Colleagues, for a long time members of the Association have repeatedly raised the question of standards for evaluating the stardom of hotels and other accommodation facilities.

Having studied the existing standards, we have identified a number of discrepancies in the assessment that do not meet the modern market requirements of the hotel services, such as:

• requirement to install a bide in the bathrooms;

• an increased percentage of tourist fees, which leads to an increase in the price of accommodation;

• common standards for assessing stardom, without taking into account the specifics of the orientation of the hotel and other accommodation facilities.

Consider the first point, for receiving a star in your hotel the bidets must be installed in each room. This standard is introduced primarily for the development of pilgrimage tourism in the country. But are all accommodation facilities aimed at such a group of buyers? After all, each hotel has its own specifics (business, family), and creates amenities in accordance with the requirements of guests.

If we want to develop pilgrimage tourism, is it worth it to oblige all hotels to follow accepted common standards?

The following question is brewing here: is it only the availability of a bide that allows the hotel to receive halal status? Of course no.

All over the world, hotels specializing in the segment of pilgrimage tourism meet completely different standards than hotels in another segment of the market:

- lack of entertainment facilities at the hotel;

- alcohol products are not served;

- all food is Halal certified;

- there are rooms for prayer;

- specially trained staff.

A large list where the choice fell only on a bide in the rooms. It seems that it is not big deal, but in the absence of the need to establish them for guests, for example, business hotels, many owners refuse the "star" in favor of an optimal budget allocation.

In this regard, the board of the Association of Hoteliers of Uzbekistan makes a proposal to segment the hotel services market in the country.

This approach will help identify viable, sustainable and profitable consumer groups.

The purpose of segmentation we see the maximum satisfaction of the requirements of the guests to the hotel product, as well as optimizing the costs of the hotel for its implementation.

The main advantages of segmenting the hotel services market are:

• a more accurate understanding of the requirements, needs and motivations of consumers;

• selection of the most promising target market to maximize sales and profits;

• a better understanding of the nature of competition in specific markets and, as a result, a more successful endowment of hotel products with characteristics that enhance the competitiveness of both the services offered by the hotel and the hotel company as a whole;

• concentration of limited hotel resources and efforts in the most profitable areas for their more efficient use;

• increasing the efficiency of using management and marketing tools as a result of a high degree of their orientation to the requirements of specific market segments;

• opportunity to choose a hotel's marketing strategy and optimize marketing costs.

The process of segmentation allows identifying the characteristics of individual markets. For example, if a hotel is focused on corporate clients then hotel management and staff need to know that these are not just employees of small and large firms and corporations; by their nature, they can be hostile and friendly, take risks or avoid risks, can listen to the decision of their secretaries and administrators regarding the choice of a hotel to stay, and can make such decisions themselves.

The requirements of foreign customers are especially diverse. So, Japanese tourists have special requirements for accommodation in accordance with the specifics of their culture. If they live by two, they always choose twin beds, the bathroom must have a bathtub and not just a shower, etc.

Knowing this kind of characteristics allows hotel management to better shape and sell products and services aimed to the needs of target or potential market segments.

In addition, segmentation is an important link in the overall revenue maximization strategy. The result of using all of the above advantages of dividing the market into segments is the opportunity for the hotel to receive more income from the sale of its services rather than in a situation where market segmentation is impossible.

We are confident that the adoption of this proposal will lead to a significant increase in each indicator of the hotel services sector.