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Hotel ratings are often used to classify according to their quality. From the initial purpose of informing travellers on basic facilities that can be expected, the objectives of hotel rating have expanded into a focus on the hotel experience as a whole. The terms "grading", "rating", and "classification" are used to generally refer to the same concept.
There is a wide variety of rating schemes used by different organizations around the world. Many have a system involving stars, with a greater number of stars indicating greater luxury. Forbes Travel Guide, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, launched its star rating system in 1958. The AAA and their affiliated bodies use diamonds instead of stars to express hotel and restaurant rating levels.
Traditional systems focus on what goods and services are available, including food services, entertainment, view, spas and fitness centers. Room size, ease of access, and location may be also be considered, and some standards also incorporate quality of design and service. Some consider assessments that lean heavily on amenities disadvantageous to smaller hotels, whose quality of accommodation could fall into one class but whose lack of an item such as an elevator or a spa prevent it from reaching a higher categorization.
The Swiss hotel rating was the first non-government formal hotel classification beginning in 1979. It influenced the hotel classification in Austria and Germany. The formal hotel classification of the DEHOGA (German Hotel and Restaurant Association) started on 1 August 1996 and proved successful with 80% of guests citing the hotel stars as the main criteria in hotel selection. This implementation influenced the creation of a common European Hotelstars rating system that started in 2010.
In 2024, the Michelin Guide started awarding one, two, and three keys to highly rated hotels.
Some member countries set standards by law, including Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Hungary. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the rating is defined by the respective hotel industry association.
Under the patronage of HOTREC, the hotel associations of Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland created the Hotelstars Union. On 14 September 2009, the Hotelstars Union classification system was established at a conference in Prague. This system became effective in these countries in January 2010, with the exception of Hungary, Switzerland and the Netherlands, who have chosen later dates for the change. Later more countries have joined the HOTREC hotelstars system: Estonia (2011), Latvia (2011), Lithuania (2011), Luxembourg (2011), Malta (2012), Belgium (2013), Denmark (2013), Greece (2013), Liechtenstein (2015), Slovenia (2017), Azerbaijan (2020) and Georgia (2021).
The European Hotelstars Union system is based on the earlier German hotelstars system that had widely influenced the hotel classifications in central Europe, with five stars and a Superior mark to flag extras. Instead of a strict minimum in room size and required shower facilities (e.g. a bath tub in a four-star hotel) there is a catalogue of criteria with 7 qualification areas encompassing 247 elements, where some are mandatory for a star and others optional. The main criteria are in quality management, wellness and sleeping accommodation. In the catalogue of criteria each entry is associated with a number of points – each Hotelstars level requires a minimal sum of points besides some criteria being obligatory for the level. The minimum requirement for the Superior flag requires the same sum of points as for the next Hotelstars level, which was not awarded, however, owing to at least one obligatory requirement being left out.
For hotels with three to five stars, the Hotelstars Union will use "mystery guests" to check the service quality regularly.
| Tourist |
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| Superior Tourist | The Superior flag is provided when the additional service and accommodation provisions are not sufficient for the next Hotelstar. The bathroom facilities are usually at the same level as for two stars hotels but built from cheaper materials. The cost for regular inspection by independent associations is waived as well. |
| Standard | In addition to the single star (★) hotels:
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| Superior Standard | The Superior flag is provided when the additional service and accommodation provisions are not sufficient for the next Hotelstar. The Standard-Superior does usually offer the same service level as three-star hotels but the interiors of the hotel are smaller and cheaper so that the three stars were not to be awarded by the inspection body. A two-star superior does not require mystery guesting. |
| Comfort | In addition to the standard star (★★) hotels:
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| Superior Comfort | The Superior flag is provided when the additional service and accommodation provisions are not sufficient for the next Hotelstar. The accommodation facilities for a superior hotel need to be on a modern level and fully renovated which is checked regularly. |
| First Class | In addition to the comfort star (★★★) hotels:
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| First Class Superior | The Superior flag is provided when the first class hotel has a proven high quality not only in the rooms. The superior hotels provide for additional facilities in the hotel like a sauna or a workout room. The quality is checked regularly by mystery guesting of an external inspection service. |
| Luxury | In addition to the first class (★★★★) hotels:
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| Superior Luxury | The Luxury star hotels need to attain high expectations of an international guest service. The Superior Luxury star is only awarded with a system of intensive guest care. |
Australia's star ratings have been operating since the 1950s as both an accreditation as well as a booking service. It was first owned by the state based automobile clubs including NRMA, RACV, RACQ, RAC, RAA and RACT. It was then organized by the Australian Automobile Association Tourism (AAA Tourism) as a peak body. However, the booking service in the motoring clubs was not continued and later the annual accommodation guide book ceased to be printed with the accommodation guide going online. AAA Tourism closed in 2013, but Star Ratings Australia continued as an inspection and star rating service only, as well as an accommodation website.
