THE CATEGORISATION OF CATERING

AND HOSPITALITY FACILITIES IN CROATIA

 

 

I   THE LEGAL BASIS FOR CATEGORISATION

The categorisation of catering and hospitality facilities in Croatia is carried out pursuant to the Catering Industry Law (Official Gazette no. 46/97 – revised, 68/98 and 45/99 and the Regulations about the Classification of, Minimum Conditions for and Categorisation of Catering and Hospitality Facilities (Official Gazette, no. 57/95, 110/96, 24/97, 61/98, 137/98, 19/99, 39/99, 52/99, 43/00, 52/00, 57/00, 63/00, 18/01 and 33/01)

 

 

II THE KINDS OF CATERING AND HOSPITALITY FACILITIES THAT ARE CATEGORISED

Catering and hospitality facilities, depending on the preponderance of the services provided in them and the manner in which they are made, are classified into a particular kind.  The particular kind of catering and hospitality facility is also determined   by the minimum number of catering and hospitality services that must be provided in it, and the minimal conditions that a catering and hospitality facility must satisfy.

 

The category of catering and hospitality facility is designated by the star marking system.

 

Categorisation is obligatory for the following kinds of facilities: hotel, villa, hotel village, hotel and apartment village, aparthotel, apartment village, apartments (Article 13a of the Regulations), motel, guest house, camp, apartment, holiday home and rooms.

 

 

III     THE CATEGORIES OF CATERING AND HOSPITALITY FACILITIES

Facilities are categorised into the following groups:  

 

IV ELEMENTS AND CRITERIA FOR CATEGORISATION

Catering and hospitality facilities are categorised according to the regulation obligatory elements and criteria such as: size of room and bathroom, furnishings and fittings of rooms, bathrooms and other areas, the services provided in the facility, the level of maintenance and so on.

 

For a given category, a facility has to meet all the regulation elements and criteria.

 

The Regulations make a distinction between existing and new facilities.

 

Existing facilities are deemed to be all those catering and hospitality facilities that were actively in business (either all year round or in season) when the Regulations came into force (16 August 1995). Existing facilities also mean all facilities that because of the war stopped doing business before 16 August 1995 and facilities from the Hotels group the construction of which was commenced at least a year before the Regulations came into force.

 

New facilities, excepting those defined above as existing, imply all other facilities: existing buildings or parts of buildings originally meant for other purposes that through change of use after 16 August 1995 became catering and hospitality facilities, and also such facilities that were built after 16 August 1995 and cannot be classified as existing facilities because of the date on which the construction of them started.

 

With due attention paid to the fact that most facilities were built 20, 30 or more years ago, according to various building and other norms, the existing facilities are categorised with somewhat milder conditions concerning certain elements (bedroom and bathroom area and some other elements) than new facilities.

 

Divergences from certain elements are also envisaged for facilities that are monuments of culture or that are under special protection, because of which existing constructional elements and other things cannot be altered.

 

 

V  THE STATE OF CATEGORISATION

Since the publication of the categorisation regulations in 1995, categorisation has been carried out for all those facilities for which a request has been made.

 

Only those facilities in which displaced persons are accommodated are exempted from this obligation.  But by a year at the latest after the displaced persons have moved out, all hospitality facilities are bound to submit a request to be categorised.

 

 

VI   A SURVEY OF HOTELS THAT HAVE BEEN CATEGORISED WITH THREE TO FIVE STARS

 

 

VII  SUMMARY OF HOTELS THAT HAVE BEEN CATEGORISED WITH THREE TO FIVE STARS - BY COUNTY AND BY CATEGORY