Who decides how many stars a hotel gets

All about hotels and their stars; know the truth behind seven-star hotels. Visual Stories Right arrow. Travel Beautiful getaways in South India that you can visit in December. Travel Offbeat places in India to take your last trip of Travel New Year holidays: 10 international destinations open to Indians.

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Read All Comments Post a Comment. A hotel star rating system can be baffling because there is no universal scoring system used across travel-oriented websites, locations or hotels. This means you may see the same property listed with a different number of stars on different websites.

In the United States, a five-star rating system is often used by independent organizations like AAA to rate a hotel. One star is the lowest rating, and five stars is the highest score. Although knowing the best and worst scores is helpful, knowing the meaning of hotel star ratings is much more beneficial.

While the ratings discussed above can certainly help you get an idea of what to expect from a hotel, you can do a few other things to get a better idea of what you should expect.

You should also check out several review websites to see what people who have actually stayed at a given hotel have to say about their experiences. Even the most well-known, most popular hotels are bound to have a few unpleasant reviews — no hotel is going to be perfect.

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Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. We've all said it before: "It's a five-star hotel! If you're confused by the intricate hotel star system, you're not alone. Is a five-star hotel really worth it? It doesn't help that the same hotel may have three different ratings, depending on the travel website you visit or the tourist guidebook you read.

Let's explore these stars, and see whether a place that scores five stars is really worth a hundred dollars a night more than its three-star competitor. The star rating system was designed to measure the quality of hotels. While you may assume a one-star rating means a "disgusting hole in the wall where illegal activities take place" and a five-star rating means " Oprah Winfrey stayed here and loved it," that's not always the case.

A one-star rating doesn't always suggest a bloody shoot-out recently took place on the premises; it may simply mean that the hotel offers basic accommodations and limited amenities. So who determines how many stars each hotel receives? In Europe, local government agencies and independent organizations hand out star ratings to hotels.

In the U. To make things more confusing, each travel website has its own hotel star system. So the same property may receive three stars on Travelocity, five stars on Orbitz , and four stars on Expedia. Luckily, most of these travel websites and associations provide a guide to their personal hotel star rating system. For the most part, the North American hotel star system breaks down as seen below. A one-star hotel is simply a place to rest your head for the night.

Generally owned by a sole proprietor, these hotels offer modest rooms with nothing more than a bed and bathroom. There are no restaurants on-site, but there should be one within walking distance of the hotel. These hotels don't offer extra amenities or special services. In other words, you're not going to get a nightly turndown service with a Godiva chocolate on your pillow here.

However, you should have access to nearby public transportation and reasonably priced meals and entertainment. Although similar to a one-star hotel, a two-star hotel is generally part of a larger chain or franchise as opposed to being individually owned think Econo Lodge or Days Inn.

The accommodations are similar to a one-star hotel's: simple and basic. However, two-star hotel rooms include a television and a phone. Plus, these hotels typically offer an on-site restaurant or dining area and daily housekeeping service. The front desk at a two-star hotel is usually open 24 hours a day.