Hotelstars Union Criteria: The 2025–2030 Guide to European Hotel Classification

GoAudits does not classify hotels and is not affiliated with the Hotelstars Union.

More than 22,000 hotels holding 1.2 million rooms across Europe carry a star rating from the Hotelstars Union, and every one was awarded the same way: a fixed list of mandatory requirements, plus a points total the property had to clear. Both tests have to be passed.

The 2025–2030 criteria catalogue is a public document setting out all 239 criteria, the points each one carries, and the threshold for every star category. Working through it is the difference between guessing at your category and knowing it.

This guide covers what the Hotelstars Union is, which countries use it, how the 239 criteria and the points system work, what the 2025–2030 revision changed, and how to prepare for the on-site audit.

What is the Hotelstars Union?

The Hotelstars Union is a partnership of European national hotel associations that classifies hotels from one to five stars using a single shared criteria catalogue. Founded in 2009 under the patronage of HOTREC, the umbrella body for European hospitality, it has operated since 2021 as an association under Belgian law, headquartered in Brussels.

The name appears in several forms. Hotel Star Union and European Hotelstars Union refer to the same organisation, abbreviated HSU in its own documentation.

The point is comparability. Before the scheme existed, a four-star hotel in Prague and one in Vienna were judged against unrelated national rules.

Which Countries Use the European Hotelstars Union Classification?

Twenty-two European countries are members, with four more holding observer status: Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland.

Several major European markets sit outside the scheme:

• France classifies hotels through Atout France.
• The United Kingdom uses the AA and national tourist board schemes.
• Italy, Spain and Portugal run national or regional systems.
• Finland and Norway have no star classification at all.

If your property is in one of those markets, the criteria do not apply, though they remain a useful benchmark.

Is Hotelstars Union Classification Mandatory or Voluntary?

It depends on the country. In some member states, classification is written into tourism law and administered by a government body. In others, it is a voluntary industry scheme run by the national hotel association, and a hotel can trade legally without applying.

Malta shows how blurred the line can be. It joined in 2012 through both its government tourism authority and its main hospitality association. Check with the national association for your country: whether classification is obligatory, what it costs, and how often you are re-audited are all set nationally.

How Hotelstars Union Classification Compares to Other Rating Systems

Classification is not a brand standard or a luxury rating, and European hotels under a chain flag are usually subject to more than one at once.

	Hotelstars Union	National schemes outside HSU	Brand standards	Michelin Keys
Who awards it	National associations, shared European catalogue	National bodies (Atout France, the AA)	The brand or a third-party assessor	Michelin inspectors
What it measures	Facilities and services against 239 criteria	Nationally defined criteria	Contractual operating requirements	Subjective assessment of the stay
Who requests it	The hotel applies	The hotel applies	Required by the franchise agreement	Nobody; selection is Michelin’s
Geography	22 European countries	Single country	Global	Global
Announced?	✅ Scheduled audit	✅ Yes	⚠️ Usually	❌ No

The classification does not replace brand obligations: a European Marriott property still faces its Marriott BSA audit schedule regardless of its star count. For how classification sits alongside your internal rulebook, see our guides to hotel standards, Michelin Keys, and Forbes hotel standards.

How do the Hotelstars Union Criteria and Points System Work?

Every classification is decided by two tests, and a hotel has to pass both. It must meet every mandatory criterion for the category it wants, and it must reach a minimum points total. Passing one and failing the other means no award at that level.

This is the most misunderstood part of the system. Meeting all the mandatory requirements for four stars does not make a hotel a four-star hotel. The points still have to be there.

The 2025–2030 criteria catalogue contains 239 criteria across seven sections, each worth between 1 and 20 points.

Section	Covers
General Hotel Info	Cleanliness, upkeep, staff, parking, accessibility
Reception and Services	Reception hours, luggage, laundry, safekeeping, room cleaning
Rooms	Room and bathroom size, beds, furniture, power, technology, amenities
Food and Beverages	Beverages, minibars, bar, breakfast, room service, restaurants
Event Facilities (MICE)	Banquet capacity, conference rooms and services
Leisure	Sport, spa, pools, childcare
Quality and Online Activities	Complaints, reviews, quality systems, website, sustainability

Rooms is the largest section at 120 criteria. Reception and Services carries the single heaviest item, at 20 points for a 24-hour staffed reception.

Cleanliness and proper upkeep carry no points at all. They are mandatory at every level, one star to five. A hotel cannot buy its way past a dirty bathroom, which is the principle underpinning most hotel service quality frameworks.

