Paris Hotels How to reduce your risk of selecting the wrong hotel
Planning a trip to Paris France? This article, Part One of a Two Part Series will help you understand the star rating system before you book your hotel reservations.
Pop! goes the worthy question.
Among the postings which keep coming back, one stands out in its many variations:
'What does a 3-star rating really mean in Paris?’
‘I just cannot comprehend how this dump got its 3-star rating!’
‘I was expecting much more from a 3-star Paris hotel.’
‘I had picked this hotel because it was a 3-star, but...’
There is indeed a resounding absence of solid information in regards to the meaning of ‘hotel stars’ in France, and well-known travel websites. This vacuum was calling for a full reply.
The meaning of stars in the US
Let me clear something right away. There is absolutely zero relationship whatsoever between the number of stars commercial travel sites award to hotels, and the hotel rating system in use in France.
Commercial travel sites don’t take their cues from the French system, and the latter does not bother with the former’s ratings.
The core business of commercial travel sites is to sell you hotel rooms, flight tickets, car rentals, and cruise packages. They purport to guide your choice by awarding stars to their products.
Whether these sites’ star ratings are free from any mercantile bias is debatable. When you book a room on a commercial travel site, a significant portion of your money goes to the travel site which presents the hotel. On certain well-known travel sites, the hotel can pay as much as 50% of your booking to the site operator.(I will soon publish a report on the topic on my website.)
So in my humble opinion, the objectivity of the number of stars awarded by commercial travel websites to any hotel is a matter of debate.
To make matters worse, each travel website uses its own private rating method. It is practically impossible to compare the ratings given by two websites to the same hotel. Just like comparing apples and oranges. Consumer Report published an interesting article on this problem in their November 05 issue.
In other words, the number of stars awarded by commercial travel sites is not a fully reliable yardstick for selecting a hotel.
The meaning of stars in Paris France
The French hotel rating system works on a completely different set of rules.
It is a standardized system: meaning, all hotels across France are categorized on the basis of a unique system. A 3-star in Paris will have to comply with almost the same criteria as a 3-star in the countryside. Comparability is 98% ensured.
The rating system was not born out of mercantile purposes: it was framed by the French lawmakers. This means that no hotel can be ‘upgraded’ a star or two because it pays a fatter booking commission to a website operator.
Under the law a hotel qualifies for a specific star category, and not for the next one up. Period.
Lastly, and this is the most important factor, the French rating system does not measure quality. It measures quantities. Quality is partly a matter of opinion. Quantities are measurable, verifiable, and quantifiable.
The French hotel rating system uses a total set a 22 criteria and sub-criteria to measure the presence or absence of certain features in the hotel, and the square footage devoted to various spaces. Based on these objective measurements, the hotel is given its stars by the authorities.
The owners may of course remodel their hotel, and apply for an upgrade. The review process will be based on the same criteria as before, and the re-rating will be decided on the basis of compliance with the same objective measurements.
In the next article, we will discuss the main criteria measured in the French rating system.
About the Author:
Phil Chavanne Senior Editor of Paris Eiffel Tower News, a Paris online guide I have maintained since 2002.
