The Austrian Hotel Classification is part of the Hotelstars Union. There are 21 HOTREC principles for the compilation/revision of national/regional hotel classification systems in Europe.

Under the patronage of "HOTREC - Hotels, Restaurants & Cafés in Europe", the hotel associations of Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland founded the Hotelsars Union in January 2010.
In the meantime, the following countries joined the star-family: Estonia (2010), Lativa (2010) and Lithuania (2010), Luxembourg (2011) and Malta (2012).

Right now our hotel stars are firmly anchored in a market of more than 150 million people. This will increase the comprehensibility of the system and contribute significantly to our guests feeling more home in Austria.

The new Catalouge of Criteria for awarding hotel stars has been valid since 1.1.2010. It is transparent and reader-friendly. The new system is flexible and therefore fairer. An intermediate grade of "Superior" in all categories denotes a clear "extra" in provision of service.

Stars have always been used for orientation. Even in this eventful times we have been able to position Austrian hotel stars internationally as reliable guideposts for the future.