Those zero-point criteria are the ones worth watching, because they are the easiest to lose and the hardest to notice. Nobody schedules a review of whether the property is clean. A recurring inspection does it for you: a hotel housekeeping inspection app turns the mandatory list into a weekly walk-through with a photo against each item, so a slow decline shows up as a falling score rather than as an auditor’s comment.

How Many Points Do You Need for Each Hotelstars Union Star Rating?

	⭐ 1 star	⭐⭐ 2 stars	⭐⭐⭐ 3 stars	⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 stars	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 stars
Minimum points	95	180	270	410	610
Mandatory criteria	49	52	74	91	113
Superior threshold	180	270	410	610	710

The jumps are uneven. Two stars to three costs 90 points. Three to four costs 140, and four to five costs 200.

What is a Superior Hotel?

A Superior hotel has scored well beyond the points threshold for its star category but does not meet the mandatory criteria of the category above. The designation recognises properties offering a higher level of service than their star count suggests.

The thresholds line up with the next tier. A three-star hotel needs 410 points for three-star Superior, the same total a four-star hotel needs. What it lacks is the four-star mandatory list. Superior is assessed during the normal audit rather than applied for separately.

Which Hotels Can Apply for a Hotelstars Union Classification?

Any hotel operating in a member country can apply through the national association that administers the scheme there. There is no size threshold, chain requirement, or minimum trading history.

• Independent Hotels: For a property with no flag behind it, classification is often the only externally verified quality signal available.
• Boutique and Unusual Properties: The Special Concepts strand covers properties outside the conventional template, so an unusual layout is not automatically a barrier.
• New Openings: Some national bodies expect the property to be trading first. Building the criteria into a fit-out specification is far cheaper than retrofitting.

Can a Hotel Get a Hotelstars Union Rating Without a Restaurant?

Yes, up to four stars. Properties serving breakfast only, described in the catalogue as hotel garni, can be classified at one to four stars but cannot reach five.

The trade-off is built into the points. Because the room service and restaurant criteria do not apply, the threshold drops by 20 points in every category, so a three-star hotel garni needs 250 rather than 270. These properties must also make the absence of a restaurant clear in how they advertise themselves.

What Changed in the Hotelstars Union Criteria for 2025–2030?

The criteria count fell from 247 to 239. The current catalogue took effect on 1 January 2025 and runs to the end of 2030, replacing the 2020–2025 edition. Criteria are reviewed at least every five years, so the next revision is already scheduled.

The direction of travel is toward how hotels actually operate now, particularly on staffing.

Area	What the catalogue now allows	What it means operationally
Reception	Self-check-in substitutes for staffed hours at lower tiers, and reduces required presence at higher ones	Overnight desk cover can be cut without losing the category
Room service	12-hour food and beverage service scores 10 points, 24-hour service 15	Round-the-clock kitchen cover is no longer the only route to points
Minibars	A maxibar or 24-hour self-service shop replaces an in-room minibar	Removing minibars no longer costs the criterion
Breakfast	A serviced buffet is mandatory only at five stars	Four-star properties have more freedom in how breakfast is delivered
Restaurants	Restaurants score per concept, daily opening rewarded at the top tier	A restaurant closed two days a week is no longer automatically a problem
Housekeeping	Weekly linen change mandatory at all levels, extra changes on demand at four and five stars	The baseline now matches what guests expect

Do the 2025–2030 Hotel Star Rating Criteria Reward Sustainability?

Yes, and more heavily than any other single item in the catalogue. Some hoteliers have criticised the revised criteria on sustainability grounds, arguing that classification enforces wasteful service conventions rather than rewarding environmental performance.

The catalogue tells a different story. Criterion 238, holding a recognised sustainability label aligned with the EU Green Claims Directive, is worth 20 points. Nothing in the catalogue is worth more. Publishing a carbon footprint under the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative adds 10, and an electric vehicle charging station is worth 10 on its own.

The fair criticism is that these are optional rather than mandatory, so a hotel can reach five stars with no sustainability credential at all. But the claim that the system penalises environmental performance does not survive contact with the points table.

How to Prepare For a Hotelstars Union Classification Audit and Keep Your Rating

The on-site audit verifies a declaration you have already made. You complete a digital survey form stating which criteria your property meets, the national body evaluates it, and an auditor visits to check the property matches the paperwork. Preparation and declaration are the same job, which is why guessing on the form is the most expensive mistake available.

