What Is a MICHELIN Guide Hotel?

What is a MICHELIN Guide hotel? Broadly speaking, it's exactly what you think it is.

For over 120 years, the MICHELIN Guide has been renowned for its commitment to identifying high-quality gastronomic experiences. Now we’re applying that same level of passion and expertise to hotels. Our mission is to identify the world’s best and most exciting accommodation – places worthy of being called a MICHELIN Guide hotel – and showcase them on our website and app, where you can discover, save, share and even book them.

At its core, a MICHELIN Guide hotel represents the confluence of style and service. The design has a clear, compelling personality, and the staff are dedicated to your comfort. It’s a cultural ambassador, a place in harmony with its surroundings and reflective of the local identity. It’s reliable, consistent and delivers on the promise of both its price and its listed amenities. It’s a destination unto itself, offering not just a room, but a unique and lasting memory. It’s a break from the everyday; a chance to try out a new life, if only for a night.

Confidence through curation

The MICHELIN Guide hotel selection isn’t just for the curious browser, it’s a useful tool for modern life. In the age of endless scrolls and seemingly infinite options, expert advice and curation is invaluable – a trusted authority with taste like your own, able to separate the wheat from the chaff and identify what's right for you. In this case, the hotels you’ll want to stay in.

The selection currently features over 5,000 options in more than 130 countries, with accommodation for every style and budget. There are lively hotels and quiet hotels. Hotels in metropolises and hotels in the middle of nowhere. Hotels at the cutting edge of modern design and hotels steeped in tradition. There are castles, hostels, tents and ryokans. Hotels in caves, in deserts and even in ghost towns. There are hotels with two hundred rooms atop a city skyscraper, and with two rooms tucked inside an ancient watchtower.

A team of hotel experts

The one common denominator is that each hotel in the selection is evaluated and chosen by MICHELIN Guide hotel experts. They are a team of passionate, independent-minded professionals – the counterparts of the legendary MICHELIN Guide restaurant inspectors.

The hotel team is composed of seasoned travellers and specialists in international design and architecture, service norms and global hospitality cultures. They closely monitor industry trends and publications, and rely on all available resources to unearth hidden gems. They welcome suggestions from the MICHELIN Guide restaurant inspectors, and from MICHELIN Guide users. They all but scour the earth, adding new hotels every week, continually updating and improving the selection.

The five quality criteria

While the selection includes established hotels with international reputations, it also includes recent discoveries and brand new openings. Regardless of age or profile, all have been approved by our experts for meeting The MICHELIN Guide’s five quality criteria for hotels:

1. Excellence in interior design and architecture
2. Individuality, reflecting personality and authenticity
3. Quality and consistency in service, comfort and maintenance
4. An open door to the destination
5. Ability to deliver an extraordinary experience for its price

In addition, special attention is given to hotels that offer first-rate food experiences, as noted by the MICHELIN Guide restaurant inspectors. Commitments to sustainability and social responsibility are also greatly valued.

Keeping the selection reliable

When a hotel no longer meets our standards, it’s removed. This can be done solely at the discretion of the hotel team, or as a result of guest feedback. To help keep the selection fresh and vital, the MICHELIN Guide experts regularly review the post-stay feedback of guests who booked their hotel on the MICHELIN Guide website or app. If several negative ratings are received for a hotel, the experts investigate whether or not it should remain in the selection.

In comments on Instagram, via email or by post, MICHELIN Guide users have repeatedly expressed an unambiguous wish: to access hotel recommendations as dependable as those dedicated to restaurants, and to find accommodation with character and personality that match their own. With those desires as our inspiration, we are proud to offer the MICHELIN Guide hotel selection.

Book hotels with The MICHELIN Guide

Every hotel in the selection can be booked directly through the MICHELIN Guide website and app, which feature the lowest prices, VIP upgrades for Plus members, and concierge-level assistance for every step of your journey.