'''Hotels''' provide private serviced rooms for guests. They range from very basic budget-style to extremely luxurious accommodation.
There is considerable variation and many frills within these basic types, the rule of thumb being that the more you pay, the larger your room becomes. Some business-oriented hotels offer an '''executive level''', where a steep premium gets you access into an airline-style lounge and typically some perks like "free" Internet access or pay-per-view movies. Naming for these rooms varies, with eg. the Kuala Lumpur Hilton dubbing even its cheapest rooms as "Deluxe" and the next category up being "Executive" — but you need to upgrade one more step to an "Executive Suite" if you want to actually get the executive level perks. Some hotels are now taking an active stance on being smoke free.
Hotels may additionally offer meal service included in the price. Common terms include:
The guide below is by necessity a generalization, as star ratings are awarded by each country according to their own rules, and the difference between a 3-star and a 4-star may be something as obscure as having a minibar in each room. It's also worth noting that star ratings are often 'sticky', in the sense that once awarded they're rarely taken away: a four-star built last year is probably still pretty good, but a four-star opened in 1962 and never renovated since may well have turned into a dump.
Note also that the ratings are weakening as marketers misuse them. The original Michelin star scale for restaurants only went up to three stars, which meant restaurants worth making a special trip for. Two stars were worth a detour, one a stop. The ''Mobil Travel Guide'', which covers all of North America, awarded the Five Star rating to only 32 hotels in 2006, but that does not prevent dozens of hotels from claiming to be "five star". Most are more like Mobil's defintion [http://www.superpages.com/articles/mobil_ratings.html] of three star "Well-appointed establishment, with full services and amenities" or four star "Outstanding-worth a special trip".
See also Rating systems.
The notion is that a hotel can be six or seven stars is a joke among travel professionals since most respectable hotel rating systems do not give out a rating higher than five stars. The consensus is since so few hotels really can achieve the five star rating then there shouldn't be a rating higher than five stars.
An example of a popularly known "seven star" hotel is Dubai's [http://www.burj-al-arab.com/ Burj al-Arab]. It's certainly one of the most luxurious hotels in the world (as awarded earlier by Conde Nast Traveller Magazine), and is also officially the tallest hotel in the world. In reality, it is a 5 star deluxe property (the popular seven star status is not often corrected in the media, though).
The five-star hotels is the quintessential '''luxury hotel''', offering thrills above and beyond the actual needs of the travel. They have restaurants and night spots that are world class, with food and entertainment that draw non-guests to sample it too.
Five-star hotels also tend to have opulent and expensive decorations; fancy gyms, swimming pools and spas. Major five-star chains compete to offer the most ludicrous thrills imaginable: Loews offers dog-walking services, while Conrad will let you order from a menu of pillows. Needless to say, all this comes at a steep price, and you're unlikely to be able to justify the expense of a five-star for ordinary business travel. The other downside to five-stardom is that hotels that ''can'' jump through all the hoops to achieve the rating are likely to be large and impersonal.
'''Major chains''': Orient-Express Hotels, Conrad (Hilton), [http://www.panpacific.com/ Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts], St. Regis, Le Meridien and W (Starwood), Intercontinental, JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton (Marriott), Shangri-La, Mandarin Oriental, Sofitel, Four Seasons, Regent, Langham International
The four-star hotel is a '''good business hotel'''. Everything works smoothly, there's Internet in every room, a well-equipped business center, they'll arrange your airport transfer and room service is palatable and only somewhat expensive. And your boss will probably not faint when they see the bill.
'''Major chains''': Hilton, Marriott, Novotel, Crowne Plaza (Intercontinental) [http://www.northcyprushotels.net Cyprus Hotels]
Three-star hotels are '''solid but dull'''. Your room will have an attached bathroom and there's probably a restaurant downstairs and 24-hour reception service.
'''Major chains''': [http://www.ibishotel.com Ibis], [http://www.mercure.com Mercure] (two Accor hotels brands), Courtyard by Marriott, Holiday Inn [http://www.hotelsempati.com Cyprus Hotels]
Two stars means '''no-frills hotel'''. In most countries two stars means that your room probably has its own bathroom and there's probably a TV and telephone in your room, but rooms are bare-bones and you're unlikely to want to spend any more time than strictly necessary inside.
'''Major chains''': Comfort Inn, Motel 6, Super 8 and Etap
You don't see many of these, and with reason. One-stars are not just no-frills, but often '''downright dodgy''': rooms are barely functional, shared bathrooms are somewhere down a corridor and the painted ladies from the all-hours karaoke bar next door dance the horizontal tango all night long in the room next to yours.
Unrated hotels are a mixed bag. Most, it is safe to say, are hotels that are either too dodgy to achieve even the meager requirements of a one-star — or, alternatively, too small and personal to be able to offer (say) 24-hour room service, although the service and amenities offered are otherwise of five-star caliber.
There are also selective hotel groups for smaller properties that generally select for high quality, boutique hotels. These include:
In many cities, there is one famous old hotel, usually going back to the Victorian era, that was historically ''the'' place to stay. Of course, the newer luxury hotels may have better facilities, but the old place has cachet. See Grand old hotels.
International brands are a popular choice with business travellers, as they generally offer standardized predictability. The downside for leisure travel is that they are rarely very exciting or exotic, and there can still be considerable variation within the brand.
The following lists ''major international hotel brands'' only, with over 500 hotels in multiple countries. Local chains can be found in individual country articles.
Some hotel chains, particularly in the luxury segment, operate programs that do not award points, but offer frequent guest recognition with added value benefits such as complimentary room upgrades, restaurant and spa discounts, and additional amenities in recognition of the loyal guest.
Hotel co-branded credit cards are a common strategy for earning hotel loyalty points and benefits when not staying at hotels.
An additional incentive for a hotel frequent guest is premium membership. Each corporate hotel loyalty program has its own criteria for elite membership. Hotel loyalty program elite membership is generally earned by a frequent guest when certain thresholds are met for the number of hotel stays, hotel nights, or money spent. A hotel stay is defined as consecutive nights at same hotel under same name, regardless of the number of different reservations.
Elite membership in a hotel loyalty program is generally based on activity within a calendar year. Sleep at the loyalty program member hotels for sufficient nights or stays, or spend enough money and you'll get a silver/gold/platinum/diamond hotel program membership card entitling you to various perks, such as hotel points bonuses, lounge access, free upgrades, guaranteed rooms, etc. High level elite membership in the major hotel chain loyalty programs, generally with the benefit of complimentary room upgrades, takes between 25 and 75 hotel nights in a 12-month period.
Some of the better-known hotel loyalty programs are: