Gold Star For Effort

What does the hotel star system mean? Where is it defined?

A while back, in Edinburgh, I stayed in two hotels, opposite each other, both with the same number of stars. So, they both had en-suite, coffee & tea, TV etc.

One had a faux-marble bathroom with power shower, sweeping red-carpeted stairs, and hot chocolate and herbal tea as well as the standard granules and bags. The second had a shower room tacked on, made from a flimsy partition with cheap plastic shower head, barely adequate. Tea & coffee was stale bags and a scale-ridden cheap plastic kettle.

OK, not sure where I’m going with this, but basically, it seems that as long as a hotel has the services and features it claims, it gets the stars. Whether these services are any good is quite another story. A shame really, because I really like staying in British hotels. It’s the only time I ever eat full English breakfasts. (Then I go back to bed to sleep it off).