What is a Michelin Key? Everything you need to know
In April 2024, the MICHELIN Guide debuted a brand new distinction: the Michelin Key. While the Michelin Star recognizes the most outstanding restaurants in the world, the Michelin Key does the same for outstanding hotels. The same way the Michelin Star recognizes restaurants for outstanding cooking, the Michelin Key recognizes hotels for outstanding stays. A selection team takes into account five universal criteria when awarding Michelin Stars, and they have five universal criteria when selecting hotels:
- excellence in architecture and interior design
- quality and consistency of service
- overall personality and character
- value for the price
- and a significant contribution to the neighborhood or setting
The Key hotels don’t just fulfill one of these criteria. These are the best of the best in all categories.
Just like a Michelin-rated restaurant, a Michelin-rated hotel can earn One, Two, or Three Keys.
- 1 Key: a very special stay
- 2 Keys: an exceptional stay
- 3 Keys: an extraordinary stay
One and Two Key distinctions denote some of the best places in our selection. And if you’re anywhere, anytime, and you can make it to a Three Key hotel — do whatever you can to get there for a night. It’s one of the most outstanding experiences in the world. Every hotel in the Michelin Guide hotel selection is eligible for a Key, and the selection currently features over 5,000 accommodations across the world, with options for every style and budget. There are lively hotels and quiet hotels. Hotels in metropolises and hotels in the middle of nowhere. Hotels at the leading edge of modern design and hotels that celebrate the achievements of the past. There are castles, hostels, tents, and ryokans, places with two hundred rooms atop a city skyscraper, and with two rooms tucked inside an ancient watchtower.
Hotel selections and restaurant selections are distinct, and decisions on the Star and the Key are made independently of each other. However, it is possible for a Michelin Star restaurant to reside within a Michelin Key hotel.