No rating body awards seven stars. The label began with the Burj Al Arab in Dubai: according to its operator Jumeirah, a British journalist on a pre-opening press trip in 1999 called it a seven-star hotel, and the phrase stuck. Jumeirah describes the hotel as “five-star deluxe”.
For the next tier of marketing language, see our guide to 6 star hotels. For room rates at the top end, see the most expensive hotels in the world.
Is there an official 7-star hotel rating?
No. The National reported in 2009 that “no hotel has such a rating”, and quoted a Jumeirah spokeswoman: “There’s not a lot we can do to stop it. We’re not encouraging the use of the term. We’ve never used it in our advertising.” Jumeirah told the paper the phrase came from a British journalist who described the hotel “as above and beyond anything she had ever seen”. The journalist has never been named in any of the coverage we found.
Three other episodes show how the term has been used since:
- A certified seven stars, briefly. Milan’s TownHouse Galleria, then called Seven Stars Galleria, obtained a “seven-star service certification” from the Swiss inspection company SGS after opening in 2007. Neither the hotel nor SGS could tell Condé Nast Traveler in 2017 who made the original seven-star designation. The certification lasted until 2011, and SGS no longer offers it. The hotel is now Galleria Vik Milano.
- A hotel with seven stars in its name. The Pangu 7 Star Hotel in Beijing opened in December 2008. Expedia lists it as a 4.5-star property (October 2026).
- A hotel that calls it marketing. When Signiel Seoul opened in 2017, its general manager told Condé Nast Traveler: “We know there is no such thing as ‘seven stars’.” The aim, he said, was “to highlight that we are way ahead of the game and literally way above.”
What the highest real hotel ratings are
| System | Top level | Who issues it |
|---|---|---|
| Forbes Travel Guide | Five-Star | Anonymous inspectors, up to 900 criteria, minimum two-night stays (Forbes Travel Guide) |
| Michelin Guide | Three Keys | Michelin hotel inspectors; nearly 3,000 hotels hold a Key in 2026 |
| Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism | Five stars, with gold and platinum categories added in 2011 | Government classification, required for every Dubai hotel to operate |
| The World’s 50 Best Hotels | Ranked list, 1 to 100 | Annual list; Rosewood Hong Kong was No. 1 in 2026 |
The hotels called 7-star, compared
Status and accolades checked on 9 October 2026. Michelin Keys from each hotel’s Michelin Guide page; Forbes stars from each hotel’s Forbes Travel Guide page. A dash means we found no rating from that guide.
| Hotel | City | Opened | Rooms | Michelin Keys | Forbes Travel Guide | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burj Al Arab | Dubai | 1999 | 202 suites | 2 | Five-Star | Closed for restoration, reopening scheduled for October 2027 |
 Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental | Abu Dhabi | 2005 | 394 | 2 | Five-Star | Open |
| Signiel Seoul | Seoul | 2017 | 235 | 2 | Four-Star | Open |
| Pangu 7 Star Hotel | Beijing | 2008 | 234 | – | – | Open |
| Galleria Vik Milano | Milan | 2019 (as Galleria Vik) | 89 | Listed, no Key | – | Open, renamed |
| Hôtel Plaza Athénée | Paris | 1913 | 208 | 3 | Five-Star | Open |
| Taj Falaknuma Palace | Hyderabad | 2010 (as a hotel) | 60 | 3 | – | Open |
| Laucala Island | Fiji | – | 25 villas | 2 | – | Open |
| The Mark | New York | 1927 | 152 | 2 | Four-Star | Open |
| Hotel President Wilson | Geneva | 1962 | 226 | – | Four-Star | Open |
| The Oberoi Rajvilas | Jaipur | – | 83 | 1 | – | Open |
| Mardan Palace | Antalya | 2009 | 543 | – | – | Open, renamed |
Our selection: the hotels most often described as seven-star in the press and in the top search results, plus every hotel from our 2021 guide that is still trading. It is not a ranking.
