UN radio

Hotel licensing

By Birol Urcan

Hello and welcome from UNMIK on air

Desirable level of service, clean environment, and good professional level of the staff, these are just some of the conditions that a hotel or motel owner has to fulfill for licensing.

With the new law introduced by the Ministry of Trade and Industry all hotels in Kosovo have to be licensed.

But first they have to apply for the license.

Baci is one of the hotels that applied, and Afrim Humolli is a manager in this hotel.

“It was not difficult.

We took the form at the ministry and we filled it.

We had the needed documents, and now we are waiting (for) the Ministry inspectors to come and check if situation in (the) Hotel fits with the information given in documents, and this is it”

And the documents are: Business registry certification, ownership evidence, internal regulation, and construction license for the hotel.

A positive document from the sanitary and hygiene inspection, evidence for fulfillment of the necessary conditions fire safety

Professional manager at least secondary professional school, including evidence that the same manager has a minimum of 5 years of experience in the hotel business.

And evidence of insurance for the guests, in case of disaster.

The Ministry, will then evaluate all the documents and will decide to grant a license or not, and also about the number of Stars that will be granted to the hotel or motel.

Musa Selimi director of the tourism department on the Ministry of trade and industry explains.

“In this case there will be no dilemmas, we will follow and work based on the tourism sector trends that are in development in the region and in Europe. And we will try hard so these trends are implemented also in Kosovo”

Although the evaluation process by the Ministry is conducted for free the actual Licensing fee for the hotels and motels varies from 300 to 800 euros. The cost is based on the square meter of the premises.

In Kosovo there are estimated to be around 300 to 400 hotels and motels.

Zekë Qeku is the head of the tourism and hotels association of Kosova, an organization that represents most of the hotel and motel owners.

“We support very strongly the licensing activities, and with the licensing, hotels and motels have to face the regular organized quality controls, and they have to struggle in a free market with the rules of free competition”

The requested standards from the Ministry for licensing may seem a bit difficult for some hotel owners.

“We support these solutions in which we worked also as tourism and hotel association and we believe that also in the future these proposed and signed solutions will be respected and we will support them until that moment that they are respected fully”

On the 30^th of November which is the deadline for application the Ministry will begin to send out inspection teams to all the areas of Kosovo.

Musa Selimi the head of the tourism sector at the ministry says that: the teams will inspect all premises that function as hotel or motel, and if all the conditions are met then the hotel or motel owner will be given the license within 30 days.

“I think that all companies which deal with hotel business mainly were informed on time, by the tourism department at the Ministry.

And after the 30^th of November when the deadline passes the commission for licensing classification and categorization will be on the field, and for the hotels that did not apply they will take all the measures granted by Law”