The renovation of the building itself has already started," said a manager who took over a hotel renovation project in an old building a few months ago. But we haven't yet negotiated with the owner whether the hotel will be 'star-rated' in the future. Being rated as a five-star hotel will naturally bring many benefits to future operations, but it will also mean that we will have to build a pool in addition to the original building. You know, a gym and a swimming pool is one of the mandatory criteria for a five-star hotel. But that was too difficult for us.

　　The hotel Steven is in charge of is located in a hutong near Beijing's East Fourth Ring Road, and the original building is located in several old houses that look like courtyards. To build a new swimming pool in this old city, it was almost impossible to do so in terms of architectural design, capital investment, and the complicated procedures of construction approval.

　　Either give up participating in the five-star rating? Steven is thinking about convincing the owner: "I can tell the owner that even if we don't get a five-star rating, we can still go the way of a boutique hotel. Perhaps we could also join some of the smaller luxury hotel consortia. These are joint hotel organizations that are very popular with travelers in Europe."

　　Outside of five-star hotels, environmental hotels, design hotels, art hotels and other individual hotels are taking off at home and abroad, and hotel owners and operators are no longer fixated on star ratings. Liu Jiqiang, managing director of Shanghai Oriental Business Travel Boutique Hotel, which opened in April this year, decided decisively at the time not to participate in rating stars, "The current five-star hotels are no longer able to meet the needs of business people in the high-tech era." He said, "Our hotel is different from the ordinary star hotel assembly-line unchanging service, will be more close to the residents, more humane, more flexible." The boutique hotel is located on the Bund, one of the busiest areas in Shanghai, and offers a panoramic view of the Bund from the hotel rooms.

　　The Langham Yangtze Boutique Hotel, which has been open for just one year, has also suffered from star ratings: the old hotel, located in Shanghai's People's Square business district and once a favorite of famous movie stars such as Hu Die and Ruan Lingyu, gave up its star rating when it was remodeled because it could not add a swimming pool and other sports venues. "Now that I think about it, five-star is not the only way out for luxury hotels. Each brand has unique characteristics and a different market positioning, so boutique hotels now need to diversify." Fan Mengfei, director of hotel marketing and sales, believes.

　　Another famous hotel and resort brand, Banyan Tree, is also a luxury hotel that does not participate in star ratings. "Each place has different star rating standards, and in China's five-star rating does not include a rating standard for resorts," said Mr. Li Shanjin, Regional General Manager and Assistant Vice President of Banyan Tree, in an interview, "China needs to introduce more global standards to attract international brands to China needs to introduce more global standards to attract international brands to participate. There is a global STR Global report, the first third-party platform in the global hotel industry to provide a true 'one-stop shop' for market data, and Banyan Tree is rated as a luxury resort by this report."

　　Hotels are updating so quickly that parallel standards need to be upgraded

　　In the past, boutique hotels in China, which were in their infancy, were often unable to receive a five-star hotel rating due to their small size or lack of hardware facilities. Although the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) announced the latest star-rating criteria in April this year and announced that "certain hotels with outstanding characteristics or extremely personalized hotels can apply for star ratings directly from the national tourist hotel star rating agency," the rating criteria have not really been introduced to the market.

　　"Although the latest star rating standard has been announced, it will be implemented only after a half-year transition period, i.e. at the end of this year. The star rating standard currently in use is still the 03 version of the standard (the version launched in 2003). In this revised standard, the clause of 'special hotels can apply for star rating directly' which has attracted attention is actually in the past 03 version of star rating standard, but it has not really been used due to various reasons such as the awareness of hotel operators." Dai Bin, one of the drafters of the Star Rating Standard of the People's Republic of China and a national inspector of the National Tourism Administration's Tourism Hotel Star Rating Committee, said in an interview with this reporter.

　　"In 2009, 10 top hotels in Shanghai applied to rate five stars, but only one passed the evaluation. Although these hotels were well prepared before the rating, however, because the rating was done according to '03 standard', nine did not pass." Zhao Huanyan, chief knowledge management expert of Huamei Hotel Consultants, said, "'03 standard' should be fixed and unchanged, or should it be adapted to the needs? I think people in the hotel industry have the answer in their hearts. Now China's standards for rating five-star hotels have undergone several edits, but the star rating standards are too strict on the details of hardware and software, and to some extent they no longer encourage hotels to reflect their own characteristics."

　　Liu Limin, head of the Sanya Tourism Association's Hotel Industry Affairs Department, said that many years ago, star-rated hotels were a sign of the hotel's rating and a door knocker to open the market. However, now that Sanya resort hotels have formed a scale, some non-starred boutique hotels are committed to providing humane and personalized services, and have quickly established a good reputation through the network and other marketing modes. For example, Banyan Tree, Villa Five and other hotel rooms offer sometimes even higher than the five-star hotels in the same area. The pattern of boutique hotels and regular high star hotels jointly dominating the high-end resort market has taken shape.

　　"Even the revised star rating standard still has its limitations, which is determined by the function and mission of the standard itself. The essence of the star rating standard is to regulate the industry, improve the basic facilities of hotels, perfect their services and give consumers a standard to choose from. However, while the standard is getting better and better, we should not ignore its limitations: the driving force of the star rating standard is still not strong enough on the road of pursuing characteristics. At the same time, many specialty hotels and boutique hotels will not limit their eyes to star ratings, and the industry should not stop at the matter of star ratings alone." Nankai University College of Tourism and Services Dean Bai Changhong believes that "whether the old version or the revised star rating standards, for some features or boutique hotels may still be difficult to recognize, however, more and more people are not 'non-star and do not live', the hotel in the pursuit of features, but also not involved in the star rating It is not impossible. The pursuit of character rather than simple star standards should be promoted by all industry peers."

　　After withdrawing from star ratings:

　　Joining various international hotel alliances is a smart move for boutique or luxury hotels that don't want to be star-rated. "Independent boutique hotels can join loose boutique hotel alliances, such as the BOUTIQUE network, which has become a moniker for older hotels, even if they don't have a high star rating, just by joining the network they can show the history and cultural value of the hotel. " China's boutique hotels can also form their own marketing network, and this loose organization may be more suitable for the personalized and diverse characteristics of boutique hotels," said Dai Bin.

　　Currently, the Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) has nine member hotels in China. "Most of the guests at our hotels come from Europe, North America and Japan. But we have seen a rapid increase in Chinese guests choosing to stay in specialty boutique hotels around the world in recent years. In the future, those guests who choose brands under the International Hotel Group may choose our hotels. We will be introducing more member hotels in China." Alison Roberts Brown, head of SLH, said bluntly. "With unique features and distinctive themes compared to other five-star hotels, these hotels are ready to compete with traditional five-star hotels."

　　"Today, people are no longer just looking for large international branded hotels and are starting to choose unique hotels and city resorts for themselves." said Dr. Amy Poon, president of Royal Court Hotel Group, a member of SLH.

　　"Joining the Luxury Hotel Alliance will help new hotel openings to some extent, such as going for some revenue through the marketing of the Luxury Hotel Alliance." said Mr. Lee Sun Jin of Banyan Tree.

　　In addition to star ratings and joining luxury hotel alliances, there are still many ways to gain customer recognition. "Our experience is to spread the brand culture through traditional media and online promotion." Mr. Lee Sun Jin said , "In addition to word-of-mouth, travel agency promotions can also make more guests aware of our brand."