Michelin Guide to introduce ‘keys’ recognising world’s exceptional hotels

This strategic move follows Michelin’s acquisition, five years ago, of Tablet Hotels, a luxury and boutique hotel booking website. This acquisition has enabled Michelin to create a portal on its guide’s website, offering a carefully curated selection of accommodations, many of which feature Michelin-rated restaurants.

It’s a calculated step to expand their presence in the competitive travel market, given the current surge in consumer spending on travel. Notably, other prominent restaurant-ranking organisations, like World’s 50 Best and La Liste, have recently ventured into hotel rankings.

The MICHELIN Guide creates a distinction for the hotel selection!
In the spirit of the MICHELIN Star, the MICHELIN Key recognizes the most exceptional hotels throughout the world.

— Michelin (@Michelin) October 6, 2023

The first batch of Michelin keys is expected to be unveiled in the first half of 2024, selected from a pool of 5,300 hotels spanning 120 countries. Regardless of whether they receive keys, all of these hotels will be bookable through the Michelin website, with the company earning commissions on bookings.

It remains unclear whether a hotel can attain more than one key, unlike Michelin’s restaurant ratings, where one, two, or three stars signify different levels of culinary excellence.

Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of the Michelin Guide, emphasised the value of the Michelin key as a dependable guide for travellers.

Interestingly, this expansion into hotels comes on the heels of reports revealing Michelin’s lucrative sponsorship deals with tourism authorities, which led the guide to venture into previously uncharted territories like Colorado and Florida.

However, Michelin’s approach to the hotel industry will differ from its restaurant guidebooks. Instead of destination-specific guides, Michelin plans to create a global list of keys.

The potential revenue from commissions and Tablet’s booking platform, estimated at $100 million in gross bookings in 2018, along with membership fees from a frequent traveller’s club, means that Michelin won’t solely rely on tourism board sponsorships to monetise its hotel content.

In an industry plagued by questionable endorsements, Michelin aims to offer travelers a reliable and expert source to guide them to exceptional experiences, as stated in its press released

What sets Michelin apart is its commitment to maintaining objectivity. Michelin inspectors conduct anonymous stays to assess hotels, in stark contrast to World’s 50 Best, where anonymous panel members may rank hotels where they have received complimentary stays, or La Liste, which predominantly relies on previous press coverage. Michelin’s inspectors pay their own bills, ensuring an absence of commercial bias.

For Michelin, this expansion is a return to its origins. Originally, in 1900, the company provided practical advice to early automobile travelers in France. By 1920, it was selling guidebooks listing hotels in Paris and categorizing restaurants, laying the foundation for its renowned guidebooks we know today.

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