What your hotel's star rating really means

Drafting your vacation budget can often seem like a complex calculus on where to spend and where to save. Your two largest expenses for any holiday are going to be transportation and lodging. Slimming those two items will make the most impact on your overall expenses. 

I’m Melissa Yeager, Lonely Planet’s destination editor for the Western USA and Canada. My biggest secret for trimming that lodging budget? Reading through star ratings and reviews to book what I call the magic three-star hotels. 

How star ratings work

To understand my hack, you need to understand how hotel rating systems work. Many people think that star (or hotel class) ratings show the quality of a hotel, specifically a property's comfort or cleanliness. And yes, they can indicate those things but not always.

Keep in mind that no worldwide star rating or universal standard exists. There are a ton of different rating systems out there – some enforced by local governments, some created by private entities (like Michelin and AAA, which use dots or diamonds instead of stars).

Star ratings also differ from customer reviews – often also displayed as stars – on booking sites or Google.

What I’ve observed is that to keep an even playing field, many star ratings evaluate the type of rooms, amenities and services available at that property. Cleanliness and comfort can be included as factors, but often aren’t. (A side note: most sites do post their star rating methodology, so click on that if you want more information.)

But if you’ll allow me to generalize here, given the range of star ratings, here’s typically how they break down:

⭐️ You’re basically getting a bed. Often it is BYOB (bring your own bedding, towel and toiletries). You may not have a private bath. Hostels often fall into this category.

⭐️⭐️ Here, you’re getting perhaps a private room and bath. You probably have some bedding included, but few other amenities aside from soap and towels. You may have some front desk service with limited hours.  

⭐️⭐️⭐️ At this level, you’re starting to see more hospitality and better quality of rooms and bedding. This type of lodging often has amenities like on-site dining and perhaps a pool. Again, you'll have desk service, but it may have limited hours. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Here, you’ll have an elevated property with more luxurious bedding and more consistent amenities like gyms, laundry service, on-site dining, spas and 24-hour desk services. These properties hover near luxury but are not quite there yet – often due to a lack of amenities or service that isn’t quite flawless (yet). 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ At this level, you'll find the peak of luxury. Larger rooms, luxury bedding and everything you could possibly want without leaving the property – spa, multiple restaurants, gym, room service, laundry, baggage, etc. At this level, you can be fairly confident the star rating also indicates quality of service that is consistently high and personalized. At this level, you can expect flawless service that anticipates a guests' needs before they even know they need something.

Don’t sleep on three-star hotels

As a travel editor, I consistently see many excellent family-owned properties end up in the three- to four-star range solely because they can’t provide all of the amenities required for the next service level. For instance, it can be hard logistically for a family-owned property to provide 24-hour desk service or amenities like a pool (which can be expensive to insure). 

If you’re trying to trim your budget, consider whether you really need all the amenities you’re paying for. Sure, a five-star hotel might be spectacular, but if you’re spending most of your time away from it, is it worth it? A three-star hotel might suffice. 

Here’s a great example: I recently stayed at the Hotel Renegade in Boise, Idaho. It’s a boutique property that absolutely took my breath away with its copper tubs and comfortable, Western-inspired decor. It has a lively rooftop bar, restaurant and coffee shop. The room felt very luxurious, so I was shocked but not surprised when I did some further research on the property and realized it only has 3.5 stars. I imagine this is because it doesn’t have a pool or on-site spa (though there is a Drybar nearby.)

So how do I find those three-star gems?

As an editor, I have to brag about our guidebook writers. These are exactly the types of properties they track down when they hit the road to research. They visit every property when they write our guidebooks, so they know what each looks like on the ground. Your cheat code is to simply look for our recommendations and match your needs with the amenities offered.

If you’re searching on your own, let me offer my personal formula: three-star rating plus a consistently large number of raving customer reviews highlighting specific details and memories. 

When I comb through reviews, I’m looking for consistency and ones that mention key words like cleanliness, value and hospitality. I look for reviews that describe unique features and experiences of the property. Most of all, I take note when people say they had a memorable stay and they plan to return or recommend the lodging to others. 

Then, I compare those notes to the amenities the property provides compared to what I need and my budget and voilá! The perfect equation for a magical three-star stay.