A crackdown on shabby hotels was announced at a tourism summit in London this week. The government is to encourage local authority regulators to take a harder line on hotels that harm Britain's reputation as a tourist destination.

A task force led by local government officials and regulation agencies will launch a pilot "Fit for purpose" scheme early next year in as yet unnamed areas to beef up the checks on hotels that fail to meet basic quality standards.

The aim to coordinate the existing regulations, carried out by separate bodies, on food hygiene, fire safety, planning and employment. But it is hoped that the scheme will toughen up quality checks, particularly at the lower end of the range. The scheme is seen as a step towards national registration of hotels.

Hotels are not obliged to take part in the existing grading schemes, based on inspections by the AA, the RAC and the English Tourism Council.