Explaining the components and indicators of hotel design in accordance with Sharia (Case study of Pars chain hotels)

The growth and development of “mass” tourism in recent years has had adverse and inappropriate socio-cultural consequences such as: cultural transformation and invasion, the emergence of social corruption and anomalies and the destruction of indigenous culture in many areas. Islamic countries face challenges in developing this type of tourism, so Muslim thinkers have proposed solutions to these socio-cultural problems, one of which is to provide an alternative model in accordance with the rules of Islam and Sharia. With a little attention, it can be seen that there are no classified rules and criteria for providing services to Muslims and Islamic tourists regarding tourism infrastructure such as airlines and hotels. Muslim tourists have special material and spiritual needs in travel, which will affect their choice of hotel. In this article, an attempt has been made to identify and explain the most important components of designing a hotel to meet the material and spiritual needs of Muslim tourists in accordance with the Shari'a and its characteristics, based on the books and concepts of Islam, and he main question of this research in this regard will be: What standards and criteria should be considered for designing a hotel in accordance with Sharia? Introduction; How best to satisfy the needs and wishes of Muslim hotel guests is still not clear, and an effective tool is necessary for measuring the extended service of Muslim-friendly hotels. Providing assurance of accommodations for halal in the hotel business and alleviating the doubts of Muslim tourists are elements that require standardization. Standardization is vital in managing various challenges, preparing businesses for Muslim-friendly service, and attracting more visitors and guests. To date, to the written standard of halal hotel indicators remains limited and ambiguous; even in the Middle East, where the halal industry is far more developed. The most-considered principle in formulating standardization of Muslim-friendly hotels is the spiritual value that suits the needs of Muslim guests, namely, comfort and tranquility without neglect of Islamic values. Materials and Methods; The strategies of this research are qualitative and quantitative in terms of purpose, development and application and in terms of approach (characteristics and nature of data) and in terms of nature and method, it is a descriptive content analysis and survey. The main theoretical approach and research paradigm of the principle of "Sharia" as the basic rules of Islam and its purpose is to explain the hotel in accordance with Sharia, so in extracting the main features of the research, a research strategy will be used. Discussion and Results; In order to analyze the current situation of hotel rooms in shariah compliant hotels, typology of the samplings is narrowed down starting from the number of shariah compliant hotels. There are a few shariah compliant elements that should be considered when designing a hotel room that are often overlooked that may lead to discomfort of Muslim users in conventional design. The demands for Islamic friendly hotels are high and a lot of hotels and investors are improving their services to provide better service to the guests. Apart from that both Islamic concept of living and indoor environment quality promotes the same values and can benefit a lot of people and potential economy boosters into creating a more environmentally friendly development in the future. When planning a room with a shariah-compliant concept in mind, there are more aspects than just showing the direction of mecca, although that is also an important part of ensuring a well-designed room that compliments the need of the Muslim guests. With the checklist discussed in the criteria of shariah compliant hotels category, the rooms are appraised accordingly. The concept of gender segregation is also suggested for the use of toilet, recreational, and fitness facilities. But, in practice, some hotels may not do so for reasons of space and cost-efficiency. The options could include providing a separate area or dividing the set times of use between men and women. For space and cost-limited hotels, the option of differentiating service hours based on gender might be the most rational and efficient option. Therefore, MATEL put the concept of gender separation at a higher score among other indicators, without eliminating the Muslim-friendly eligibility of hotels that do not segregate their facility. Another important factor of a shariah compliant hotel room is the permeability between the public area, hallway, and the room, in other words, privacy. Privacy of guests needs to be protected to ensure a healthy social interaction between guests and hotel staff. Due to the importance of the characteristics of the Islamic hotel, the following components were selected in this article: 1) gender segregation in recreational facilities, 2) safety and moral security, 3) privacy space, and 4) Islamic design and architecture for these hotels. Conclusions; The findings also generate other theoretical implications for halal hospitality research, in the form of emphasis that includes not only halal elements in drafting Muslim-friendly attributes but also a method for assessing the degree of absorption of those elements. Previous studies mostly determine the types of halal attributes; very few discuss how the elements should be applied by considering different conditions, cultures, and managerial and regulatory policies in certain countries or regions. The effectiveness of halal implementation may vary, particularly in non-Muslim majority areas. Pars chain hotels are in a good position in terms of compliance with Sharia in the components of Islamic design and gender segregation, but in the components of privacy, safety and moral security, more attention needs to be paid.