Can you please explain the "star rating" for hotels in Paris, France?

Question

Please give as detailed of an explanation as possible:

What does "1 Star" mean?

What do "2 Stars" mean?

"3 Stars"?

Answer 1

1-2 star is consdiered budget, 3 is average, 4 is good and 5 is luxury

Answer 2

I recently went to Paris and decided not to get my hotel through internet.  What a big mistake. I went door to door to many of the hotel.  Most hotels were booked, cause of a convention.  Do Not stay at a 1 or 2 star hotel.They are so horrible. I went inside a 2 star hotel: extremely narrow stairway to go upstairs to your room, the elevator only allowed 1 person at a time.  The rooms were disgusting with no toilet or shower, we were better off sleeping in our car. These hotels were creepy.  Most 2 and 3 star hotels do not have bathrooms or showers in the room.  You either have to use a public shower in the hotel.  So the most important in booking any rooms in Paris, make sure that you have your own private toilet and shower INSIDE your room.  

The 2 and 3 star hotels are usually for young bagpackers.  We ened up staying at a 3 star hotel, clean, nice, own toilet and shower, but the young teens who were staying there, were partying all night, which kept us up all night.  Most of the nicer hotels, with reasonable prices are near the Eiffel Tower.  Stay away from Gar du no area.  So do your research.

Answer 3

The French hotel rating system does not measure quality per se .

Rather, it uses 22 measurement criteria to assess the presence or absence of certain features in the hotel.

Some of the criteria used are:

Room sizes and numbers

Room soundproofing

Heating and air-conditioning

Design of bathroom facilities

Phone system

Electrical equipment

Elevators

French law defines the following star ratings:

- 0 étoile : confort limité  (limited comfort)

- 1 étoile : confort moyen ( average comfort)

- 2 étoiles : bon confort (good comfort)

- 3 étoiles : grand confort (great comfort)

- 4 étoiles : très grand confort (very great comfort)

- 4 étoiles luxe : haut de gamme (top-of-the-range)

The full law can be found (in French naturally) here: http://www.drakkaronline.com/Rubriques/h...

Because the star rating system addresses only the presence or absence of systems and does NOT address subjective criteria such as service (or cleanliness for that matter) to produce a strictly defined numerical rating it is, in my opinion, utterly useless.

A "Three Star" Hotel can be an absolute pit with surely staff and mold on the walls while a "One Star" might lack an elevator and dining room but be clean and friendly.

The only way to find out the real quality of a hotel is to either stay there or ask someone who has stayed there.

NB: Contrary to what the responder below states there are many wonderful 1 and 2 star hotels. Of course, not one of them will be anything like the Holiday Inn in Omaha.