Opening a hotel or a hotel residence in Algeria: categories, authorisations and classification standards
In short: Executive Decree No. 19-158 of 30 April 2019 defines five categories of hotel establishment and makes operation conditional on three authorisations: an operating authorisation issued by the wali, a classification order made after a wilaya commission has examined the file, and the manager's accreditation. Executive Decree No. 25-90 of 24 February 2025 amended it: the National Tourism Land Agency now sits on the classification commission and issues the plaque against payment. The annexes set minimum areas — 10 m² for a twin room in the one-star class, excluding bathroom and circulation — from which follows the number of beds a building can carry, and so the economics of the whole project.
Keywords in this article
1. Is there a “hostel” category in Algerian law?
No, and that is the first surprise in the file. The text that organises Algerian hotel-keeping knows neither "hostel" nor "youth hostel" nor any budget bed-and-board formula.
Executive Decree No. 19-158 of 30 April 2019, published in Journal officiel No. 33, defines hotel establishments and sets the conditions for their operation, their classification and the accreditation of their manager. It retains five categories, and five only:
| Category | Classes | What defines it |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel | 5 classes, from 5 to 1 star | Rooms and suites, with catering and entertainment optional |
| Tourist complex or holiday village | 3 classes | A hotel, apartments or bungalows, commercial and leisure services |
| Apart-hotel, or hotel residence | 3 classes | Apartments fitted with a kitchen |
| Motel or roadside inn | 3 classes | Close to a main road, for passing custom |
| Tourist campsite | 3 classes | Bungalows, chalets or pitches, with collective services |
Any accommodation project must therefore fit into one of these five boxes. A multi-bed concept will usually attach to the one-star hotel. A building of furnished apartments let by the night falls under the hotel residence, the only category that recognises units fitted with a kitchen.
An economic choice before it is an administrative one. The category and class chosen govern the grid of standards the building must satisfy: minimum areas, mandatory equipment and staffing. They therefore decide how many beds a given building can carry, and with it the revenue. This is a decision to take before any promise of sale, not after.
The governing statute remains Law No. 99-01 of 6 January 1999 setting the rules applicable to hotel-keeping, reproduced in the ministry's official compilation of tourism texts.
2. The three mandatory authorisations, and who issues them
Decree No. 19-158 makes the operation of a hotel establishment conditional on three distinct acts. They are not obtained at the same moment and do not answer to the same logic.
- The operating authorisationIssued by the wali, on the proposal of the wilaya director of tourism and handicrafts, with whom the file is lodged.
- The classification orderIt fixes the category and the class. A wilaya commission examines the application. Classification is reviewable every five years.
- The manager's accreditationIt bears on the person, not on the building. See the section devoted to it below.
Once these acts are obtained, the operator has six months to start trading.
What the file calls for
Beyond identity documents and the title deed or lease, the file calls for items that project sponsors routinely underestimate:
- conformity certificates for safety, hygiene and fire prevention;
- an approved safety plan;
- proof of the manager's professional qualification.
What this costs, and where the omission is paid for. Fire detection, a central alarm, a second escape route, a protected staircase and emergency lighting are not comfort options. They condition the authorisation, and the insurance. A works budget that does not carry them as a separate line is a false budget.
3. What Decree 25-90 changed in February 2025
This is the point on which almost everything available online is out of date, including pages still being read today.
Executive Decree No. 25-90 of 24 February 2025, published in Journal officiel No. 14 (page 11), amends and supplements Decree No. 19-158. It touches three articles, and brings a new actor into the classification circuit: the National Tourism Land Agency.
| Article amended | What changes |
|---|---|
| Article 19 | The wilaya classification commission now includes a representative of the agency's director general |
| Article 25 | The classification plaque is issued against payment by the agency, on presentation of the classification order |
| Article 32 | The national appeals commission is restructured around the agency's director general, and admits a representative of the most representative professional body of hoteliers |
The practical consequence fits in one sentence. Addressing the wilaya tourism directorate alone is no longer enough. The agency that manages tourism land now sits on the body that classifies, and collects a payment when the plaque is handed over.
