The national hotel rating system in France is so “minimalist and basic” that hoteliers can, with little effort required, earn extra stars in the hope of lifting room rates, according to the 34th annual edition of the Panorama of the French Hotel Industry by hotel industry analysts Coach Omnium.
Despite a reform of the government-run Atout France hotel classification system in 2022, little has changed, said Coach Omnium’s founder Mark Watkins.
“The increase from some 40 criteria to over 200 since 2009 does not guarantee anything. … The rating system, its way of applying controls and its many anomalies and shortcomings remain unchanged,” he said.
Watkins added the system imposes “minimalist criteria” that allow a hotel to earn “fake stars ... without effort and without enriching its service.”
Guests are confused, even annoyed, he added.
Ninety-one percent of Paris hotels are rated by this national system and 66% in the provinces, according to Coach Omnium.
Watkins said the main change was the addition of “environmental criteria” to the certification process, something echoed by the French Hotel & Restaurant Association, or Le Groupement des Hôtelleries et Restaurations, which said in a statement that “of particular note is the requirement to implement at least one measure to reduce energy consumption, water consumption and waste, plus measures to reduce the environmental impact of linen management, and introduce waste sorting systems.”
Hoteliers feel many of the new requirements are outdated or irrelevant.
“For our hotel, we chose a 2-star rating instead of the 3 we could have been awarded,” said Cédric Lacombre-Vasseur, general manager of hotel La Bastide de Vaison in the Vaucluse department in Southeast France. “And for many reasons. Ultimately, when you look closely, many points can be ‘bought’ under the guise of false environmental awareness."
Another reason: The hotel would have had to pay up to €2,000 ($2,250) for training to comply with the new requirements for a 3-star hotel.
“Ecology is not financial. There is no sense in being forced to pay that amount to show that we have an environmental commitment, because we are already taking action. We don’t need someone to teach us. So, I prefer not to have the extra star than be a servant to ecology to earn it,” he said.
Stars in their eyes
Watkins believes that under the new criteria essentials are being skipped over.
He said, for instance, a 4-star hotel is not required to have an elevator, while double rooms can be as small as 16 square meters (172 square feet), including the bathroom.
He added many luxury and boutique 4-star hotels in France have rooms as small as 13 square meters, stating that rules allow for a “tolerance” of a further 10% reduction on the room size, including the bathroom.
Atout France, which did not respond to requests for comment, describes the system as “a marker of quality” — and the 2022 changes offered “the occasion to evolve.”
For Watkins, the new star-ratings system has led to a great “unevenness of quality and services” for hotels in the same category. The upshot, he said, is that quality guarantees do not stack up and consumers are often getting a raw deal.
“If the hotels that are certified strictly adhered to the system’s standards, they would never see their guests again, as the standards are so far removed from the expectations of travelers who we regularly survey,” Watkins said.
Stéphanie Gombert, co-owner of the 16-room Château de la Treyne in La Treyne, a village on the Dordogne River, said she faced a “very long list of requirements” to qualify as a 5-star hotel last June.
So long, that she said it was almost off-putting.
She added she found it “unbelievable” that 4-star hotels could have rooms under the 16-square-meter minimum requirement.
Watkins said, “the huge increase in the number of criteria” and “large number of items that are verified” do not mean much.
“They do not necessarily reflect establishments that will appeal to customers, nor are they strictly high-quality,” he said.
As to the system checks, he said, “they are highly questionable in their form and process.”
Michel Tschann, owner of the 128-room Splendid Hotel & Spa in Nice, agreed.
“Today, to get stars, there is an inspection that once was carried out by agents of the state but are now conducted by private firms,” he said.
Online influence
Tschann said he believed Watkins “is largely right” in his statements.
“The old rules required a 4-star hotel to have a restaurant, which is no longer the case, so many 3 stars have been upgraded to 4 stars without any major renovations being carried out,” he said.
Under the reworked rating system, “high-end hotels have poured down like rain," Watkins said.
Data from the French National Institute of Statistics & Economic, or Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques, shows the number of 4- and 5-star hotels has soared from 898 in 2010 to 3,019 in 2025.
Adrien Gloaguen, CEO of Touriste Hotels, which has several 4-star properties in Paris, doesn’t “entirely agree” that the new criteria are more lax.
“They removed a whole host of criteria that had become completely obsolete, such as having a payphone at reception, and no Wi-Fi requirements,” he said, adding he agreed the new system allows many hotels to continue to offer small rooms while jumping up in rating.
“These new criteria emphasize services, which allows a hotel with small rooms in less convenient locations to still earn more stars by offering many more services,” he added.
Watkins said he believed it created a “fictitious move upmarket, because the star rating has become ineffective and obsolete.”
With the extra requirements, more hotels are snubbing labels and qualifications, he said. He feels the system is losing credibility, with consumers switching to rely more on a hotel’s online reputation.
For Château de la Treyne’s Gombert, the stars still have their place. But in the end, she said, it’s the customer feedback that counts most.
“A property that promises the earth and doesn’t live up to it will quickly receive negative reviews,” she said.