The Beluga Rating System

It goes without saying that all hotels and liveaboards we offer on our website have convinced us and are offered by us because the standard in connection with the price-performance ratio as well as the quality of diving are right. Nevertheless, we have developed an in-house evaluation function for the visitors of our webpage, which should serve as a decision-making aid for the prospective customer. Especially since the star classification of hotels is done according to country-specific categories and therefore is not standardized worldwide. Furthermore, accommodations often cannot be classified with the star system at all. Especially the potential question about the reason for possibly different ratings enables a competent and goal-oriented consultation.

For all the objectivity of the criteria, a certain personal preference is of course unavoidable in this context. We have tried to evaluate the accommodations from the diver's point of view, which is why the dive center attached to a hotel is also important for the evaluation.  For example, a hotel may have a first-class house reef and receive a very high rating for this, but this rating is then diminished by the fact that an above-average number of divers are in the water. As a rule, a small hotel with a small dive center will receive a higher rating than a large hotel complex with a large dive center. Cutbacks could also be due to the distance of the hotel from the dive center, which of course does not exclude the fact that both the resort and the diving are top-notch. The possibility to dive at a house reef also plays an important role for us. Accommodations and/or dive centers without a diveable house reef will receive a lower grade for this specific criterion. However, this does not mean that a dive site that can only be dived by boat cannot be excellent. Just ask us if you are not sure. We will be happy to advise you. Because no destination makes it into our product portfolio without a good reason.

In detail, we evaluate the following criteria for the hotel facilities:

• The price-performance ratio
• The size of the hotel and the connected dive center (the more manageable, the better)
• The average number of divers in the dive center (the less, the better)
• The quality of the dive center (diving procedure, flexibility, equipment, professionalism, service, atmosphere, environmental awareness)
• The quality and accessibility of the house reef (cutbacks if there is no diveable house reef)
• The quality of the diving area
• The amenities of the hotel

For the diving cruises, we evaluate the following criteria:

• The price-performance ratio
• The maximum number of divers on board (the less the better)
• The size and equipment of the cabins
• The other facilities on board (internet, entertainment, lounge, etc.) as well as the special equipment on board (Nitrox, Trimix, Scooter, etc.)
• The safety on board (the distance to the next deco chamber also plays a role here.
• The quality of the diving operation (diving procedure, flexibility, equipment, professionalism, service, environmental awareness)
• The quality of the diving area

Some accommodations in our product portfolio are not assigned to dive centers. These are accommodations that we recommend for cultural and nature tours or for stopovers. We did not rate these hotels, as diving is not in the foreground.

Your Beluga Travel Team