In 2015 Star Ratings Australia became one of the first independent accommodation classification systems in the world to incorporate consumer opinions. Their website also shows a Travellers' Rating which is presented in parallel to the independent Star Rating and is an aggregate of past guest ratings and reviews from more than 100 websites in 45 different languages. The rating is shown as a 10 point score. Weighting applies to the popularity of the source site and the date of the last guest review. The William Angliss Institute in Melbourne developed an independent benchmarking framework to show if a property has met or exceeded guest expectations.
On 28 February 2017, Michael Reed, CEO of Australian Motoring Services, advised clients of the closure of Star Ratings Australia brand and asked to remove star rating and automobile club logos from their accommodation and promotional information by June 2017. It was said that competition from online travel agencies such as TripAdvisor and their customer rating system led to its demise.
The brand was then transferred to the Australian Tourism Industry Council. In early 2019, Star Ratings were rebranded under the council's "Quality Tourism" Accreditation Program.
Star Ratings in Australia stand for independently reviewed quality standards and are defined as such:
| Properties that typify luxury across all areas of operation. Guests will enjoy an extensive range of facilities and comprehensive or highly personalised services. Properties at this level will display excellent design quality and attention to detail. | |
| Properties which achieve a deluxe guest experience. A wide range of facilities and superior design qualities are typically complemented by service standards that reflect the varied and discerning needs of the guest. | |
| Properties that deliver a broad range of amenities that achieve above-average accommodation needs. Good quality service, design and physical attributes are typically fit for purpose to match guest expectations. | |
| Properties that focus on the needs of price conscious travellers. Services and guest facilities are typically limited to keep room rates affordable and competitive but may be available upon request or fee-based. | |
| Properties that offer budget facilities without compromising cleanliness or guest security. Guests may access fee-based services or facilities upon request. | |
| Half-star ratings (not used alone) indicate modest improvements in the quality and condition of guest facilities. |
Forbes Travel Guide rates properties with five or four stars, or as "recommended", which is similar to three stars. Lower-quality establishments are omitted. Its predecessor, Mobil Travel Guides used a one-to-five-star system. Forbes says it uses independent inspectors to rate properties on over 900 attributes covering amenities, "cleanliness, efficiency, staff knowledge, gracious service, sense of luxury, guest comfort", and "wellness and sustainability". The details are confidential, but have been leaked. The system requires hotels to meet 90% of standards to be awarded five stars, 82% for four stars, and 72% for recommended, with lower thresholds for maintaining stars and a one-year warning period.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) uses a one-to-five diamond scale. It has 27 criteria covering bedrooms, bathrooms, booking, checkin and checkout, and room service. It also assigns property types and subtypes, such as cottage, motel, large-scale hotel, and casino; and rates accessibility for people who have impaired hearing, vision, dexterity, or mobility.
Hotels.com assigns its own ratings based on a one-to-five-star scale, allowing half-stars. The site aggregates customer ratings on a ten-point scale.
Google Maps shows two ratings on a one-to-five-star scale: a rating based solely on aggregation of star ratings from customers reflecting how much they liked the establishment, and a hotel class based on amenities. The hotel class is based on a composite of data from "third-party partners, direct research, feedback from hoteliers, and machine learning inference that examines and evaluates hotel attributes, such as price, location, room size, and amenities".
Alternative or niche systems also exist. In Malaysia and other countries, the "Salam Standard" has classified more than 55,000 hotels worldwide for Muslim-friendly amenities, using four levels from Bronze to Platinum. In the Middle East, travel commentators have argued that local five-star hotels often exceed traditional expectations, raising questions about whether existing rating scales remain meaningful.
The Galleria in Milan, Italy was opened in 2007 and claims to have a seven-star certificate from SGS Italy2008. However, the SGS Italy (not the official tourism agency) only has five stars in the general hotel stars categorization, with the full title of the certificate being left unknown, just as the renewal process is unknown. Overall, as no traditional organization or formal body awards or recognizes any rating over five-star deluxe; such claims are predominantly used for advertising purposes.
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