1. Application and Survey Form: Apply to your national association and declare which of the 239 criteria you meet.
2. Preliminary Evaluation: The classification body reviews the declaration and calculates the indicative category.
3. On-site Audit: An auditor visits to verify the declaration and assess the condition of the property.

Before submitting anything, run the Hotelstars Union Quick Check, a free tool that tests your property against the minimum criteria and indicates a likely category.

The survey form is where most of the risk sits. You are declaring, criterion by criterion, what your property does, and the auditor’s job is to check whether that was true. Filling it in from memory is guesswork. Filling it in from a year of dated inspection records, with photographs attached to individual criteria, is not. That evidence trail is the difference between a declaration you can defend and one you hope nobody tests.

What Happens If You Miss a Mandatory Hotelstars Union Criterion?

Missing a single mandatory criterion blocks the category outright, regardless of points. A hotel sitting at 450 points, comfortably past the 410 required for four stars, is still not a four-star hotel if one item on the 91-criterion mandatory list is unmet on the day.

Remediation rules are set nationally. Some associations allow a hotel to correct a shortfall within a defined window; others classify against what the auditor found. The failure mode is almost always the same: something declared on the form that was not true on the day.

Where are the Easiest Points in the Hotelstars Union Criteria Catalogue?

Quality and Online Activities. The section holds only ten criteria but carries 68 points, and not one requires construction work or a capital budget.

• Recognised sustainability label: 20 points
• Quality management system to ISO 9001 or equivalent: 15 points
• Carbon footprint published under HCMI: 10 points
• Documented mystery guest assessment, commissioned by the hotel: 5 points
• Mobile-responsive website with direct booking: 5 points
• Actively inviting departing guests to leave a review: 5 points
• Systematic review analysis: 3 points
• Guest reviews displayed on your website: 3 points
• Systematic complaint management: 1 point
• Bilingual website with bed sizes, real photographs and transport information: 1 point

68 points is roughly half the gap between three and four stars, sitting in the section most hotels ignore because it is not bricks and mortar. Compare that with the cost of buying 30 points through larger rooms.

Three of those criteria are record-keeping rather than investment. Systematic complaint management, systematic review analysis, and a documented mystery guest assessment all require you to show the process exists and has been running.

GoAudits hotel inspection app holds that record: scheduled recurring checks, scored results over time, and findings assigned to a named owner with a deadline. Eight points for work you are probably doing already but cannot currently prove.

Which Department Owns Which Criteria

The catalogue is written by section, but the work is done by department. Mapping one to the other is how preparation stops being a management project and becomes operational routine.

Department	Catalogue sections	Typical criteria owned
Front office	Reception and Services	Reception hours, luggage service, safekeeping, guest directory
Housekeeping	Rooms	Cleaning frequency, linen and towel changes, amenities, bed condition
Maintenance	General Hotel Info, Rooms	Upkeep of fittings, lift, air conditioning, noise protection, lighting
Food and beverage	Food and Beverages	Breakfast format, bar opening, minibar or kiosk, room service hours
Leisure and events	MICE, Leisure	Conference room specification, spa and pool facilities, childcare
Management	Quality and Online Activities	Complaints, review analysis, website, sustainability certification

Here are some free hotel audit checklists to help you get started:

• Hotel Housekeeping Checklists
• Valet Parking Checks
• Hotel Front Desk Checklist
• Laundry Checklist for Hotel
• Hotel Room Cleaning Checklist
• Hotel Room Amenities Checklist
• Minibar Checklist
• Hotel Breakfast Service Audit
• Pool Safety Checklist
• Hotel Maintenance Checklists

Two departments carry most of the risk. Housekeeping owns the largest section in the catalogue, and maintenance owns the criteria most likely to drift quietly between audits. Build both into your Hotel SOPs so the checks survive a change of staff.

This matters because classification is not a one-off event. It lasts for a set period and is then re-audited, so the standard has to hold for years, not for the fortnight before an auditor arrives.

Hôtel de Crillon, a Rosewood Hotel in Paris, runs exactly this pattern: corporate-built checklists deployed across the Rosewood portfolio, with property teams completing daily, weekly and monthly self-assessments. Their housekeeping team completed 150 audits and reached scores of 100% on their two most important checks.

GoAudits helps our teams realise where they need to improve on the standards in order to achieve an excellent level of service. Managers can work on Action Plans using the reports generated by the platform.

Manon Lott, Quality Manager, Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel

Frequently Asked Questions