What the EAC star rating expects of your housekeeping

In November 2025 the Uganda Tourism Board completed another phase of grading and classification of accommodation facilities, with ratings "from two to four stars" awarded to hotels, lodges, villas, cottages and serviced apartments across the country under the Uganda Tourism (Classification of Accommodation Facilities and Restaurants) Regulations, 2014. UTB's published list now shows 4 five-star, 17 four-star, 23 three-star and 59 two-star facilities. The star on the gate is decided largely in the bedrooms, and the bedrooms are decided by housekeeping.

Uganda grades on the East African criteria

UTB's classification guide explains that "to classify hotels in Uganda, being part of the East African Community, The EAC Hotel and restaurant classification Criteria is used". The system runs from one star (basic facilities that give "functionality and comfort") to five stars (a "high degree of luxury and ambience"). Motels are graded from one to three stars and restaurants from three to five; every other category runs from one to five.

The criteria were revised in 2024. The EAC Secretariat and Partner States, with GIZ support, reviewed them and the EAC Sectoral Council of Tourism and Wildlife and the Council of Ministers adopted the result, together with an assessor training curriculum and a code of conduct. The revised criteria add explicit elements on sustainability, safety and security, human resources and staff facilities, and guest satisfaction, alongside the physical quality of the establishment.

How the scoring works

The 2016 guide sets out the method for each category. For a vacation hotel to qualify for one star it must "score 100 percent on essential items and a minimum of 50 percent points out of a possible total of 2,250 points". Higher stars need a higher percentage and, at four and five stars, minimum percentages under each main section rather than one overall total. Essential items are pass or fail: miss one and the points elsewhere do not help.

Housekeeping touches a large share of those points because the schedules score bedrooms, bathrooms, linen, towels, cleanliness and maintenance room by room.

What the schedules say about linen and towels

The vacation hotel schedule is specific. On change of linen (item 9.6): at one, two and three stars, sheets "should be changed after every two nights of use or with every new guest"; at four and five stars they should be changed daily. The remarks column adds that there should be a par stock of at least three pairs of sheets for each bed.

On towels (item 10.4): at one star, "reasonably sized hand and bath towels of not less than 60 cms x 120 cms, of good quality material and in good condition should be provided for each guest and changed daily", with a bath mat. Three stars adds a face towel and better quality; four stars asks for towels of not less than 80 cm by 150 cm and a bathrobe; five stars, more luxurious still.

In the suite schedule, linen "should be changed daily" from three stars, and at four stars "done at the convenience of the guest". Decor should be modest, in harmony with the local culture and "well maintained" at one star, with loose pictures and flowers from three stars.

These are the kind of items an assessor checks with a tape measure and a glance at the linen store, and they are the kind of items a housekeeping routine either delivers every day or does not.

Running housekeeping to the standard

Know the status of every room, every hour. Dirty, being cleaned, cleaned and waiting inspection, ready. Arrivals should only ever be given a room marked ready after inspection.

Make the linen rule a schedule, not a judgement. If your target is three stars, every stay-over gets fresh sheets on the second night and every departure gets a full change. Put the rule on the housekeeping sheet so the room attendant does not have to decide.

Count the par stock. Three pairs of sheets per bed means one on the bed, one in the laundry and one on the shelf. Count the shelf weekly; a shortfall shows up first as a room that cannot be made ready on time.

Inspect, do not assume. A supervisor checks each room before it is released: towel sizes and count, bath mat, bulbs, lock, decor in place. The inspection list should read like the schedule the assessor will use.

Record it. Who cleaned the room, who inspected it and when. On grading day you can show the routine; on an ordinary day you can see which rooms are late before the guest at reception does.

The bigger picture

A star rating is a sales tool with tour operators and a signal to the guest who is comparing three lodges online. It is earned by the sum of small things done every day. Towel size is on the list; so are the sheets on the second night and whether a tired room ever reaches a guest unchecked. Build the routine around the schedule, and the grading visit becomes a formality.

Sources

1. https://www.ugandahotels.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Classifications-of-Hotels-Creteria-March-2016.pdf
2. https://utb.go.ug/utb-completes-new-phase-of-grading-and-classification-of-accommodation-facilities/
3. https://utb.go.ug/hotels/
4. https://www.eacgermany.org/news/eac-trains-assessors-on-the-new-classification-criteria-for-tourist-s-accommodation-establishments-and-restaurants-giz