Membership, Not a Bill
A monthly membership, scaled to the size of the facility, covering everything — training for every member of staff, the assessment, and the certificate itself. No facility should ever feel a single payment as pain.
This is a draft proposal, built while ASF looks for the right local partner in each country under consideration. The structure below is a reasonable starting formula, built to be negotiated, not a fixed offer — and pricing itself is intentionally not set here: it will be developed individually for each country, together with the local partner, reflecting that country’s own market conditions.
Two decisions drive everything here: monthly, not one-time — a predictable, small recurring amount is far easier for any facility to plan around than a single large payment. And scaled by room count, not a flat facility fee — a five-room guesthouse and a 150-room hotel are not the same business, and should not pay the same amount.
Why this is worth paying for
79–84% of travellers already choose a certified property over an uncertified one — even one that costs more or is rated higher. 92% call cleanliness the single most important factor in choosing where to stay, and over half would pay more for a room that’s certified clean, not just clean. That’s the return a membership is actually buying: an independent, evidence-based way to prove to a guest, before they book, that your facility is the safer choice — not a cost of doing business, but the one piece of proof most of your competitors still can’t offer. The full research behind these numbers is on the ASF Tourism Overview page.
The formula
A monthly membership scaled by an eight-tier room-count ladder, with the effective cost per room falling as the facility gets larger — the same logic behind most membership and SaaS pricing: bigger operators pay more in total, but less per unit, because fixed costs amortise better at scale.
| Tier | Rooms | Monthly Membership |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 – 10 rooms | Set per country |
| 2 | 11 – 25 rooms | Set per country |
| 3 | 26 – 50 rooms | Set per country |
| 4 | 51 – 100 rooms | Set per country |
| 5 | 101 – 150 rooms | Set per country |
| 6 | 151 – 250 rooms | Set per country |
| 7 | 251 – 450 rooms | Set per country |
| 8 | 450+ rooms | Negotiated directly |
What the membership fee actually covers
How this actually works, in practice
Two simple examples, step by step — showing the logic, not a quoted amount.
Falls in Tier 3 (26–50 rooms). Its monthly membership, set by the local partner in its own country, covers unlimited staff training, the self-assessment and roadmap, and the on-site visit itself — all in one predictable, recurring amount, with no separate certificate fee.
Falls in Tier 1 (1–10 rooms) — the lowest tier, reflecting that a small, independently-run guesthouse should never be priced as though it were a large hotel. Paid monthly, a little at a time, rather than as one large bill.
The tier structure is a starting point for discussion with whichever local partner ASF speaks with first; the actual amount for each tier is not fixed here — it’s developed with that partner, for that country. Showing the formula openly, tier by tier, means it can be adjusted in plain view rather than negotiated as one unexplained flat fee.