5-Star Rating

Mine Host is engaged in a phone argument with the Company that measures the accommodation "star" rating system.

They are, as always, one of the rudest & most unreasonable outfits I have dealt with. It is little surprise that more & more accommodation businesses are opting out of a star rating.

The star rating is a simple checklist. A questionnaire on a clipboard, boxes ticked or crossed, answers evaluated, then pay for the inspection before you learn your new Star-Rating.

The argument with the Star Rating company began when they phoned (as they do every year) and glibly instructed me to rejoin the star rating system.

I retorted (as I do every year) by stating that I won't consider rejoining unless they adjust their inspection checklist to ensure I am given the rating I deserve.

The problem is there is no form of heating whatsoever in any of the Wayside Tavern's guest accommodation. Without in-room heating I won't get 4 & 1/2 star rating.

There is not, & never will be, a heater used in my town. Ever. Nobody owns one. We run air conditioning to cool the rooms every night of the year. The star rating company makes no allowance for accommodation operators located in the Torrid Zone.

Thus the requirement for heating is unreasonable. One imagines this is similar to how motel owners feel when denied a 4-star rating because their car parking is too far from the room, but then see the Hilton getting a 5-star raing (indisputably there is no car park space way up in the sky at the door of those rooms.)

I suggested (as I do every year) that if the star rating inspector really wants the room to be warmer, that they open a window, they'll then have all the heat they can handle.

The phone call ends badly for the star rating smarty-pants (as it does every year.)