Hotels across Europe are removing two ‘free’ items from tourists’ rooms due to new rules

New rules have been announced for hotels across Europe that will change the way star ratings are determined and remove certain ‘free’ items from guests’ rooms.

The Hotelstars Union (HSU) has revised its star rating system in light of ongoing hotel staffing challenges and to make hotels more sustainable by removing certain ‘unnecessary items’ that are typically provided free of charge to customers.

The new criteria are expected to come into effect from January 2025 in the 21 European countries that are members of the HSU. This includes holiday destinations popular with British tourists such as Greece, the Netherlands, Malta, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Poland and Switzerland.

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The HSU sets the criteria that hotels in the member states must meet in order to achieve certain star ratings between one and five stars. The catalog currently contains 247 different checkboxes, including offering safes in the rooms, minibars, cosmetic products such as shower caps, hairdryers and laundry services – but this will soon be reduced to 239 elements.

The changes include recommendations for cleaning mattresses to extend their life and reducing “free” items in rooms, such as sewing kits and shoe shine kits. Change of bed linen and towels is also provided only upon guest request.

Due to staff shortages across Europe, the revised criteria provide for the reduction of mandatory reception and room service hours. Fully automated check-in and check-out services will be available mainly in the one and two star categories.

According to Hotelstars, sustainability, workforce challenges and the continued digitalization of the hotel sector were the reasons for the changes. According to the Greek press, eliminating outdated criteria, integrating sustainability measures and improving guest experiences would be the main priorities.

Member States have been urged to implement the new rules by January 1 next year. The hotel classification system is revised every five to six years.

The full list of Member States includes Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland.