New criteria for the registration of hotels and guesthouses will come into operation from the summer of 2003 under new Bord Fáilte regulations.
The new measures devised by tourist body in consultation with the Irish Hotels Federation, were announced by Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr JohnO'Donoghue at an Irish Hotel Federation conference in Galway.
The current regulations for hotels and guesthouses have been in place since 1988 and 1986 respectively. The new regulations aim to offer greater flexibility and improved standards to the consumer.
A major change will be to the number of rooms necessary for hotel status. Current regulations require a minimumof ten rooms in a hotel in the country, but a minimum of 20 rooms in larger urban centres.
This will be reduced to 15 which means many guesthouses will now qualify for hotel status.
There will also be increases in the minimum size requirements for guest bedrooms with single room size increasing from 7.5 square metres to 9 square metres and double room size from 13 square to 15 square metres. Triple rooms standard is now set at 20 square metres and all bathrooms must be ensuite.
Hotels will not be required to maintain full restaurant services according to current regulations, in place since 1947.
The new regulations require a minimum of seven guest bedrooms in guesthouses and a maximum of 30. All bedrooms must also have ensuite bathrooms.