CLASSIFICATION OF HOTELS

Southland Times, Issue 23766, 14 March 1939, Page 8

CLASSIFICATION OF HOTELS

Systematic Tour Of South Island MORE INFORMATION FOR MOTORISTS With a view to classifying the hotels of New Zealand for the information of members of Automobile Associations, Mr S. Ringer, hotel and motor camp inspector for the Automobile Association (Auckland) is at present in Invercargill on behalf of the South Island Motor Union in the course of a comprehensive tour of the South Island. In an interview with The Southland Times last night Mr Ringer said that because of the ever-increasing traffic that the South Island was attracting, more complete and classified details of the accommodation available were at present being compiled by the automobile associations for the use of their members. This would probably take the form of an index of towns alphabetically arranged, with full particulars of accommodation. Hotels providing good meals, comfortable bedrooms and efficient sanitation would be indicated by a star, larger houses providing more pretentious accommodation by two stars, while the three-star houses might usually be expected to provide the more modern type of service with up-to-date facilities, and hot and cold runI ning water in the bedrooms, as well as other conveniences. The four, and five-star houses were, of course, the larger and more luxurious type usually providing private bathrooms connecting with the bedrooms. This system of listing hotels was common in England, where the Automobile Association, with its 750,000 members had found it to be of invaluable help in supplying hotel information to suit every purse. This additional service would no doubt prove of value not only to the association members, but also to the hotel proprietors, providing a form of national publicity to the benefit of the community as a whole, an undertaking for which the associations might justly take credit. Mr Ringer remarked on the hospitality extended to guests wherever he had stayed throughout his tour, and also on the increasing number of improvements being made throughout both the North and South Island tourist hotels. This indicated an appreciation by hotel proprietors of the growing demand for more modern amenities.