Hotels battle to maintain standards

Midlands Correspondent
HOSPITALITY operators in the Midlands are struggling to maintain standards due to the harsh economic environment, a senior Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) official has said. ZTA graded hospitality facilities at the end of last year, which saw most of the hotels and lodges maintaining their standards.

Givemore Chidzidzi, the ZTA chief operating officer, said a number of lodges lost their minimum ratings and attributed the trend to refurbishment issues.

“We had a couple of lodges and hotels which fell to a no star rating for hotels and a no standard rating for lodges because of the negative economy.

“Most couldn’t maintain their standards because of lack of funds to upgrade their facilities while some were refurbishing their lodges and hotels,” said Chidzidzi.

“We gave them time to finish their renovations and when they finish ZTA will come back and inspect the facilities.

“What we noticed in our last inspections is that operators are struggling to maintain standards mainly due to funding challenges.”

The ZTA chief operating officer said new lodges were trying to improve their standards as they are positioning themselves for market share in the cut throat industry.

Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) Midlands chapter chairman Tom Nyirenda acknowledged the tourism authority’s concerns.

He pointed to lack of commitment by some operators as a major barrier.

“There are a number of issues which were highlighted during ZTA’s visit which have to do with the general infrastructure, customer care and trainings among others and these issues should be dealt with by us members of HAZ,” said Nyirenda.

“However, what has been disheartening is that we’ve called for meetings with members but a majority of them seem not to be keen to attend.

“These are pertinent issues which have to be addressed if as a province we’re to compete at a national scale.”

The latest findings by ZTA come as rooms in the province doubled by more than 100 percent over the last three years.

Midlands now boasts of over 450 rooms compared to about 200 rooms in 2012.