The exact reach of this statement. It holds for the texts we read in the Journal officiel on the date shown at the foot of this article: Executive Decrees No. 19-158 and No. 25-90. We do not assert that no further amendment exists. Before any filing, checking the current state of the text with the wilaya tourism directorate remains the rule.
4. Classification standards: what the annex imposes in square metres
The annexes to Decree No. 19-158 carry the grid of minimum standards by category and by class. It is the least quoted part of the text, and the most useful to anyone sizing a project.
Hotel, one-star class
| Standard | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Room for two people | 10 m² net, excluding bathroom, circulation and balconies |
| Room bathroom | 3 m² |
| Reception hall | 20 m² |
| Mandatory equipment | Telephone, internet, heating and air conditioning, wake-up service |
In the two-star class the room rises to 11 m² and the reception hall to 30 m², the bathroom staying at 3 m².
Hotel residence, one-star class
| Standard | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Main bedroom | 10 m² |
| Each additional bedroom | 8 m² |
| Bathroom | 3 m² |
| Kitchen | Fitted |
| Service | Breakfast, reception open at least 8 hours, with a night attendant |
From square metres per room to square metres per bed
The text reasons by room. A funding plan reasons by bed, since the bed is what produces the revenue. Moving from one to the other takes three steps.
- The complete room10 m² of room and 3 m² of bathroom, that is 13 m² for two beds.
- CirculationThe text expressly excludes it from the room calculation, so it is added on top. In this kind of building the usual share runs between 15% and 20% of the net area.
- Common and technical areasThe 20 m² hall is a fixed floor, independent of the bed count. Add the laundry and store, then the office and the plant room.
Applied to an establishment of 92 beds in twin rooms, the chain gives roughly 46 rooms at 13 m², or 598 m², plus about 108 m² of circulation and some hundred square metres of common and technical areas. The total approaches 800 m², or close to 8.8 m² per bed.
That figure is a calculation, not a quotation. The decree publishes no ratio per bed. The 8.8 m² result from applying the annex minima to an assumption of twin rooms, with circulation and common-area shares that belong to building practice. An architect working on a real building will reach another figure, generally higher, because of shape losses and structural constraints.
Two consequences follow, and they point the same way.
The dormitory formula has no footing in the grid. The decree prices the room for two people and provides no supplement for a third or fourth bed in the same space, although it did so for the hotel residence, where each additional bedroom is worth 8 m². A project built on six or eight beds per room therefore risks a refusal of classification, or a demand for proportionate area.
Foreign densities do not transfer. The British standards applicable to hostels allow 4 m² per bed, measured by dividing the room area by the number of bed bases. The Algerian standard is twice as demanding. An economic model imported as it stands will collide with classification.
Sizing an accommodation project and unsure what area per bed to allow?
Send us the capacity you are targeting and the category you have in mind. We will tell you what the grid imposes, what that means in built area, and what it does to the cost per bed. Scoping is free and leads to a written quote.
Scope my project5. The manager's accreditation: the qualification found out too late
Of the three authorisations, this is the one settled earliest and discovered latest.
Accreditation bears on the person who will run the establishment, and the standards grid fixes its content for the one-star class: a hospitality degree, or a technician's certificate, together with one to three years of experience.
What this imposes on the structure. The team that will operate the establishment must include a qualified person, and that person must be identified when the company is incorporated or the management contract drafted. A foreign investor relying on a local team has every interest in checking this point before signing, rather than at the classification filing.
A second constraint applies to the one-star hotel residence, which requires a reception open at least eight hours and a night attendant. Two posts that weigh on the payroll of a small unit.
6. What these standards change in an investment plan
Three findings in this file rest on the text without being drawn from it word for word. They move an investment plan more than one might expect.
Floor area decides the acceptable purchase price
Where property makes up the bulk of the investment, which is the rule in a large city, the number of square metres per bed governs the cost per bed, and therefore the return. Moving from 8.8 to 11 m² per bed raises the cost of the building by a quarter for an identical capacity. It is the first question to settle, before the district and before the price per square metre.
The category decides the grid, and the grid decides the building
An existing building does not convert freely. A bathroom per room implies soil stacks the original structure never planned for, and that is the heavy line in any conversion. The question is therefore not "how many square metres per bed" but "how many beds can this particular building carry" — and that is answered with a survey sheet, not with an assumption.