Hotels most often called 7-star
Burj Al Arab, Dubai
- Status: closed since April 2026 for an 18-month restoration; reopening is scheduled for October 2027. French interior architect Tristan Auer is leading the work. Jumeirah says most of the existing gold leaf, Statuario marble and Swarovski crystal will be kept.
- Opened: 1 December 1999, on an artificial island 280 metres off Jumeirah Beach.
- Rooms: 202 duplex suites (Michelin Guide and Forbes Travel Guide). The largest suite covers 780 m².
- Accolades: Two Michelin Keys; Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star. Al Muntaha, the hotel’s restaurant, holds one Michelin star in the 2026 Dubai guide.
- Why it is called 7-star: the source of the term, as above.
The Michelin Guide and Forbes Travel Guide both still list the hotel, with Forbes noting it is “temporarily closed for renovations”.
Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental, Abu Dhabi
- Opened: February 2005, operated by Kempinski until Mandarin Oriental took over on 1 January 2020. Rooms were renovated in 2023.
- Rooms: 394 in the Michelin listing; Forbes Travel Guide gives 302 rooms and 88 suites.
- Top suite: the Three Bedroom Palace Suite, three interconnected suites totalling more than 470 m².
- Families: family rooms with interconnecting king and twin rooms, connecting suites, two- and three-bedroom suites, and a kids’ club (Kids Palace). The hotel has a 1.3 km private beach.
- Accolades: Two Michelin Keys; Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star. Martabaan by Hemant Oberoi is in the Michelin Guide without a star.
- Rate: the Michelin Guide booking engine quoted from US$1,015 a night before tax (US$1,254 with tax) for 6 November 2026, checked 9 October 2026.
- Why it is called 7-star: The National described it in 2022 as “frequently and erroneously called a ‘seven star hotel’”.
Signiel Seoul
- Location: the upper floors of Lotte World Tower, Songpa-gu. Opened in 2017 with the tower.
- Rooms: 235 (Michelin Guide).
- Top suite: the Royal Suite, 353 m² on the 100th floor. The Presidential Suite is 143 m².
- Accolades: Two Michelin Keys; Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star. In 2025 Signiel Seoul and Signiel Busan became South Korea’s first two-Key hotels. STAY, the French restaurant on the 81st floor, is in the Michelin Guide without a star in 2026; Leading Hotels of the World lists it as one-star from 2019 to 2025.
- Why it is called 7-star: Condé Nast Traveler reported in 2017 that the hotel launched as South Korea’s first “seven-star hotel”; the general manager’s comment is quoted above.
Pangu 7 Star Hotel, Beijing
- Location: 27 North Fourth Ring Middle Road, Chaoyang, in Beijing’s Olympic area. The hotel forms the tail of the dragon-shaped Pangu Plaza complex.
- Opened: 6 December 2008.
- Rooms: 234, including 140 suites, from 45 m² to 488 m². The presidential suite is room number 2008.
- Accolades: we found no Michelin Key, Forbes Travel Guide rating or 50 Best placing. Expedia classes it as 4.5 stars.
- Why it is called 7-star: the hotel put it in its name.
Galleria Vik Milano
- Location: inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, next to the Duomo.
- History: opened as Seven Stars Galleria, later TownHouse Galleria. Its SGS seven-star certification ran until 2011. Vik Retreats bought the hotel in 2019 and renamed it Galleria Vik.
- Rooms: 89.
- Accolades: in the Michelin Guide hotel selection without a Key.
- Why it is called 7-star: it held a third-party seven-star certification until 2011.
Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Paris
- Location: 25 avenue Montaigne, 8th arrondissement. Opened in 1913; part of Dorchester Collection.
- Rooms: 208.
- Top suite: the Royal Suite, 450 m² with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, an office and a kitchen.
- Families: connecting rooms subject to availability; the Royal Suite has four bedrooms.
