the last year. Janis Valodze, the newly appointed HSU-President, is looking forward to a productive year: “Our main goal for the near future is to sharpen awareness and strengthen our HSU-brand vis-a-vis all market players. We must fortify the HSU- system as the European brand for a transparent and reliable hotel classification.” The relaunch of hotelstars.eu into a more user-friendly webpage is one of the most important tasks this year, adds Valodze.
Awareness raising vis-a-vis data suppliers and European institutions
Furthermore, it will be essential to raise awareness vis-a-vis Online Travel Agents (OTAs), navigation systems and other data suppliers, so that the official hotelstars will be used on their platforms. The European Parliament recently stated that the HSU initiative aimed at gradually harmonising accommodation classification systems across Europe should be further promoted. Niklai and Valodze confirm: “This is very encouraging for our work and will lead us to closer contact with European institutions.” The first step will be a HSU-presentation at the European Parliament in March 2016.
HSU enlargement
In 2015 Liechtenstein became the sixteenth Member of HSU. HSU is interested in expanding the system and enlarge the hotelstars family in order to ensure a harmonised hotel classification across Europe. The fundament of a balanced growth would be the newly adapted and signed Contract of the Hotelstars Union, which was undoubtedly the highlight of the Hungarian Presidency.
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