British hotels to lose their star appeal

25.01.2011

Farimah Darbyshire

I love holidays and, indeed, I love the process of booking holidays. So I was really interested to read that the Government could scrap the traditional star rating system for British hotels. Today, ministers have said that reviews from websites, such as TripAdvisor, offer more accurate and reliable information than, and should replace, the current one-to-five-star system.

This proposed “give consumers the control” shake up is, of course, not without opposition. Many hotel owners complain of unfair reviews on travel websites. For example, Duncan Bannatyne is considering legal action against TripAdvisor following a ‘dishonest’ review of one of his hotels.

Change is inevitable

Whatever new proposed system might be introduced in the Government White Paper, I would imagine (and I would hope!) that it would not simply be a case of hotels directly linking their formal status to a site such as TripAdvisor. And hopefully there would be a more sophisticated mechanic to help protect hotel owners from malicious reviews.

But, it’s not worth fighting the change. These Government suggestions are far from radical, and are just formalising what’s already happening. How many people now book a hotel purely on how many stars they have? I’ve just been on a three week holiday, and I checked every single place I stayed against at least two review sites. And with the increasing popularity of social media sites, such as Quora, this trend for seeking advice is only set to increase.

A milestone in the new consumer democracy

One thing’s for sure – the entire hospitality industry is going to have become a lot more savvy on the social media front. Hotels will need to be monitoring and tracking negative feedback in real time to nip potential problems in the bud. While, at the same time, engaging with and encouraging happy customers to post a positive review.   

The proposed revamp of a long standing ‘star’ system is just another milestone in the new consumer democracy we live in. And I am pretty sure that this move marks the start of a broader shift away from state-sanctioned assessments.