Ever wondered what hotel star ratings really mean? Or why they can be a little misleading at times?
This infographic shows the official criteria as provided by the Hotel Stars Union, the only international body of it’s kind, made up of 39 associations and 24 participating countries. The union uses a ‘mystery guest’ system to keep participating hotels in check.
Looking down the list of facilities required in order to attain a given rating it’s easy to see how the system might be a little misleading. E.g. WIFI may be very important to some, but mean nothing to others, particularly if trying to escape work!
You won’t find six and seven star ratings here because they don’t officially exist – any hotel claiming such a rating is merely doing so on a ‘self-assessed’ basis. For example, The Burj Al Arab in Dubai, widely considered as a seven star property, blames (or should we say ‘credits’) its seven star rating on a journalist review, and the Seven Stars Galleria in Milan markets itself as the world’s first seven star hotel.
This infographic was produced by www.secrethotels.org