CATEGORIES OF SPA HOTELS AND CLASSIFICATION

1. CATEGORIES AND CLASSIFICATIONS OF ESTONIAN SPA HOTELS

1.1. Categories of Estonian spa hotels

Category 1 Medical spa hotel
Category 2 Spa/wellness spa hotel
Category 3 Medical and wellness spa hotel

1.2. Classification of Estonian spa hotels

Spa hotels use the same rating system as hotels and apply stars for classification purposes:

xxxxx five-star or luxury hotel
xxxx four-star hotel
xxx three-star hotel
xx two-star hotel
x one-star or recognised hotel

Stars are used in design alongside the logo of the Estonian Spa Association.

Category 1
Medical spa hotel

Explanation of the category:
Medical spa hotel is a recognised hotel licensed to provide outpatient medical care that specialises primarily in various rehabilitation, dietary and medical spa services (e.g. massage therapy, exercise therapy, water exercise therapy, etc.).

Category 2
Spa/wellness spa hotel

Explanation of the category:
Spa/wellness spa hotel is a recognised hotel that specialises in various care, relaxation and other spa services. Such hotels are not required to hold a license for provision of outpatient medical care. Treatment services are not offered and the spa services have a relaxing and invigorating nature (such as sauna, exercise, body care, yoga, use of herbal treatments and other products to improve health, other alternative methods).

Note:
The concept of wellness spa calls for very high quality and level of service, personal service, a varied selection of spa services and focus on relevant target groups, which means that only hotels that meet three-star requirements can apply to become wellness spas.

Category 3
Medical and spa/wellness spa hotel

Explanation of the category:
Medical and spa/wellness spa hotel is a higher ranked hotel that offers both medical and wellness spa services. A combination of different categories of spa hotels is possible if a hotel wants to develop itself as a higher ranked medical and wellness spa.

The classification of medical and wellness spa hotels (using stars) is based on:
1) correspondence to the 'hotel' category of accommodation companies;
2) correspondence to the classification requirements (Annex 2) and additional requirements (Annex 3) in the 'medical spa' category and the relevant classification requirements for category 2 spa hotels (not developed with this project yet).

In all categories, the classification (stars) the hotel is applying for is granted if the classification requirements for hotels and spas of the relevant category have been met.

For example:
• If a medical spa hotel is applying for three stars, it must comply with the requirements set for the ‘hotel' category of accommodation company and the requirements set for three-star medical spas.
• If a spa hotel is applying for two stars, it must comply with the requirements set for the ‘hotel' category of accommodation company and the requirements set for two-start medical spas.
• If a spa hotel is applying for classification in the categories of medical and wellness services, it must comply with the requirements set for hotels, medical and wellness spas that have at least three stars.

2. STATUTES OF THE SPA HOTEL CLASSIFICATION COMMITTEE AND CLASSIFICATION PROCEDURE

2.1. Statutes of the Spa Hotel Classification Committee and classification procedure.

The Estonian Spa Association (ESPAL) has the right classify spas.

Statutes of the Spa Hotel Classification Committee and classification procedure

I GENERAL PROVISIONS

Spa hotels are classified (granted stars) on the basis of the following:
1) additional requirements for classification of hotels (Annex 1)
2) and the classification requirements (Annex 2) and additional requirements (Annex 3) to the relevant spa category.

The classification applied for by the spa hotel shall be granted if the hotel complies with the classification requirements set for the relevant category of spa hotels.

1. The Spa Hotel Classification Committee (hereinafter the Committee) is the committee created by the management board of ESPAL whose task is to determine the categories of spa hotels and develop relevant classification requirements and their amendments, to decide on granting and removing classifications and to organise all other work required for maintaining a functioning classification system pursuant to the requirements stipulated in the effective Tourism Act and other legal acts that regulate said area and the resolutions of the management board of ESPAL.

2. The members of the Committee shall be approved by the management board of ESPAL. The Committee has at least 7 members. At least one member of the Committee shall be a representative of the EATA (Estonian Association of Travel Agents). The members of the Committee shall be appointed for an unspecified term and the composition of the Committee shall be reviewed once a year.

3. Technical servicing of the Committee shall be performed by ESPAL.

II WORK PROCEDURE OF THE COMMITTEE

4. The activity of the Committee shall be managed by a chairman who shall be appointed by the management board of ESPAL considering the proposal made by the Committee. The Committee member appointed according to the proposal made by ESPAL shall generally be the chairman of the Committee. The deputy chairman of the Committee, who is generally a representative of ESPAL, shall manage the work of the Committee during the absence of the Chairman.

5. The secretary of the Committee shall be responsible for the keeping the documents of the Committee in order. The secretary shall participate in the work of the Committee as a member without the right to vote. The duties of the secretary of the Committee may be performed by a member of the Committee if this has been decided by the management board.

