Regulations for hotel services in Armenia

What is included in hotel services?

Hotel services include paid lodging, meal and other services during the stay. Minimum hotel services must include daily bedding services as well as room and bathroom cleaning.

What are the recognized types of entities in the hotel industry in Armenia?

The recognized types of entities are hotels, motels, hotel-like resorts, health resorts, rest and specialized camps or houses, boarding houses, tourist, youth and camp accommodations, tourist houses.

Hotels are such entities of the hotel industry where services are rendered in one or more buildings, which have at least 10 rooms, at least 5 of which are single or double room suites.

Motels are such entities of the hotel industry which are located alongside roads, where services are rendered in one or more buildings, which have at least 10 rooms, at least 5 of which are single or double room suites. Motels provide a parking area for motor vehicles.

Hotel-like resorts are such entities of the hotel industry where hotel services are provided and which have at least 5 rooms.

Health resorts are such entities of the hotel industry where in addition to hotel services special services are provided, including health, medical and rehabilitative.

Rest and specialized camps are such entities of the hotel industry where hotel services are provided to people sharing a certain profession or activities (archeological, agricultural, environmental, scout, sports, hunting, fishing, mountain climbing, etc.) in the premises or adjacent areas.

Boarding houses are such entities of the hotel industry where in addition to minimum hotel services meals are served at least three times a day.

Tourist accommodations (complexes) are such entities of the hotel industry that have at least 20 beds and where lodging services are provided for tourists.

Child and youth accommodations (complexes) are such tourist accommodations that are intended for school-age travelers.

Camp accommodations are such entities of the hotel industry where lodging in tents, meal services and parking for motor vehicles are provided.

Hostels are such entities of the hotel industry where lodging is provided within the premises of a building or an apartment as well as meal services are provided.

Persons who provide hotel services must clearly indicate the type of hotel entity in a place visible for customers as well as in their websites and promotional materials. Misrepresentation of the type of hotel entity is prohibited.

What are the main requirements for the entities in the hotel industry?

Hotel service providers must provide the following information in places visible for customers:

Information about the name and the rating (if applicable) of the facility (must also be visible from the outside)
The list of available services and their prices (lodging and, if applicable, meals)
Information about services available to disabled people (must also be visible from the outside)

Hotel service providers must put in place safety guidelines and inform their customers about them.

Is licensing required for hotel services?

At present, hotels can operate without any special license or permission. Standard business registration in the form of a legal person or sole proprietorship suffices. Hostels can even operate without state registration (and avail themselves of tax exemptions) if their annual turnover does not exceed AMD 24 million (RA law on Tax Privileges for Self-employed Persons). The draft law “On Tourism” sets forth a licensing requirement for hotels but it is still unclear when that law will pass. At the moment, there is only a voluntary rating system for entities in the hotel industry.

What hotel ratings are available in Armenia?

The grading (classification) of hotels is done on a voluntary basis. Armenia uses the star rating scheme for hotels, motels and hotel-like resorts, and Roman letters indicating three classes for all other types of hotel service providers. Five-star hotels can also be graded with the term “Deluxe” if they meet the additional requirements for that grading.

If a given hotel facility has a rating, it must make its rating clearly visible for customers from the outside as well as on its websites and promotional materials.

How to obtain hotel ratings in Armenia?

To be rated the hotel must meet the statutory requirements set forth in the government decree No. 946-Ն. Certain deviations may be allowed for historical or architectural monuments.

Hotels are rated by the State Tourism Committee. To obtain a rating, hotel service providers submit an online (https://www.e-gov.am/certificates/) or on paper application to the State Tourism Committee. Online applications must be in PDF format and signed with an electronic signature.

What documents are required?

The following documents must be submitted with the application:

Certificate of exploitation (issued not earlier than 10 years prior), technical passport or other documents proscribed by law which confirm that the building is suitable for exploitation
fire safety certificate (issued not earlier than 30 days prior)
sanitary certificate (issued not earlier than 30 days prior)
a certificate of ownership or use

When an application is made online, the above-mentioned documents can be submitted electronically (DOC, DOCX, PDF, JPEG, XLS or XLSX formats are acceptable). Originals may be requested at a later stage.

What happens after the application?

The State Tourism Committee reviews the documents and makes a preliminary decision to continue the proceedings or reject the application within 5 days after the application has been received. If the application contains insignificant mistakes, the Committee will inform the applicant and give 5 days to correct those.

When the State Tourism Committee decides to proceed with the review, it forms an Assessment Committee made up of 11 members. The Assessment Committee assesses the conformity of the facility with the requirements for the expected rating. The Assessment Committee sets the timeline of the assessment and notifies the applicant 5 days before the commencement.

Following the assessment, the Assessment Committee provides its recommendation to the State Tourism Committee. Upon the recommendation of the Assessment Committee, the State Tourism Committee makes a final decision and informs the applicant accordingly.

If the application is successful, a certificate will be issued attesting the rating of the facility. The rating is valid for a duration of five years.

What is the annual rate of state duty for hotel ratings?

The rate of the annual state duty depends on the type of facility and the rating sought. Thus, annual rates can be as follows:

Hotels, motels which have up to 3 stars, AMD 150 000 per star

4-star hotels, motels AMD 200 000 per star

5-star hotels, motels AMD 250 000 per star

5-star deluxe hotels, motels AMD 1 500 000 per star

Hotel-like resorts and health resorts AMD 100 000 per star

Rest and specialized camps, boarding houses

tourist accommodations (complexes),

child and youth accommodations (complexes)

Camp accommodations:

1st grade AMD 150 000

2nd grade AMD 100 000

3rd grade AMD 50 000

Hostels:

1st grade AMD 15 000

2nd grade AMD 10 000

3rd grade AMD 5 000

A receipt for the payment of state duty is submitted within 3 days after a decision of the assessment committee on a successful application.

Useful links:

https://www.arlis.am/DocumentView.aspx?DocID=103438

Disclaimer

Reading these articles and acting in accordance with them does not create an attorney-client relationship. For simplicity, the articles on this website skip rules concerning certain less common situations and may not express strictly accurate legal wording. The information here is based on our own understanding and interpretation of legal provisions, and in some cases, may not reflect recent changes in the legislation and practice. You can contact us for more information

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