What Does a Five-star Hotel Rating Actually Mean?

From delicious room service to luxury linens, booking a five-star hotel conjures feelings of rest and relaxation. However, a five-star booking doesn’t necessarily mean the same level of quality in every country, and the standards may even vary from hotel to hotel in the same city.

Due to the uncertainty of what exactly a “five-star” rating means, several organizations have stepped in to measure and verify that a hotel meets five-star luxury status. Surprisingly, many of the reasons a hotel becomes designated as a five-star hotel may have nothing to do with the actual room itself. Here’s what avid travelers should know about the origin and meaning of hotel star ratings.

Origin of Star Rating Systems

The five-star rating system originally debuted in 1960 when the Mobil Oil Corporation, now known as ExxonMobil, published a guide to different hotels and ranked them with stars to show the different tiers of amenities. The original Mobil Travel Guides were sold at Mobil gas stations for $1.95 and were divided by regions. In 2009, Mobil Travel Guide became Forbes Travel Guide.

Since the 1960s, different international organizations have set rules and designations for five-star classifications. Today, travelers still depend on star rankings for insights before they book a hotel.

“There’s no single global checklist of amenities that determines a star level, which means criteria can vary widely by country,” Hotels.com travel expert Melanie Fish shared in a statement to Travel + Leisure. “For example, not every five-star hotel has to have a pool, and many four-star hotels might offer spas or luxury touches.”

Fish added that five-star hotels are most popular in travel markets that attract a luxury audience, with Las Vegas, New York, London, Dubai, and Bangkok ranking as some of the destinations with the most five-star hotels.

Types of Hotel Ratings

Due to the lack of standardization globally for hotel ratings, several regional and industry organizations aim to bring some level of procedure to provide travelers peace of mind and make the comparison easier.

Throughout Europe, the Hotelstars Union regulates star rankings for hotels and manages a specific set of criteria for hotels to abide by.  The Hotelstars rules mandate that five-star hotels must have a 24-hour reception, lounge area, and valet service in the common areas. Within the private room, hotels are required to offer evening turndown service, full blackout shades, a safe, a bathrobe, slippers, and other amenities. The standards of a one-star hotel are more flexible, such as providing a towel change on demand, a television with a remote, and other criteria.

Star Ratings, based in Australia, measures hotels in over 70 countries on a set of 200 different criteria that provide them a ranking between one and five stars. Travelers may see a “Quality Tourism Accredited Business” next to the rating, which confirms it was assessed by Star Ratings. The organization monitors thousands of hotels and actually has a way for travelers to submit complaints in the event their experience does not match an advertised star ranking. For reference, a one-star accommodation is offered to budget facilities, where the five-star is reserved for “properties that typify luxury across all areas of operation,” according to Star Ratings.

In addition to stars, travelers may often hear of other ranking systems. For example, AAA regularly updates a Five Diamond list, which has independent inspectors conduct secret stays to monitor hotels for service.

“AAA is the only travel brand that uses a Diamond designation scale with published guidelines, offering a consistent and objective standard that travelers can trust,” AAA Diamond program director Chris Anderson shared in a statement to T+L.

Five-star Hotel Prices

The elevated touches of a five-star hotel can come at an elevated price. While the average price of a four-star hotel in the United States is $226 a night, a five-star hotel averages $492.48, according to Hotels.com pricing data shared with T+L. Internationally, five-star hotels average a bit cheaper, at just $335.59 a night.

“You don’t have to pay top dollar to stay in top-tier hotels, especially when traveling internationally,” Fish added. For example, Fish analyzed data that shows Prague, Porto, and Copenhagen have five-star hotels for under $300 a night. Orlando, Paris, and Rome were among the most expensive cities to book five-star hotels.