HOTELS in FRANCE
The French hotel grading
system
There
are only eleven 5 star hotels in France.
This surprises a lot of people who are impressed with the inflation
of stars attributed to various luxury hotels throughout the world.
But it's true: the French system has long been based on a grid
that goes from no stars to '4 stars luxury' at the top. It
was only in June 2009 that the first five star hotels were
created.
NO STARS - this doesn't really mean a doss-house
or 'hôtel de passe' (a prostitute's hangout),
although it can, but rather an establishment which doesn't
want to be in the system, which doesn't want to be judged
by bureaucrats.
The hotels in this category range from the clean and efficient
roadside motel chains like 'Formule 1', 'Quick Palace' and
'B&B
Hotel' to the dodgy run-down places in the seedy parts of
town by the station.
1 star - usually very bottom-of-the-range cheap
hotels who have failed to invest and refurbish. WC and bathrooms
tend to be in the corridor.
2 star - the great majority of hotels in France.
From simple traveller's hotels beside the station to country
auberges a two-star hotel will have ensuite bathroom (and usually
toilet) with each room. The rooms may be a bit cramped and there
may not be a lift in the building. In the country they will normally
have restaurant and bar facilities. The 'Logis de France' hotels
are usually 2 star.
3 star - These vary greatly in style and facilities,
although the grading system has a complicated appreciation scale
based on room-size, personnel to public ratio, presence of a
night-porter and so on. But they will all have fairly spacious
rooms with ensuite bath and toilet, a lift if more than two floors,
24hr personnel and parking space. The Best Western chain are
usually 3 star - at the upper end.
4 star -
These are the 'good' hotels, the 'international' hotels - Crowne
Plaza, Sofitel etc with spacious
rooms, restaurants and bars, sometimes spa or gym facilities,
multilingual 24 hour personnel and so on found in prime city-centre
or airport locations.
4 star 'luxury' -
or '4 star L' - this grade was created to separate the wheat
from the chaff; to make space
for the ultimate in French hotel experience - the George
V, the Crillon, the Negresco and those marvellous chateaux-hotels
in
Provence or on the coast. These are the hotels we would call
'5 star' in any other country (except perhaps Dubai) but
which the French taxman has perversely labelled 4L. In fact,
these
hotels are considered luxury hotels and so pay a value-added
tax of 19.6% whereas all the other grades get away with a
proletarian 5.5%!
5-star -
the French authorities finally crumbled to the insistant demands
of its luxury hoteliers to follow global trends and
introduce an internationally recognized 5-star label. On 11
June 2009 the first of these were named: in Paris - the Bristol,
le Crillon, le George V et le Plaza-Athénée,
le Renaissance Paris Vendôme,le
Ritz Paris, le Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme et le Marriott
Champs-Elysées. le Fouquet's
Barrière,
le Hyatt Regency, Paris Madeleine and Le Square. Le Burdigala
in Bordeaux and le Royal Evian in the spa town of the same
name were also upgraded as well as six hôtels
in Courchevel: le Mélézin,
les Airelles, l'Annapurna, le Cheval Blanc, le Lana and le
Kilimandjaro.
Another
100 are expected to make the change before the end of the year
2009.
last updated: 3rd July 2009
