Identify Hotel Star Ratings: The Ultimate Guide for Hoteliers

I am always confused while booking a hotel. The reason is their star categories. Many properties update incorrect hotel ratings on their online platforms.

A property with services and facilities of a 2-star deluxe hotel has a rating of 3-star on Google and OTAs. Incorrect hotel star ratings lead to trust issues among guests, which eventually affect your bookings.

In this blog, I will guide you on hotel star ratings and help you figure out which category your property lies in. 

What is a hotel star rating system?

Hotel star rating is a process of classifying properties according to the luxury and comfort they provide. The tourism board in every country has a division that audits every hotel, and based on the report, provides star certification to them.

There are 6 major categories of hotels that are accepted at a worldwide level, viz;

1. 1-star – Tourist hotels
2. 2-star – Standard hotels
3. 3-star – Comfort hotels
4. 4-star – First class hotels
5. 5-star – Luxurious hotels
6. 5-star deluxe – Super luxurious hotels (Any hotel that has amenities and facilities more than 5* properties are part of this category)

You might wonder, why is 7-star not mentioned here? Well, such a category doesn’t actually exist. It’s sheerly a part of promotion to attract guests from around the world.

I will explain about the criteria for this classification in the later part of the blog. Meanwhile, let’s focus on different types of ratings. 

What are different types of hotel ratings?

As the hospitality industry evolved, tourism boards in every country developed their own rating systems. There were no globally accepted criteria for the classification of hotels.

Although the ratings were between 1 to 5 stars, the parameters were different at all places. In fact, Australia introduced a half star rating for hotels that didn’t qualify for a single star.

Today, various kinds of hotel ratings are in existence. Some of the prominent ones are:

1. Guests’ ratings
2. Green Key International
3. Salam standard (For Muslim-friendly hotels)
4. AAA certification (American Automobile Association)

How are hotels star rated?

Once a property is ready for serving guests, hoteliers apply for star certification to their country’s tourism board or the governing bodies handling this task. 

For example, in India HRACC (Hotel Restaurant Approval and Classification Committee) is responsible for grading hotels. Similarly, in Australia the hotel star ratings are taken care of by the Star Ratings Australia. Talking about Europe, all the hotels, cafes, and restaurants across the continent are members of the European Hotelstars Union.

Upon successful registration, the concerned persons visit the property for auditing. They usually stay for a couple of days and inspect the hotel as per the checklist.

Based on the results of the audit, the hotel receives a star classification between 1 to 5-star deluxe. For properties that are 3-star and above, mystery guesting is done regularly to check if they are providing services and facilities as per their ratings.

In case, there are any flaws in the services, the hotels are sent a detailed report of the same and asked to rectify the errors. If the properties fail to resolve those issues, they are fined for it or their license is revoked for the time being.

What are the criteria for determining a hotel’s star rating?

With all that being said, let’s address the main issue – how to determine your hotel’s star rating? The HOTREC (Hotels, Restaurants, & Cafes in Europe) introduced a unique classification system in 2004 to harmonize standards in hospitality businesses across Europe.

Later in 2007,  European Hospitality Quality Scheme (EHQS) came into existence, and it was adopted by many nations. Although every country tweaked the hotel star ratings requirements as per their convenience, the basic conditions remained almost identical.

Here’s a table for your reference.

What is the World Hotel Rating project?

There have been many unsuccessful attempts to establish an international standard for hotel star ratings. In 2009, the World Hotel Rating (WHR) project was initiated with an aim to create and deploy international classification of hotels.

However, to date nothing has been finalised. Presently WHR is associated with 75,000 individual properties, 500 chains from 25 countries across the globe. But the journey of being recognised and accepted at a worldwide level is still in progress.

What is the impact of having an incorrect hotel star rating?

Whenever guests look for hotels, they narrow down their search results using various filters, and star category is one of them. Generally, people opt for 3-star hotels to experience comfort without burning a hole in their pockets.

This is where incorrect ratings cause blunders. Let’s say your property has the facilities of a 2-star hotel and you’ve updated 3-star ratings across all the platforms, you are sure to disappoint guests.

This error can directly affect your property’s online reputation, and in turn, adversely impact its booking ratio.

Every star rating defines the minimum as well as the rack rate for properties. Hotels have to strictly adhere to this tariff bracket while calculating room rates. Hence, forging star ratings can either incur you a loss because of lower room rates or can land you into trouble if you sell room nights on high tariffs.

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