Definition of Hotel Star Ratings

Mobil Oil published the first travel guide with hotel star ratings in the 1950s. Their objective was to increase their filling station business by providing travelers with a quick and easy way to compare hotel facilities and amenities in North America. Mobil travel guides are only available in printed form.

Generally, a star rating describes a hotel's physical facilities (not including attached or nearby golf courses). North American-oriented guides and travel-oriented websites (Expedia, for example) tend to use criteria similar to those set by Mobile. Elsewhere, governments or independent travel organizations assign star ratings based on their own criteria. As a result, ratings can vary greatly. A two-star hotel near the home of golf, St. Andrews in Scotland, may provide a completely different set of amenities than those of a two-star hotel near North Carolina's fabulous golf complex known as Pinehurst.

One-star hotels provide limited amenities and few services, but you can expect them to be clean and relatively inexpensive.Two-star hotels meet one-star standards and add higher quality furniture, a telephone, a private bathroom and, often, Internet access. A three-star hotel gives you larger rooms, better furnishings and color television. In addition, you will find one or more in-house bars or lounges on the premises. You can expect a four-star hotel to provide spacious and comfortable rooms with in-house restaurants that offer a "fine dining" experience as well as room service. Five-star hotels should provide you with exceptionally luxurious rooms and surroundings as well as the widest range of guest services, including swimming pools, sports (golf, for example) and exercise facilities.

Even though star ratings primarily reflect physical facilities, most evaluations invariably contain relative elements. For example, you may define "fine dining" differently than a professional evaluator; and a spacious room in New York City may be considerably less spacious than one in Kansas City and considerably more spacious than one in Tokyo. As noted, the same "relativity" applies from one rating system to another. Read descriptions carefully. If hotel amenities are important to you, spend almost as much time researching hotels as you have probably spent researching the golf courses you plan to play.

Finally, consider the objectivity of the source. Find out if the rating results from an evaluation of objective criteria or simply reflects the result of a compilation of customer reviews. Many Internet travel sites base their stars on customer reviews. Sometimes review-based "stars" will give you additional information if you can read some of the reviews. Otherwise, you can assume the rating is something less than objective. It's also worth remembering that these latter sites have a stake in selling you a hotel room. Trust, but verify when you can.