Reported 8 months ago
Since 2011, the Tourism Bureau has been promoting the certification system for hospitality bed and breakfasts in Taiwan. As of March, out of approximately 10,717 legal B&Bs in Taiwan, 1,587 have received the certification, with a selection rate of about 14.8%. Following a recent incident of a B&B operator installing spy cameras to secretly film guests, operators suggest strengthening penalties and reinstating secret shopper inspections. The top counties with the most legal B&Bs are Taitung County with 210, followed by Yilan County with 209, Hualien County with 187, Pingtung County with 168, and Kinmen County with 165. Certified B&Bs go through training, registration, and expert evaluations to meet the standards for the hospitality B&B certification, which is valid for 3 years. The Taiwan Hospitality B&B Association emphasized 6 key criteria for selecting quality B&Bs: cleanliness, hygiene, safety, friendliness, kindness, and manners. They suggested that past assessments focused mainly on hardware facilities, making it difficult to assess the operators' integrity in just 1-2 hours of discussion. Although this recent incident cannot solely be attributed to the evaluation system, it is recommended to strengthen penalties and reinstate secret shopper inspections. The Tourism Bureau mentioned that the certification for hospitality B&Bs tends to be promotional and that every 3 years, 2 inspection committee members will be sent to conduct spot checks on B&B operators.
Source: YAHOO