Clamp down on star ratings usage
If you are an accommodation provider that is self rating using stars as a qualification you are probably violating AAA Tourism's trade mark. Accomnews.com.au was recently cautioned by Charles Deuchrass of AAA Tourism for using a star rating in a news item. The item related to the Hilton on the Park hotel in Melbourne that was described as a five star property.
The Hilton chain is not a partner to the star ratings scheme so, therefore, it cannot be described as such.
Mr Deuchrass pointed out that the hotel in question "has not been officially rated for many years".
According to the trade mark documents: "The stars are registered Australian trade marks of AAA Tourism. As such, AAA Tourism has the exclusive right to use (and authorise others to use) the stars in relation to the various registered goods and services including registered temporary/holiday accommodation services and services of the same description, or closely related services. This means that only accommodation providers providing such services, who are members of the Australian star rating scheme, are licensed to use star ratings in their advertising and promotional material. This includes incorporating any material consisting of stars, the term 'stars' with a number (in numerals or words) or any mark which is substantially identical or deceptively similar.
"Misrepresenting the property as having a star rating is a breach of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and/or the equivalent state or territory fair trading legislation," said Mr Deuchrass.
"There being no other way to enunciate the registered five stars symbol other than the words '5 star' or 'five star', this is a breach of our rights in relation to the five-star symbol trademark, and the use of qualifying statements such as 'AAA Tourism officially star rated' in an attempt to differentiate the origin of the rating is irrelevant."
AAA Tourism spent years planning and implementing a new ratings scheme to make it relevant to today's travellers but now they are calling for an overhaul as operators persist in self-rating.
NRMA chief executive Tony Stuart said the nation's hotel star-rating system needed reviewing because some properties were self-rating with mixed results. Mr Stuart said the TQual accommodation rating system instituted by federal Labor under former tourism minister Martin Ferguson should also be reviewed by the incoming Coalition government.
Mr Stuart, who has about $300 million worth of tourism assets in NRMA linked to AAA Tourism through its auto club ownership, stated at the Tourism Council Asian Summit in Seoul that consumers wanted a better system given some of the questionable accommodation ratings on TripAdvisor. "TripAdvisor has been very contentious," he claimed. "There is an issue in self-rating. We want to sit down with the Coalition and discuss how do we make star ratings relevant.
"That may mean rating every single property in Australia."
A worrying statement should mandatory assessment be implemented for every accommodation provider in the country to AAA Tourism regulations as they now stand.
Currently only 7000 accommodation properties are rated by AAA Tourism and that includes the chains associated with the star ratings scheme. Participation is by request and hotels pay to be included and some of the Australia's heavy hitters including the Park Hyatt, the Hilton and the Four Seasons that decline to participate.
Source: AccomNews, 9 October 2013
