A member of Iran’s hotel industry has defended the quality of services in Iranian hotels, vowing to pay the travel costs of any expert who could assess a foreign hotel of the same level as better in terms of hospitality. Mohammad Ali Farrokhmehr, head of Tehran Hoteliers Association, made the bet in response to claims that Iranians choose to travel abroad because the hotel services they receive in Iran are poor compared with the prices.
“This has nothing to do with hotel facilities and the reason for outbound travel is the appeal of those countries,” he said in a talk to ILNA. To prove his claim, he said he would stay in a four-star hotel in Sweden, or a three-star hotel in Paris or Turkey, together with an expert to compare them with examples in Tehran.
“If the experts vote for their higher quality, I will pay all their costs, but otherwise, they will have to pay mine,” he said confidently. In response to criticisms about hotels in other provinces, he stressed that one case should not be generalized to all hotels.
“All Iranian hotels, even in the most remote corners, outperform foreign ones,” he contended.
With regard to prices, he said although countries like Turkey might at times reduce their room prices to attract more visitors, the general cost of accommodation in those countries is much higher than Iran. “Calculating the lodging expenses of 2.5 million Iranian travelers to Turkey last year would show that they are much higher than accommodation prices in Iran,” he said without providing details.
Single-Source Revenue
Farrokhmehr added that hotel management in Iran cannot be compared to other countries because here, “we are only owners of luxury rooms while our foreign counterparts are actually hotel managers.”
“Iranian hotels’ income is only earned through room rentals while overseas hotels have [around] 14 other sources of revenue,” he noted. Hotels earn money through secondary services such as health clubs, food, beverage and conferences, among others. The construction expenses return in five years in most countries but it would take ten years for Iranian hotels, according to the official.
Star Ranking
Farrokhmehr explained that stars are given to hotels by companies licensed by Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization. These firms update their criteria based on global standards every three years.
Hotels receive their stars after ICHHTO confirms the ranking. Standards are uniform around the world, but there are national regulations set based on cultural considerations of each country such as Islamic rules. “Our hotels have received their stars based on global standards and I’d daresay they are ahead of their foreign competitors. For instance, there are 200 hotels in Mashhad [capital of Khorasan Razavi Province] the likes of which are not found in Europe,” he said. He proudly claimed that a three-star Parisian hotel would only deserve one star when compared to a similar one in Tehran.
Too Luxurious to Run
Farrokhmehr also said four- and five-star hotels in Iran are not economically justifiable because they are required to offer certain services for which there are no customers, such as restaurants, conference halls and sport clubs.
“Despite advertisements on websites and in brochures at exhibitions, the occupancy rate stands at 45% to 50% in Tehran at the moment.” This is while after the landmark nuclear deal in 2015 and the lifting of western sanctions, it had reached 75% to 80%, he explained, adding that the post-sanctions economic boom had also encouraged the construction of 50 hotels in Tehran and 114 more in Mashhad. The US decision to ditch the deal and the ensuing chaotic forex market, according to Farrokhmehr, have been behind the decline since late last year (ended March 20).
“The crisis resulting from political tensions has caused challenges for the sector, but we will hopefully be able to weather it successfully,” he said.
