Exclusive Feature: The current surge of new hotels and brands in the lifestyle and high-end market has prompted both long standing participants and new entrants in the professional hotel-critiquing clan to provide a much-desired slice of market transparency.

This assistance may empower consumers to make more informed buying decisions, ideally enabling them to find the absolute best hotel for their respective needs. So far, so good; this is the theory.

On the other side of the equation, hoteliers are granted first-class bragging rights, provided they are mentioned on such lists, ideally securing one of the top spots. Perhaps this delivers the differentiation over their competitive set they have been seeking.

To me, the paramount question is: What occurs behind the scenes of those ratings that result in rankings or classifications? How are hotels evaluated and by whom? What is the weighting of their criteria? And how credible are these assessments in the first place?

With the expanding roster of assessment providers in the hospitality industry, featuring esteemed names such as Forbes, Michelin, 50 Best, LQA (internal evaluation), in addition to various magazines, online platforms, travel writers’ favorite lists, and oversight from local authorities like Karl Wild’s “Die 125 besten Hotels der Schweiz” (The 125 Best Hotels of Switzerland) and “Die 101 Besten” (The 101 Best) for German-speaking countries, the question arises: Where do all these professional hotel inspectors emerge from? How qualified are they?

And what level of qualification is actually required? Which hotel lists should consumers take seriously versus just considering them as nice indicative reads? In this context, we will not be delving into questionable rankings based on guest or non-guest voting.

Here’s the good news: It is actually not rocket science to assess a hotel against, let’s say, 900 standards in about 45 hours. Usually, facilities, service, and emotional intelligence (EQ) are reviewed. While checking facility standards is essentially a book-keeping exercise, assessing human behavior such as guest engagement demands much more experience and a different type of expertise.

Forbes was the first to let the facilities take a back seat in favor of a heavy focus on the human interaction between staff and guest. An excellent move! However, no one wants to stay at a hotel in obvious need of renovation.

At the end of the day, the methodology of all the professional ratings is quite similar. To me, the main differentiator is the weighting of facilities versus human interaction.

However, the methodology of assessments for the public, i.e., the consumer and the hotel’s PR department, versus an internal review can be very different. How so? Internally, there is no need to inform a hotelier about their facilities since they see them every day.

Even the folks in the head office are typically aware. On the other side, consumers need and want to know about the state of the facilities, the furnishings, the decoration, and the technology used. To the consumer, facilities, unique by definition, are the main differentiator, especially when deciding on a hotel for the first time.

So, are ratings, rankings, and classifications truly helpful for consumers? They could be, if kept in the right perspective:

1. Don’t view results as absolute; most are based on an annual snapshot by only one person;
2. Results can vary due to many factors. For example, a hotel may make it onto the 50 Best List but not be good enough for a Forbes Five Star rating, or vice versa;
3. Such lists neither provide real market-transparency nor are the results necessarily representative.
4. Obviously, the smaller the assessed market, the more representative the results can be;
   However, hotels that have made it onto those lists are generally good recommendations and suggestions.

And the hoteliers? I guess they are aware of the flaws of such assessments, love them when they score high, and view them as compliments to guest reviews that pour in on a daily basis.

What’s the most innovative rating methodology? I align with The 101 Best’s approach, which equally weights guest reviews from credible sources, accolades received from reputable publishers of hotel assessments, and expert reviews. It’s an all-encompassing concept that appears to make a lot of sense, covering the most important pillars of hotel evaluation.

The focus on clearly defined markets enables the provision of transparency to consumers, translating into representative and thus credible results. Market transparency is imperative; without it, results remain incomplete and random. Perhaps they might want to consider expanding beyond the German-speaking world?

The bottom line? Don’t blindly trust any ranking you see today, as it could look quite different as soon as tomorrow!

But who knows, perhaps a well-designed and fair rating-system that creates true market transparency has the potential to replace the role of travel agents one day?

Jochen Ehrhardt (jochen.ehrhardt@true5stars.com) is a highly sensitive individual, driven by a profound passion for evaluating and elevating 5-star plus offerings, with a particular emphasis on the emotional aspect of human interactions.

As founder of TRUE 5 STARS, he provides the only online platform showcasing the world's top 1,000 hotels. He has personally visited and inspected over 2,000 of the finest hotels worldwide.

You can learn more about Jochen Ehrhardt and his work at: true5stars.com/advisory

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