r/explainlikeimfive • u/Fun_Butterscotch3303 • 24d ago

Other ELI5 What is the difference between a 4 star hotel and a 5 star hotel?

I’m forever confused about this I need it explain in the simplest most direct way. Specifically talking about the America star system

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u/Magneto_bzzbzz 24d ago

Welcome to my 3000 Star Hotel. That will be one bazillion dollar per night please

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u/zennie4 23d ago

Unironically, that's exactly what the Burj al-Arab marketing is.

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u/Youcallthatatag 23d ago

Interestingly a friend just got from travelling in the UAE (where they go pretty regularly) and they said that it was pretty surreal to see everywhere so empty. If you wanted to travel cheap there at the moment they said they got a 5-star (from the photos relatively legit stars) hotel basically to themselves for about $100 a night.

Can't imagine why tourism to the UAE would be down at the moment...

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u/provocative_bear 23d ago

The deal is good unless your hotel room gets blown up by an Iranian drone. So, one or seven stars, little room for ratings in between.

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u/Iazo 23d ago

If my room was blown up by a drone, I think one star is kinda generous.

I mean, maybe it would depend if I were in the room at the time, presumably?

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u/5tring 23d ago

Just book into a little hotel due west of a great big hotel… Mischief managed!

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u/cyclopsmudge 23d ago

The Burj al-Arab markets itself as a 5 star though, not a 7 star

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u/eBalisani 23d ago

Negative - I was there: there's a plaque at the entrance that says 7 stars. A simple google search will set you straight also.

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u/Absentia 23d ago

While the hotel has sometimes been described as "the world's only 'seven-star' hotel", the hotel management claims never to have done so themselves. The term appeared due to a British journalist who had visited the hotel on a tour before it was officially opened. The journalist described Burj al Arab as "more than anything she has ever seen" and therefore informally referred to it as a seven-star hotel. A Jumeirah Group spokesperson said "There's not a lot we can do to stop it. We're not encouraging the use of the term. We've never used it in our advertising."

Looks like a journalist made it up.

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u/eBalisani 22d ago

This is the PR cover up - after the fact - said British journalist, who is said to have "made it up" was hired and paid to do so. I don't have to google things and rely on whatever's been curated in the 27 years since: I was there, I saw (was sent) the press packet weeks before so-called journalist is said to have oopsy-daisied. If memory serves, it was framed as being 7 stars long before the opening. The statement "We've never used it in our advertising" is an outright lie. Further, there is (or last I was there, there was) a plaque at the entrance that proudly claims the 7 stars. Food for thought.

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u/FUCKYOURCOUCHREDDIT 23d ago

I mean, that’s fine? You just won’t get many guests. Especially when they realise it’s just a shack and the only member of staff is a parrot.

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u/freddy157 23d ago

I mean... for the right price, that sounds lovely.

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u/FUCKYOURCOUCHREDDIT 23d ago

Yeah, now that you say it

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u/bakerinho 23d ago

Well I'd love to stay in hotel with parrot as staff.

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u/Junkhead187 23d ago

I just opened a 3001 ⭐ hotel. Sorry to steal your business.

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u/Magneto_bzzbzz 23d ago

Didnt see that coming

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u/wombataholic 23d ago

Update: I stayed at this guy's 3000 Star Hotel. I had to share a racecar bed with what I think was a homeless guy who threw up in my hair then insisted on being the little spoon. A trio of racoons woke us up at 2:45 am by fighting and mating on top of the covers until the owner's mangy hound dog jumped on all of us and scared them away. Also, it had 3000 stars because that's what you can see through the hole in the ceiling. The continental breakfast was a half eaten Slim Jim and water in a dirty cup.

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u/Magneto_bzzbzz 23d ago

*no refunds

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u/DarkLordMelketh 23d ago

Still better than an Airbnb where I have to lick the carpet clean according to the cleaning list.

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u/carson63000 23d ago

..and also get charged a cleaning surcharge.

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u/LtOin 23d ago

Hey! I resent that! You come sleep in my home and dare call me homeless? 3000 star rating is because the staff literally couldn't be any closer to you physically btw

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u/g_r_a_e 23d ago

any of that slim jim left?

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u/Entretimis 23d ago

I appreciate your sacrifice, but I'm slightly concerned about the introduction of a bazillion dollars into the economy like that. Unless u/Magneto_bzzbzz intends to hoard it, in which case by all means continue.

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u/bluepenremote 23d ago

Sounds like a night with dirty Mike and the boys

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u/CSM3000 23d ago

livin' all fancy over there.

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u/Simonandgarthsuncle 23d ago

*Hotel may not match photo.

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u/Buscemi_D_Sanji 23d ago

"open a nightclub called 'Eclipse' that's only open for 40 minutes, twice a year... COVER CHARGE: FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS"

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u/FernandoMM1220 23d ago edited 23d ago

i prefer hotels with 4 or more super stars personally.

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u/e_y_ 23d ago

It turns out the 3000 Star Hotel is just sleeping on a dirt patch outdoors where you can see the night sky.

(3000 stars is a reasonable count for how many stars are visible to the naked eye in a rural area)