With so many things to consider, hotel rankings can be very confusing.

This is how some of the world’s most popular booking sites and travel organizations define a five-star hotel.

According to theirratings guidelines, five-star hotels usually have gourmet dining, luxury spas, and more.

Leela Palace Udaipur

Credit: Sivan Askayo

AAA

Americas go-to rating system is run by the American Automobile Association (AAA).

AAA uses aDiamond Rating system, with five diamonds being the highest designation a hotel can achieve.

to assign ratings to hotels, inspectors visit these properties unannounced.

Spice Island resort in Grenada, a AAA Five-Diamond property

Christopher Churchill

The Hotelstars Union (part of international hospitality organizaiton HOTREC) oversees hotel ratings in 17 European countries.

France has a five-star rating system, but they have one level higher called “the palace distinction”.

Five stars signifify luxurious rooms,high quality food, and multilingual service.

A dish at the Four Seasons Hotel Le George V, a Palace class hotel in France

Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images

Australia

Australians have a country-wide system called Star Ratings that judges hotels onobjective metrics.

Unfortunately, manyluxury hotelshave removed themselves from this rating system.

There are several other factors to note when booking a hotel in Italy.

The Louise, a Luxury Lodges of Australia property

Courtesy of Luxury Lodges of Australia

A one-star hotel doesnt guarantee you a bathroom, only one bathroom per three rooms.

Hotels are only required to change towels and linens once every three days.

To crack down on corruption, the Chinese government banned government officials from staying in five-star hotels.

That ban caused a bevy of luxury hotels in China tovoluntarily downgrade their star statusto continue accommodating government employees.