Serviced Accommodation

It’s all in the Stars........

STARS are your guide to QUALITY. They tell you what you really want to know about places to stay. Places which score highly will have an especially welcoming atmosphere and pleasing ambience, high levels of comfort and guest care, and attractive surroundings enhanced by thoughtful design and attention to detail. Each place will have been personally checked out by highly trained quality advisors and given a Star rating on a scale of one to five – so when you check in you can be confident of the quality on offer.

Star Quality

		Exceptional quality with the highest standard of furnishings, flawless service, meticulous guest care and exemplary provision and presentation of all aspects of the business.
		Excellent quality, with a high standard of furnishings, service and guest care.
		Very good quality in the overall standard of furnishings, service and guest care.
		Good quality in the overall standard of furnishings, service and guest care.
		Fair to good quality in the overall standard of furnishings and adequate service and guest care.

It’s important to bear in mind that the Star Grade takes into account the nature of the property and expectation of the guests – so a farmhouse is just as entitled to Five Stars as a country hotel, as long as what it offers is of the highest quality.

Style of Accommodation

Although quality is of paramount importance, places to stay must also provide facilities and services appropriate to their style and expectation of guests. Obviously, these will vary with the type of accommodation – you would not, for example, expect hotels and B&B’s to offer the same facilities to guests.

For grading purposes, we have therefore divided the accommodation into various categories based on the following list:

Hotel, Country Hotel, Country House (non-hotel style accommodation), Guest House, Bed and Breakfast, Farm (Guest House or B&B accommodation on a working farm), Inn, Restaurant with Rooms, Lodge (bedroom-only accommodation geared to motorists), Campus, Conference Centre, Castle, Activity Centre, Hostel, Bunkhouse, Camping Barn.

Seeing Stars

The Star rating and type of accommodation will be displayed on signs, brochures and this website. For example:

	Hotel
	Guest House
	Farm

Self Catering Accommodation

WTB uses Stars to denote the quality level achieved at self-catering accommodation. As with the other types of accommodation that are quality graded by WTB, progression from 1 Star through to 5 Stars depends on an increasing level of quality in the facilities and services provided for guests.

		Exceptional quality
		Excellent quality
		Very good quality
		Good quality
		Fair to good quality

All accommodation graded 3, 4 and 5 Star will be entirely self-contained. In addition, 5 Star accommodation will have:-

• An additional bath/shower and w.c. for units sleeping 7 or more people
• Beds made up for guests on arrival
• Freshly laundered bath mats for each letting
• Washing machine either in the property or available in a shared facility
• Full sized cooker
• Outside drying area or electric dryer
• Sleeping only in designated bedrooms
• On site parking/reserved space.

Caravan & Camping Accommodation

For 2000, Wales Tourist Board has introduced a new STAR grading scheme to replace the old ‘Q Tick’ system. Although a completely new scheme, it still has QUALITY at its heart. The Star Grade reflects the overall quality of the park.

Star Quality

		Exceptional quality.
		Excellent quality.
		Very good quality.
		Good quality.
		Fair to good quality.

Style of Park

To help you make the right choice, each park is categorised as one of the following:

Holiday Park – for holiday caravans, but may also provide touring/camping facilities.
Touring Park – for touring caravans and possibly camping; no static holiday caravans.
Camping Park – for tented accommodation only.
Holiday and Touring Park
Touring and Camping Park

Seeing Stars

The Star rating and type of accommodation will be displayed on signs, brochures and this website. For example:

	Holiday Park
	Touring Park
	Camping Park

Star Attraction

Look out for this mark of quality and distinction when choosing an attraction to visit in Wales. All visitor attractions which display this logo have been independently assessed by the Wales Tourist Board, to ensure that the attraction meets a high level of quality. Areas that are covered under the inspection are: - publicity material, first impressions, presentation of the attraction, *catering, *retailing and *toilets.

*These aspects are only assessed if provided at the attraction