EU Hotels May Soon Be Rated Under Unified Star System

Aiming to ensure transparency, security and fair play, the Hotelstars Union (HSU) is preparing a unified star rating system that will apply to all hotels operating in the EU.

Earlier this year, the HSU announced that a revised set of 250 criteria would take effect as of 1 January 2020.

The current rating system applies only to HSU members. According to Deutsche Welle citing AFP, the catalogue of 250 criteria is expected to be finalized in October, and scheduled to take effect in 2020 through to 2025.

EU member states will have until 1 January 2021 to implement the catalogue.

“With this new classification catalogue, we have achieved our goal of simplifying the criteria and creating even more flexibility and transparency. We have opened them up to new concepts so as not to lose attractivity to the modern hotels that are emerging. But we also protect our traditional, often service-intensive hotels,” HSU President Jens Zimmer Christensen said after a managing board meeting in Helsinki in May.

“We have approached this balancing act in this revision process to give our hotels – from one-star to five-star – the confidence to build on these criteria over the next five to six years,” he added.

The updated catalogue will include a field test of whether all requirements meet expectations while focusing on the function behind each criterion and not only on the hardware.

Some of the areas of importance for securing a good rating include digital services, sustainable and environmentally friendly practices, and innovation.

The aim is to guarantee quality and service for the guest, but also to be in tune with the technological advancements as well as ensure sustainability.

Photo Source: HOTREC

Hotel businesses investing in innovative environmentally-friendly systems such as electric car charging stations or web pages designed for mobile phone users may get more points.

Indicatively, according to Deutsche Welle, in 2019 approximately 8,000 or 40 percent of Germany’s 20,000 hotels went through Hotelstars evaluation process seeking star certification which lasts for three years.

Hotelstars Union operates with the support of HOTREC (umbrella Association of Hotels, Restaurants, Pubs and Cafes and similar establishments in Europe) and its members consist of the hotel associations of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland.

Greece became the 15th member country of the HSU in 2013.