6. The Committee shall adopt resolutions at Committee sessions. The Committee shall have a quorum if more than one-half of the members of the Committee are present at the session. Resolutions of the Committee shall be adopted with a simple majority of votes. The chairman or deputy chairman of the Committee shall chair the sessions and sign its resolutions. Upon an equal division of votes, the chairman of the Committee or, in his or her absence, the deputy chairman shall have the deciding vote.

7. Sessions of the Committee shall be held when necessary but not less frequently than once every quarter if appropriate classification applications are received.

8. Granting and removal of classifications to spa hotels shall be decided at Committee sessions considering the proposals of the assessment committee or the committee that performed the follow-up inspection. The Committee shall provide interpretations of the implementation of classification requirements if necessary.
Complaints against the resolutions or activity of the Committee may be filed to the management board of ESPAL, who shall make its decisions about the complaints within three months of receipt of the complaint.

9. The consent of two-thirds of the Committee members shall be required to adopt resolutions concerning proposals to amend classification requirements and second reviews of previously adopted resolutions to grant or remove the classification of a spa hotel.
Amendments to classification requirements and also to this procedure shall be approved by the management board of ESPAL according to the proposal made by the Committee.

10. Members of the Committee and experts may receive the remuneration, which has been stipulated in the established procedure, for the performance of their work.

11. The Committee shall ensure that the classification requirements for spa hotels, the classification procedure and conditions, the list of classified hotels and all other necessary information is public and available to all interested persons (published on its website).

III WORKING ETHICS OF THE COMMITTEE

12. Inspections or follow-up inspections of whether or not a spa hotel meets the classification requirements may not be performed by a member of the Committee who has economic or other interests in the inspected hotel. A member of the Committee who has economic or other interests in the hotel that applies for classification shall not take part in deciding whether or not the spa hotel complies with the classification it is applying for. Members of the management board of ESPAL who are members of the Committee shall not take part in the resolution of complaints filed about the Committee's resolutions or activity.

13. Members of the Committee shall have the right to express their opinions about the issues discussed at Committee sessions and to demand that their clearly and understandably expressed dissenting opinions are recorded in the minutes of the session.

14. Committee members must observe the confidentiality of course of discussions of the items on the session's agenda and the opinions and standpoints expressed by other members of the Committee. A member of the Committee shall be free of the confidentiality requirement only within the limits of the dissenting opinion recorded in the minutes of the session.

IV CLASSIFICATION PROCEDURE

15. In order to apply for a classification, the applicant must submit its classification application on the form approved by the Committee and a completed table of requirements that is the basis for granting the classification (Annex 2).

16. Applications for amendment of classifications submitted during the validity of the classification shall be regarded as a new application.

17. Classification applications shall be reviewed by the chairman or deputy chairman and the secretary of the Committee and they shall decide whether or not to accept the application for processing.
Applications that have not been filled in as required shall be returned to the applicant.

18. A spa hotel's compliance with the submitted classification application shall be inspected by the assessment committee. Experts attested pursuant to the procedure established by the Committee and approved with a resolution of the Committee may belong to the assessment committee. The assessment committee shall have at least three members and at least one of them shall be a member of the Committee. The composition of the assessment committee shall be determined by the chairman or deputy chairman of the Committee in the case of every classification application. Representatives of the county government, local government, rescue service agency or other institutions from the hotel's location may participate in the inspection if they so request or if the applicant so requests and this is approved by the assessment committee.

19. The representative of the Committee shall inform the hotel of the date of inspection.

20. The assessment committee shall submit its opinion about the correspondence of the spa to the requested classification to the Committee in writing according to the approved format. The assessment committee may submit a joint opinion or each member thereof may submit one separately. A joint opinion must be signed by all members of the committee who performed the inspection and any dissenting opinions of the members of the assessment committee either about the opinion as a whole or single parts thereof must be separately recorded.

21. The assessment committee must inform the applicant of its opinion of the spa hotel's correspondence to the requirements of the classification it is applying for or clearly formulate the reasons why the spa hotel does not meet the requirements of the classification it applied for and submit a clear and understandable list of omissions, with references to the relevant classification requirements, that must be eliminated before the classification application can be considered for approval. The assessment committee shall determine the deadline by which the omissions must be eliminated, which must not be longer than two months, and coordinate it with the applicant. The committee that performs the follow-up inspection may submit a proposal to the Committee requesting termination of the processing of the given classification application if the omissions are not eliminated by the deadline.

