Hotel Ratings

There are only three hotels in the world that are seven star hotels; the Town House Galleria in Milan was the first, followed by the Burj Al Arab[citation needed] in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. These ratings are merely to create a marketing hype as the highest official ratings in Dubai and Italy, for instance, are five stars

There are a few other seven star hotels under construction. These include the Laucala Island in Fiji, Morgan Plaza to be finished in Beijing, China, the Flower of the East under construction as well as the Solar Powered Hotel on Kish island, Iran.

The Centaurus Complex under construction in Islamabad, Pakistan, the Grand Chola in Chennai (India), a complex planned for Metro Manila and The Royalties Castle for Davao City in the Philippines. Taj Hotel in Mumbai, India is also a seven star.

Food services, entertainment, view, room variations such as size and additional amenities, spas and fitness centers, ease of access and location may be considered in establishing a standard.

The more common classification systems include 'star' rating, letter grading, from 'A' to 'F', diamond or simply a 'satisfactory' or 'unsatisfactory' footnote to accommodation such as hostels and motels. Systems using terms such as Deluxe/ Luxury, First Class/ Superior, Tourist Class/ Standard, and Budget Class/ Economy are more widely accepted as hotel types, rather than hotel standards.

Some countries have rating by a single public standard - Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Hungary have laws defining the hotel rating. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland the rating is defined by the respective hotel industry association using a 5-star system - the German classifications are Tourist (*), Standard (**), Comfort (***), First Class (****) and Luxus (*****) with the mark Superior to flag extras beyond the minimum defined in the standard. This system has influenced the European Hotelstars rating system.

In France, the rating is defined by the public tourist board of the department using a four star system (plus "L" for Luxus) which has changed to a 5-star system from 2009 on. In South Africa and Namibia the Tourism Grading Council has strict rules for a hotel types granting up to 5 stars.