How and for what are stars assigned to hotels?

What does the star of the hotel say? About the quality of the service or still about compliance with the list of certain parameters and services?

     Yes, the stars are talking about the second, and the requirements in each country are different, there are no global hotel "auditors". That is why a 3 * hotel in Europe can be better than many Egyptian five-star hotels, and a Turkish five-star hotel will be many times better than the same Egyptian five. Note that even in one country the criteria for city and beach hotels are different. And this is quite logical, because if there is a parameter - "first line", then all hotels in Paris or Madrid can not claim the fifth star. It is clear that formally a five-star hotel should be better than a hotel with 4, 3 and even more 2 stars. We understand where the hotel ratings came from?

     You met the subjective feedback of tourists under the popular fives with the words - "what is this five, barely pulls on three stars, there is no variety of food, small rooms, 2 km to the sea," and more. "And last year we rested in 3 * in Nice and there the food was no worse than a meal from a restaurant with three Michelin stars." And it really is.
Why do you think this happens?

     In different countries, the classification of hotels is regulated by law (as is the case in Belgium, Denmark, Spain), tourism departments (France, UK) or hotel associations (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). In many European countries, a single Hotelstars Union system has been in place since 2010, with 270 criteria. Experts come to the hotel and evaluate all the parameters. And according to the results, a certificate is issued: to whom "5 *", to whom "3 *".
By the way, in many countries hotels are not required to be inspected. And most decent hotels, especially private ones, don't have stars that well. They live due to the reputation of the so-called sundress radio, all the same positive reviews and ratings of well-known reservation systems. Which means that in principle, the absence of stars - the same conditional thing as their number.

     With regard to the hotel business in Ukraine, the decision to assign a category or star is made by the Commission for the establishment of categories for hotels and other facilities intended for the provision of temporary accommodation services. The composition of the Commission is formed by GART. Today in Ukraine there are 197 hotels that have a valid certificate, otherwise - a certain number of stars. Among them, 36 hotels correspond to the category of "five stars". The largest number of status accommodation facilities is concentrated in tourist Odessa and the region - 15 hotels. The capital and the Kyiv region received silver, which together have 8 top hotels. For 5 hotels of the same status work in Kharkiv and Lviv, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region (but not in the regional center, and in the area of ​​Bukovel).

     There are even several hotels in the world that are called "seven-star". In fact, let's dispel this myth, it's just competent marketing under the slogan "we exceed all expectations." For example, in Dubai, Burj Al Arab, all rooms are two-story, and the smallest of them - 170 square meters. m. And in Abu Dhabi "Emirates Palace" suites are decorated with natural gold and each room category has its own personal Butler. In 2017, the Signiel Hotel opened in Seoul. It is located in a skyscraper 555 meters high, elevators go there at a speed of 600 meters per minute. Guests can book a helicopter transfer to the hotel, and the hotel bar has the largest collection of champagne in all of South Korea. And the most expensive apartments occupy the entire floor of the skyscraper.

     It is useless to wonder why different countries have different hotel valuation systems - this is the same as asking why different countries have different laws. The main thing is that, in fact, the evaluation systems in different places and different companies are similar. The main indicators for them - the area and number of rooms, the number of services provided, outlet - restaurants, swimming pools, etc.

     And yet, there is no universal, "most correct" rating, just as there are no international standards for hotels. You can find out a more or less universal assessment of an institution by looking at its "people's" rating - for example, on Booking.com or TripAdvisor. There are reviews from guests from around the world, and the scores they give to the hotel are added to the arithmetic mean. For many hotels, a high rating on such a site today is no less important than a rating from a prestigious company. Many people are trying to improve the conditions in their hotel in order to raise their score on Booking.com.

     Summarizing the above, we want to note that if you want to choose the hotel of your dreams, read the reviews of visitors, carefully read the description of the hotel and trust your intuition. When it comes to your tastes and your comfort, no experts and ratings will help you. Because the best expert in this is yourself.