The true difference between a 1-star and 5-star hotel
This article might make use of affiliate links, which will be marked by an asterisk (*). By clicking an affiliate link and purchasing the product or service it links you to, you are supporting this website with a small cut of said company's profit. We appreciate your support.
Right off the bat, if you're panicking because your travel partner, spouse, parent, child, etc., just booked a 1-star hotel and now you're trying to figure out what that might mean for the trip, I want to just say that you'll probably be fine. Truth is, the Italy's hotel star-rating system is borderline useless and doesn't, in any way, give you an idea of how nice the hotel will be.
That being said, we're going to explain how the star-system works, and why you don't have anything to worry about!
There are a total of five stars a hotel can be awarded/given. So if you see a 6-star hotel, that's either an advertising ploy, or the name of the hotel.
Second things second, the idea of the star-rating system (as you will see momentarily) works well in a non-historic building. After all, in a historic building, there's not much you can change, especially if the hotel in question isn't the owner of the building and is only renting out some of the floors.
This means, if you're staying in Florence, or the center of Rome, or a cute boutique hotel in Siena, it's not surprising that you might not find anything more than 3-stars since getting that fourth start would require the hotel offering dedicated parking for at least a portion of their lodgers.
Back in the day (pre-2008), each of Italy's regions had their own basis for a star-rating system. And on the surface, this made sense. A 5-star hotel in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, an hour away from the Autostrade might not need to have the same amenities as a 5-star hotel in Rome, so why punish the smaller hotel? However, this minor possibility paled in comparison to the more frequent occurrence of someone booking a 4-star hotel in Rome and a 4-star hotel in Venice, and finding out each of those two places had very different definitions of "4-star". And so, Italy decided to unify their star-rating system (big on unification, Italy is). Nowadays, when you book a 4-star (or any star) hotel in Italy, you can expect the same loose standards across the board.
As one last important note, and something to keep in mind: most smaller sub-4 star hotels tend to be run by a family, or a family with one or two employees. So you might notice that in some of the rankings, you won't get a new towel every day, or a new set of sheets. Which, if you think about it like living at home, would be ridiculous, both for the environment (after all, Only A Bag is the guide to sustainable travel in Italy) and for income. Utilities in Italy are artificially inflated to prevent people from overusing them, but it also means a hotel can't afford to wash everyone's towels or sheets daily and still turn a profit on a 40 euro a night room.
So if you are the type of the hotel traveler to toss the towel on the floor after the shower as a sign to have it cleaned up, you'll only be disappointing yourself (and having to use a wet, balled-up towel).
Now, enough of the teasing, let's get on to what you came here for:
How does Italy's star-rating system work?
There are a fair number amenities or necessities a hotel might need to provide before they're bumped up to the next level, so I won't list them all here. Instead, I'll try and only list the most important things (to me, at least) so you aren't bogged down by all the details.
1-star
Bottom of the barrel, I don't think you can be a 0-star hotel in Italy. Though, you can be unrated, and a number of AirBnB (or VRBO) rooms are.
Reception: Open at least 12 hours a day with a night attendant on-call. Must have luggage service. (I don't think I've ever seen luggage service in any type of hotel, so I'm assuming you can just ask them to bring the bags to your room and it can be done.)
Room Service: Room is cleaned once a day. Towels replaced twice a week (unless otherwise indicated by the guest) and bed linens are changed once a week (unless otherwise indicated by the guest).
Services: Must provide a fax and photocopy machine.
Common Areas: Must have some kind of common room available, typically used for breakfast. Even if breakfast isn't served, there must be a way to purchase food on the premises, even if it's just through vending machines.
Common Bathrooms: Must have one bathroom per every eight beds, if the bathroom is shared. Bathroom facilities must be separated between male and female in common areas (like the lobby).
Rooms: A minimum of seven bedrooms.
Hotel Amenities: Heating.
Room Amenities: Bed, chair, table, light, mirror.
Bathroom Amenities: At least 40% of the rooms must have a private, ensuite bathroom complete with hot and cold water. Must have towels, soap, and an emergency call button (the string hanging from the wall, usually located in the shower).
Notes: As you can see, 1-star hotels are often quite basic. Oftentimes, you'll see hostels that are listed as 1-star. However, be aware that a 1-star hotel might offer much more than what's listed above, but if they can't offer something like more rooms (such as a boutique hotel, for instance), they'll never get another star.
2-star
A 2-star hotel needs to have everything that's listed above plus:
Reception: Available for 12 hours, plus someone on-call, same as above.
Room Service: Room cleaned once a day, towels replaced three times a week, linens twice a week.
Services: Fax and photocopy machine.
Common Areas: Same as above.
Common Bathrooms: One full bathroom for every six beds, rather than eight.
Rooms: Same as above.
Hotel Amenities: Lift for guests in any building with more than two stories. This is common to see in cities like Rome; a hotel might be on the fourth floor, but if all their rooms are on the fourth floor, they don't need to offer a lift. However, they usually will pay rent to the building to allow guests to use the building's lift, if available. Also, heated.
