Is the Visit Britain Star system going to go?

[charles cawley]

This question was in danger of going off thread in the discussion about Access Statements.

Rumour has it that the VB star system may soon be history. I've mixed feelings about the system having stayed in a disappointing 5 Star cottage and been delighted by some excellent 3 Star ones. On the other hand, these could have been exceptions.

Does anyone have more information about what is going to happen?

[greenbarn]

This is a duplicate of my post on the thread that Charles refers to, in the hope of keeping everything in one place.

I have heard a rumour that the star system may soon be abandoned. Does anyone know what is planned about this?

I understand it's a bit more than a rumour, although there's little concrete information, and I can't find anything on the appropriate website. (That's Quality In Tourism, which is something to do with Enjoy England, or Visit Britain, or something, and takes some finding.)

This is an interesting quote :

In the Minister's view user generated content is valuable to consumers and, whilst he does not propose the abolition of the National Quality Assurance Scheme, he believes it should be entirely self- funding. Currently VisitEngland meets the cost of its own management of the scheme from its grant, although the inspection system is funded from the fees charged.

Visit England is government funded and no less likely than any other organisation to be on the receiving end of cuts. There's been a lot of talk about Common Standards, and a review of the the rating structure, so that'll be money down the drain if the system is completely scrapped.

I suspect that any useful information on the subject will reach us first from EASCO who seem to keep their finger on the pulse as far as self-catering is concerned.

[greenbarn]

It does beg the question: "What about the AA?" I don't know how successful their venture into the business of providing ratings for holiday lets has been (it hasn't been going that long), but they're well-enough established in the hotel line to carry respect. Presumably they don't have the issues of government funding cutbacks to worry about, and can choose to carry on regardless of what might or might not happen with VB.

As far as I'm concerned, the only benefit we derive from VB membership is the star rating; just how much of a benefit that is is open to debate, but I do think it can serve a purpose at least in the first couple of years. Beyond that - zilch. We've never had a booking via entries on the VB website, and VB really don't do a great deal to represent our interests (pace Windy - I'm being generous here!)

So if the only benefit is a star rating, that can come from the AA and carry just as much (more?) clout. Or would the AA decide to pull out as well?

I suspect B&B's, Guest Houses and small hotels derive more benefit from VB as they can pick up drop-in bookings from the TICs - which are themselves under threat - but if rental owners desert in droves what impact might that have on the viability of our National Tourist Board (to use an out-of-date term)?

[greenbarn]

Very interesting post just appeared on the Visit Britain forum (AKH).
To summarise a couple of points rather than cut and paste, a Tourism Strategy document has just been published in which our Minister for Tourism John Penrose again refers to Expedia and TA with no reference to any other review site or on line agency.

Now the interesting bit - apparently Penrose's wife Dido Harding set up the online travel side of Thomas Cook, and formerly worked for McKinsey Consulting - as indeed did many of the board members of Expedia.

The poster continues by pointing out that Expedia owns TA, and that TA exists as a commercial operation to drive traffic to Expedia and boost its $3 Billion pa turnover, rather than being the cuddly Consumer Champion that would be a convenient belief for Mr Penrose and his ilk.