22. The correspondence of a spa hotel to the classification it is applying for must be inspected within two months of receipt of the appropriate application. The decision about the classification application (whether or not the classification is granted) shall be made at the nearest Committee session after the inspection of the spa hotel's correspondence to the requirements set for the classification it is applying for. In the event omissions are found in the spa hotel's correspondence to the requirements set for the classification it is applying for, the decision about the classification application shall be made at the nearest Committee session after the follow-up inspection decision about the elimination of omissions has been made.

23. The (deputy) chairman of the Committee shall decide on the inclusion of an application of a spa hotel inspected by the assessment committee on the agenda of the Committee session. If the applicant does not agree with the omissions found by the assessment committee when inspecting the compliance of the classification application, the applicant shall have the right to demand discussion of the disagreements at a Committee session irrespective of the opinion of the assessment committee. The application will be discussed at the nearest Committee session following receipt of the application.

24. The representative of the spa hotel that is applying for a classification shall have the right to participate in the Committee session where the hotel's application is reviewed. If necessary, the Committee may invite representatives of other institutions to attend the decision-making either at its own discretion or upon the applicant's request if their presence may benefit the objectivity of adopting the resolution.

25. Upon the motivated demand of more than one-half of the Committee members, the chairman of the Committee shall organise an additional inspection for assessment of the hotel's application by another composition of the assessment committee within 2 weeks of the discussion of the hotel's classification at a Committee session.

26. The Committee shall have the right to perform follow-up inspections during the validity of a spa hotel's classification and adopt the resolution to remove the classification at a session if the spa hotel no longer corresponds to the requirements on the basis of which the classification was granted.
The committee that performs the follow-up inspection shall have at least two members and at least one of them shall be a member of the Committee. Follow-up inspections may be performed without notice.

27. Classifications are granted to spa hotels for up to five years. During the validity of the classification, the hotel must inform the Committee of any changes in the data that characterise the hotel and were listed in its application or, if the owner or operator of the spa hotel changes, confirm that they do not wish to own the granted classification.

28. In order to declare that a spa hotel corresponds to the classification it is applying for, the hotel must correspond to the general requirements set for accommodation companies and the main requirements set for the relevant classification in the classification requirements set for the hotel and to two-thirds of the additional requirements for which the classification requirements for spas of the relevant category are added. Registration of the spa hotel in the Register of Economic Activities as a hotel is a mandatory precondition to the review of the classification application, grant of the classification and holding a classification.

29. The Committee may make exceptions in respect of correspondence to mandatory and additional requirements only within the limits of the exceptions permitted in the classification requirements. The Committee may make exceptions in respect of correspondence to a few classification requirements when granting classifications if performance thereof is impractical due to objective reasons and if the unanimous opinion of the Committee members is that this does not affect the level of the services offered by the spa hotel of the relevant classification to clients or if usual provision of a certain service by the spa hotel has been solved in a different manner and clients have been informed thereof.

30. The Committee may refuse to grant the classification that is being applied for to the spa hotel if the spa hotel has technically performed all classification requirements, but according to the subjective opinion of the assessment committee, the order of the spa hotel and the quality of its equipment, buildings and furniture and the level of luxury do not correspond to the level usually accepted in hotels of the same classification or if the unanimous opinion of the Committee members is that the level of service does not correspond to the level accepted in hotels of the same classification.
The relevant subjective opinion of the assessment committee shall not give a basis for not discussing the classification application at a Committee session. The subjective opinion of the assessment committee shall be recorded in the table for assessment of order in hotels (Annex 2) and in the relevant spa assessment table (Annex 4) pursuant to the hotel classification procedure.

31. A certificate evidencing the classification shall be granted to the applicant on the basis of the Committee's resolution to grant the classification. The certificate shall be signed by the chairman of the Committee and the chairman of the management board of ESPAL.

32. During the validity of the classification, the spa hotel has the right to use the stars corresponding to its classification in its design alongside the logo of ESPAL. The name ‘recognised medical spa hotel' or ‘recognised spa hotel' may be used by one-star hotels without the use of stars.

The classification certificate or a copy thereof must be displayed in a visible place in the spa hotel.

33. Details of spa hotels with classifications are published on the ESPAL website, which gives information about classified hotels.

34. Amendments to classification requirements must be publicised at least three months before their entry into force. Classifications granted before the amendment of classification requirements shall remain in force until the expiry of their validity.

35. Spa hotels that are applying for classifications shall pay the costs associated with the processing of their classification application according to the price list approved by the management board of ESPAL. The applicant shall pay the fee for processing the classification application or a part thereof as indicated in the price list before the application is accepted for processing. In the event of refusal to grant the classification, the part of the application processing fee that pursuant to the price list was charged for processing the application and for inspection of its correspondence to the requirements set for classification applications shall not be refunded to the applicant. The classification certificate shall be given to the applicant after the application processing fee has been paid in full.