VisitEngland Quality Schemes tender winner announced
Message from Andrew Stokes received 3 March 2017
Good afternoon,
I wanted to give you an update on the VisitEngland Quality Schemes.
As you will know, in November we published a tender for companies interested in bidding to take on the licence for the VisitEngland Quality schemes and I wanted to inform you formally on the outcome of this tender.
The VisitEngland accommodation assessment schemes have been successfully run under licence since 2012. The existing licence ends in March 2017 and this gave us the opportunity to review how we operate and grow the schemes.
Following a rigorous tender and evaluation process, VisitEngland has appointed the AA as licence-holder to run all our National Quality Assessment Schemes, subject to contract.
The AA has been inspecting and rating hotels and guest accommodation in the UK for over 100 years and follows the same common standards used by VisitEngland and the national tourist boards for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The strength of the AA bid lay in not only their commitment to maintaining standards and meeting the expectations of Quality Assessment Schemes’ participants, but also in matching our ambitions to develop the schemes further and bring additional value to participants and consumers.
Quality in Tourism continue to operate the schemes until the new licence comes into effect which we anticipate will be on 1 April 2017.
As we develop the contract, our priority is to work with the AA to ensure as smooth a transition as possible. More details, including the time frame for renewals and assessments, will be available this spring.
If, in the meantime, you have any queries, do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
Andrew Stokes
England Director
British Destinations 