The Importance of Quality

Visitors increasingly demand high accommodation standards and the quality of your establishment will greatly influence the future success of your business and how much you can charge.

High standards of quality are required not only for the material aspects of your business, but for the levels of customer service you provide, from before a guest arrives to after they have left. You can give your customers reassurance that your facilities meet nationally recognised levels of quality by participating in the National Quality Assurance Scheme.

In order to appear on this website, accommodation must either have joined the 'National Quality Assurance Scheme' and been awarded a star rating or accreditation, or have signed up to the local 'Visit Calderdale Accommodation Quality Charter'. More information about both of these options can be found to the right.

National Quality Assurance

Quality Assessment helps to inform customers, before they book accommodation, of the level of quality, services and facilities that they can expect as potential guests at an accommodation. Accommodation is quality assessed to a set of national standards and then awarded a star rating between one and five stars. Large hotel chains may be 'accredited'.

There are different schemes for each different type of accommodation (i.e. hotel, self-catering, guest accommodation, hostel) and most of these schemes also have a Gold and Silver award that recognises excellence. A such A 5 Star Gold Award is the highest level of quality that can be awarded to an accommodation and we have several accommodations with this rating here in Calderdale.

Assessment is carried out, at a cost, by either 'Quality in Tourism' (QIT) or the 'AA'. QIT assess all the different types of accommodation and has a comprehensive range of information that can be downloaded or ordered in hard copy from their website www.qualityintourism.co.uk. The AA assess a more limited range of accommodation including hotels and B&Bs. Information can be found on their website www.theaa.com.

There are many various benefits to becoming quality assessed by either QIT or the AA, please visit the respective websites for each organisation for a full and up to date list. Contrary to media reports earlier this year, the quality assessment scheme is not in danger of being scrapped and both Visit England and Calderdale Council's Tourism Team remain committed to championing quality.

Visit Calderdale Accommodation Quality Charter

Calderdale Council’s Tourism Team offer a ‘Visit Calderdale Accommodation Quality Charter’. This Quality Charter allows us to replicate the revised standards of our regional strategic partner, Welcome to Yorkshire; in offering promotion to both accommodation businesses that have been quality assessed to national standards and also to those that have not, but which choose to sign up to the Charter.

Accommodation that is not quality assessed to national standards can sign up to this localised 10 point Quality Charter and the accompanying terms and conditions, in order to receive an entry on this website and promotion via Halifax, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden Visitor Information Centres. The Quality Charter does not involve a quality assessment and does not result in a star rating being given. Accommodation that is quality assessed to national standards appears higher in the search results on this website than those that are signed up to the Quality Charter.

For more information about the Visit Calderdale Accommodation Quality Charter, please ring Chris on 01422 392240 or Katie 01422 392293.