All Sochi hotels and other accommodation for tourists, including
individuals leasing houses out to tourists, will have gone undergo
obligatory classification by July 1, RIA Novosti cites Alexey
Grachyov, head of department for resort and tourism of Sochi
administration, as saying.
The official said that every accommodation establishment will have a
star-rating. The star-system was approved in Russia in 2005 and is
voluntary. However, the rating was made obligatory in Sochi by federal
law, due to the Olympic Games in 2014.
Grachyov clarified that there are over 200 major collective
accommodation places, 500 mini-hotels and 5,000 other accommodation
means.
Reception of a rating document requires conclusion of a contract with
the Sochi administration to accommodate Olympic guests and training of
staff, according to a single standard of the Education Ministry. A
re-training program with schedules has been prepared, Grachyov noted.