Change of use conditions everything downstream
Residential premises assigned to tourist accommodation require a change of use, and a conforming opinion from the tourism administration on the architectural design. It is the first thing to check with the municipality, before any promise of sale.
The order that saves time. First the target category and the grid that goes with it. Then the floor area that grid imposes for the capacity wanted. Only then the search for buildings and the negotiation. The reverse order — buy first, then look for a box to classify it under — is the most common way of freezing capital in a building that will not be classified.
Disclaimer. This article sets out the legal framework applicable at the date shown, for general information only. It is not legal advice and does not replace an examination of a particular situation. The standards cited are those of the annexes to Executive Decree No. 19-158 as amended by Executive Decree No. 25-90, at the verification date shown at the foot of the page; they should be re-checked with the wilaya tourism directorate before any property commitment.
FAQ — Frequently asked questions
Not under that name, to our knowledge. Executive Decree No. 19-158 of 30 April 2019 retains five categories of hotel establishment: the hotel, the tourist complex or holiday village, the apart-hotel or hotel residence, the motel or roadside inn, and the tourist campsite. A budget accommodation project must attach to one of them, most often the one-star hotel, and satisfy the corresponding grid of standards.
For a one-star hotel, the annex to Decree No. 19-158 sets the room for two people at 10 m² net, excluding bathroom, circulation and balconies, with a 3 m² bathroom and a 20 m² reception hall. In the two-star class the room rises to 11 m² and the hall to 30 m². For a one-star hotel residence, the main bedroom is set at 10 m² and each additional bedroom at 8 m².
The decree publishes no ratio per bed. Applying the annex minima to twin rooms, then adding circulation and common and technical areas, gives roughly 8.8 m² of built area per bed for a one-star hotel. That figure is a calculation rather than a quotation from the text, and an existing building will generally require more because of shape losses and structural constraints.
Three. The operating authorisation, issued by the wali on the proposal of the wilaya director of tourism and handicrafts. The classification order, made after examination by a wilaya commission, and reviewable every five years. And the manager's accreditation, which bears on the professional qualification of the individual. Once these acts are obtained, trading must begin within six months.
It amends three articles of Decree No. 19-158. The National Tourism Land Agency joins the wilaya classification commission through a representative of its director general. The classification plaque is now issued against payment by that agency, on presentation of the order. And the national appeals commission is restructured around the agency's director general, with a representative of the hoteliers' professional body.
For the one-star class, the standards grid calls for a hospitality degree or a technician's certificate, together with one to three years of experience. The practical consequence is that an investor must identify this person when incorporating the company or drafting the management contract, not at the classification filing.
Sources and references
- Executive Decree No. 19-158 of 25 Chaabane 1440 corresponding to 30 April 2019, defining hotel establishments and setting the conditions and procedures for their operation, their classification and the accreditation of their manager, together with its annexes setting minimum standards by category and class (categories of establishment, operating authorisation, wilaya classification commission, five-yearly review, minimum room and hall areas, mandatory equipment, manager's qualification) — Journal officiel de la République algérienne No. 33 · Verified on 14/09/2026
- Executive Decree No. 25-90 of 25 Chaabane 1446 corresponding to 24 February 2025, amending and supplementing Executive Decree No. 19-158 — Articles 19, 25 and 32 amended (entry of the National Tourism Land Agency into the wilaya classification commission, issue of the classification plaque against financial consideration, recomposition of the national appeals commission), page 11 — Journal officiel de la République algérienne No. 14 · Verified on 14/09/2026
- Compilation of legislative and regulatory texts on tourism, containing in particular Law No. 99-01 of 6 January 1999 setting the rules applicable to hotel-keeping, Law No. 03-01 on the sustainable development of tourism and Law No. 03-03 on tourist expansion zones and sites — Ministry of Tourism and Handicrafts, May 2022 · Verified on 14/09/2026
- Hostel Accommodation Standards — minimum floor space of 4 m² per bed or bunk, measured by dividing the room area by the number of bed bases, minimum ceiling height of 2 m, and sanitary provision ratios by rating. Cited here as an international comparison only, with no standing in Algerian law — VisitEngland Assessment Services, 2017 · Verified on 14/09/2026
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