Hotels and apartments
Fewer and fewer hotels and holiday accommodations with stars
Hotel stars have long displayed the quality of accommodations – but their meaning disappears. Instead, more and more companies rely on online reviews. Why the stars fade.
Fewer and fewer hotels and holiday accommodations are still certified in Germany with stars. As can be seen from figures from the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA) and the German Tourism Association (DTV), the number of classified companies has decreased significantly in recent years. With progressive digitization, information and booking has changed, says the managing director of the DTV, Norbert Kunz. Holiday accommodations are mainly sought on the Internet. Seals of checked quality would be supplemented by users on online portal.
According to the DTV, there were almost 66,000 certified holiday homes or apartments in 2010. Currently it is still almost 23,500. This decline has also been felt in the hotels certified with stars and has dropped to the lowest level of the past 15 years. According to the DEHOGA, a little more than 8,200 hotels with stars were awarded in 2011, and around 6,300 in 2025. The proportion of all hotels in Germany also fell from around 60 percent in 2015 to around 50 percent in 2022.
Tourism researcher: “Reviews have fallen from time”
There was a noticeable decline during the Corona pandemic when many post-classification could not be carried out, the Dehoga said. In general, the number of hotels in Germany is falling due to operating tasks or bankruptcies. However, the association emphasizes that the official German hotel classification remains an orientation and quality system – even in a changing market.
The tourism professor Harald Zeiss does not surprise the dwindling importance of star certificates. “Even if the certifications are adapted: the ratings have fallen from the time,” says the director of the Institute for Tourism Research at the Harz University of Applied Sciences. “Today WiFi plays a much larger role than the room has bid.” The guest could filter a lot more finely online and search for individual criteria. In addition, the effort for hotels is relatively high. “In the end, it is not worth the effort for many.”
dpa
Source: Stern