Room Amenities: Same as above.
Bathroom Amenities: Same as above.
Notes: As you can tell, there isn't much of a difference between 1-star and 2-star hotels apart from the amount of rooms that must have ensuite bathrooms and the fact a hotel must have a lift.
3-star
This is where you might see the prices starting to jump a little bit. No more 40 euro a night rooms, this is where they start touching 100 a night in the off-season.
A 3-star hotel needs to have everything listed above plus:
Reception: Reception must be open for 16 hours a day. Someone on-call at night.
Room Service: Same as above.
Bar Service: Don't get too excited. This usually just means they have to offer you a bottle of water.
Breakfast Service: Breakfast has to be offered. Again, don't get to excited. I love the Italians, but wow, they really don't have a great grasp of breakfast.
Foreign Language: Must speak one other language besides Italian. This is a gimme since most hotels will have someone who speaks English, even if it's just the owner's thirteen-year-old.
Services: Fax and photocopy machine. WiFi. Staff uniforms.
Common Areas: Common room (such as a lobby). Breakfast room.
Common Bathrooms: Only in common areas. No more shared bathrooms between rooms.
Rooms: Same as above, but 100% of rooms must have their own bathroom.
Hotel Amenities: Same as above.
Room Amenities: At least 50% of rooms have a safe. Must have a telephone. Otherwise, same as above.
Bathroom Amenities: Same as above, plus hairdryer.
Notes: To disabuse you of any notions of well-dressed porters carrying your bags to your room in a 3-star hotel, a uniform here typically means a t-shirt with the name of the hotel. And while breakfast is going to be offered, I have seen hotels offer prepackaged cornetti (Italian croissants) which is a huge letdown. However, we've also stayed at some lovely 3-star hotels that should easily be 4-star if not for missing one or two necessities (like parking).
Most hotels in Rome are 3-star, so finding one is like finding hay in a hay bale.
4-star
Okay, it's starting to get fancy. But if you're American, this is probably what you're used to in terms of hotels. I once had to stay the night in London (not America, but my point will still stand) and I did so at a run-of-the-mill airport hotel, but I was blown away. Carpeted floors, a bathtub, restaurant, tons of pillows, a TV, room service, this place had everything for 100 pounds a night. That was when I realized I had gotten used to staying in Italian hotels.
A 4-star hotel will have everything the previous iterations have plus:
Reception: Same as above.
Bar Service: There's supposed to be a bar on site with someone available 16 hours a day to help. In my experience, it's usually attached to the restaurant (if there is one), and it's someone from the front desk who will pour a beer or coffee.
Breakfast Service: Same as above.
Room Service: Towels and linens are changed daily when the rooms are cleaned.
Foreign Languages: At least two languages apart from Italian must be spoken.
Services: Same as above, with the addition of parking available for at least 50% of the rooms and a laundry/dry clean service available with a turnaround time of 24 hours.
Common Areas: Same as above, there needs to be at least one eating room (for breakfast and/or dinner).
Common Bathrooms: Same as above.
Rooms: Same as above, 100% of rooms must have their own bathroom.
Hotel Amenities: Same as above plus air conditioning. If you're coming in the summer, and you need A/C, then you can either rely on the 4-star hotels or send a message to any hotel that isn't 4-star to ask about their A/C. Now, a lot of hotels will have little units on the wall, but keep in mind, even if you control the temperature, they can't go that low. In Italy, it's illegal to go below a certain temperature (depending on the season/month).
Room Amenities: Same as above, plus every room must have a safe, WiFi access, a mini-bar, and a TV with satellite.
Bathroom Amenities: Same as above, but this is where we start seeing bathrobes.
Notes: Not much, but as you can tell, a 4-star hotel does jump up significantly from a 3-star in terms of amenities.
5-star
Here we are, the cream of the crop, crème de la crème (which is French, so crema de la crema) of the hotel world.
Reception: 24/7 reception service.
Bar Service: A bar must be available 16 hours a day, with a mini-bar in every room.
Breakfast Service: Must be available along with room service.
Room Service: Same as above.
Foreign Languages: Apart from Italian, three other languages must be spoken.
Services: Same as above, but parking must be available for at least 80% of the customers.
Common Areas: Same as above.
Common Bathrooms: Same as above.
Rooms: Same as above.
Hotel Amenities: Same as above.
Room Amenities: Same as above, but with some sort of sound-proofing.
Bathroom Amenities: Same as above.
Notes: Truthfully, there isn't much separating a 4-star hotel from a 5-star apart from a few more amenities, another language spoken, and what's sure to be a nicer hotel.
Something to keep in mind is that a hotel has to hit every criteria in order to be awarded another star. An amazing hotel that doesn't have parking won't be awarded that fourth or fifth star. Likewise, a hotel that doesn't have adequate WiFi won't be in line for more stars.
So even though you might see a hotel boasting only one star, it doesn't mean it's a terrible hotel. In fact, it might even be a diamond in the rough!
Comments