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Stars are also used to classify senior military ranks. See 1 star rank, 2 star rank, 3 star rank, 4 star rank and 5 star rank for more information.

The 4-star Manor House Hotel at Castle Combe, Wiltshire, England. Built as a private house, and dating originally from the fourteenth century, the hotel has 48 rooms and 1.5 km² (365 acres) of gardens.

Stars are often used as symbols for classification purposes. They are used by reviewers for ranking things such as movies, TV shows, restaurants, and hotels. For example, a set of one to five stars is commonly employed to categorize hotels.

Among reviewers of movies, TV shows, theatre, and music, the star system is the most popular classification system. One star generally indicates the worst rating though some reviewers use "No-stars" or "Bomb" to indicate the lowest rating possible. On the other end four or five stars represents the highest rating possible. Some reviewers also allow for increments of ½-stars such as 1½ stars or 3½ stars for example.

Some reviewers do not use the star classification system, instead employing methods such as the letter grade system used by Entertainment Weekly magazine (i.e. D, C+, A-, etc.). Some reviews do not employ any sort of definite rating system, instead leaving the opinion to be expressed by the review itself. Movie reviewers Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert employed a thumbs up/thumbs down system on their television show Siskel & Ebert. They would give a thumbs up to films they liked and a thumbs down to film they disliked. In order to provide nuance to their ratings they might add adjectives to a rating such as "A big thumbs up/down" for a film the really liked or disliked or a "minor thumbs up/down" for a film they just barely liked or disliked. Another alternative classification system used by movie, TV, and theatre reviewers in San Francisco Chronicle involves symbols representing of a movie, TV, or theatre viewer in different states of enjoyment of the presentation. In the highest rating, the character is shown standing on his seat clapping. The next highest features a man sitting in his seat clapping. This is followed by a man just sitting looking attentively at the screen, followed by a man asleep in his seat. At the lowest end is an icon of an empty seat indicating the man has walked out of the presentation.

Restaurant guides and reviewer often use stars to rate restaurants. This was introduced by the Michelin Red Guide. The Michelin system reserves stars for exceptional restaurants, and gives up to three; the vast majority of recommended restaurants have no star at all. Other guides now use up to four or five stars, with one star being the lowest rating. The stars are sometimes replaced by symbols such as a fork or spoon. Some guides use separate scales for food, service, ambience, and even noise level.

The Michelin system remains the most famous star system. A single star denotes "a very good restaurant in its category", two stars "excellent cooking, worth a detour", and three stars, "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey".^[1]

Michelin stars are awarded only for the quality of food and wine; the luxury level of the restaurant is rated separately, using a scale of one ("quite comfortable") to five ("luxury in the traditional style") crossed fork and spoon symbols.

The star classification system is a common one for rating hotels. Higher star ratings indicate more luxury.

The AAA and their affiliated bodies use diamonds instead of stars to express hotel and restaurant ratings levels.

Hotels are independently assessed in traditional systems and rest heavily on the facilities provided. Some consider this disadvantageous to smaller hotels whose quality of accommodation could fall into one class but the lack of an item such as an elevator would prevent it from reaching a higher categorization.^{[citation needed]}

In some countries, there is an official body with standard criteria for classifying hotels, but in many others there is none. There have been attempts at unifying the classification system so that it becomes an internationally recognized and reliable standard but large differences exist in the quality of the accommodation and the food within one category of hotel, sometimes even in the same country.

Some members of the hospitality industry have claimed a six star rating for their operation. One example is the Crown Macau casino, on Taipa Island in the Chinese territory of Macau. Another is the St. Regis Shanghai Hotel in China. The only American six star hotel is South Beach's Setai. The Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast in Australia is described by Australian Traveller magazine as meriting "six star" rating though level of rating is not used in Australia.^[2]

Although the Burj Al Arab currently characterizes itself as the world's only "7-Star Hotel", several "7-Star" hotels are under construction. These include the Morgan Plaza to be finished in Beijing (China) in March 2008, the Flower of the East under construction in Kish, Iran,^[3] The Centaurus Complex under construction in Islamabad, Pakistan^[4] and the Pentominium, a complex planned for Metro Manila in the Philippines.^[5]

The expansion beyond the traditional "five star" rating has led to commentators questioning if it is simply more puffery or sales hype.^[6][7]

• | Slate magazine article mentioning the phenomena of six star hotels

1. ^ (2003) Le Guide Rouge: Paris 2003. Paris, France: Michelin Editions de Voyages, p. 16. ISBN 2-06-100694-9. 
2. ^ "The People's Palace (Hotel Review: Palazzo Versace)", Australian Traveller, date unknown. Retrieved on 2007-01-11. 
3. ^ A mega tourism project to crown Kish by 2010. Flower of the East Project (2006-01-18). Retrieved on 2007-09-12.
4. ^ About us. The Centaurus project. Retrieved on 2007-10-12.
5. ^ "AHN (Southeast Asia's First Seven Star Hotel to Rise in the Philippines)", AHN, 2007-10-09. Retrieved on 2007-10-09. 
6. ^ "Six-star baloney", Cheapflights.com, 2006-03-19. Retrieved on 2007-01-11. 
7. ^ "Stayed at a 7-star hotel lately?", usatoday.com, 2007-04-23. Retrieved on 2007-11-15. 

• Spain hotel rating article
• http://goeurope.about.com/od/hotelstars/
• http://mobiltravelguide.howstuffworks.com/about-the-rating-channel.htm
• French hotel regulations (in French): 0-4 stars
• Table of French hotel standards (in French)
• Hotels and their Star Ratings - What do they mean?