- Accolades: Three Michelin Keys; Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star; No. 41 in The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2026. La Grande Table du Plaza Athénée holds one Michelin star (2026).
- Why it is called 7-star: it appears on most lists of seven-star hotels in the current search results, including Revfine and Skratch.
Taj Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad
- History: a palace built between 1884 and 1893, later owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad. It reopened as a Taj hotel on 1 November 2010 after restoration. Guests can arrive by horse-drawn carriage.
- Rooms: 60 rooms and suites.
- Top suite: the Nizam Suite, a 180 m² duplex with a private pool and a personal butler.
- Families: interconnected rooms are listed on the official site.
- Accolades: Three Michelin Keys.
- Rate: the Michelin Guide booking engine quoted from US$673 a night before tax (US$794 with tax) for 6 November 2026, checked 9 October 2026.
- Why it is called 7-star: listed among the best-known seven-star hotels by Revfine and Skratch.
Laucala Island, Fiji
- Location: a private island in the Koro Sea, bought in 2003 by Red Bull’s Dietrich Mateschitz.
- Rooms: 25 villas. Forbes reported in 2013 that the resort employed 329 staff for a maximum of 80 guests, and that it runs all-inclusive.
- Accolades: Two Michelin Keys.
- Why it is called 7-star: listed by Revfine and Skratch.
Other hotels from our 2021 list
These were in the original version of this guide. We found no press source calling them seven-star, so they are listed here on their accolades.
The Mark, New York
- Location: Madison Avenue at 77th Street, Upper East Side. Opened in 1927 as the Hyde Park Hotel.
- Rooms: 152.
- Top suite: The Mark Penthouse, more than 10,000 sq ft on the 16th and 17th floors with five bedrooms. The hotel calls it the largest hotel penthouse in the United States.
- Accolades: Two Michelin Keys; Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star.
Hotel President Wilson, Geneva
- Location: on the shore of Lake Geneva. Opened on 18 May 1962 as Hotel President; now part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection.
- Rooms: 204 rooms and 22 suites.
- Top suite: the Royal Penthouse Suite, 11,000 sq ft with 12 bedrooms, a private lift and bulletproof glass (Forbes Travel Guide, which says it is “said to be the largest in Europe”).
- Accolades: Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star. Not among the 36 hotels in the Michelin Guide’s Geneva selection. Bayview by Danny Khezzar, the hotel’s restaurant, holds one Michelin star (2025 guide).
The Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur
- Location: Goner Road, on 32 acres of gardens outside Jaipur.
- Rooms: 83, split between rooms, tents and villas.
- Top suite: the Kohinoor Villa, three separate villa buildings with a king bedroom, a twin bedroom, a lounge-dining villa, a private pool and a dining pavilion; 1,736 m² in total.
- Families: the Kohinoor Villa’s twin bedroom; the Royal Tent has a separate living tent.
- Accolades: One Michelin Key.
Mardan Palace, Antalya
- Name change: listed in 2021 as Titanic Mardan Palace. Titanic Hotels operated it from 2018; Swandor Hotels took over in early 2026, and the hotel now trades as Mardan Palace.
- Opened: 23 May 2009, at a reported cost of US$1.4 billion.
- Rooms: 543 across 12 room types, according to the rooms page (the homepage says 546). All-inclusive.
- Top suite: the King Suite, 600 m².
- Families: Family and Premium Family rooms.
- Accolades: we found no Michelin Key, Forbes Travel Guide rating or 50 Best placing.
What changed since the 2021 version
- Dropped: no hotels. None of the nine from the 2021 list has closed permanently.
- Corrected: the 2021 version said the Burj Al Arab “officially” has seven stars. It does not; its official classification is five-star deluxe.
- Status changes: Burj Al Arab is closed until October 2027. Emirates Palace is now Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental. Titanic Mardan Palace is now Mardan Palace under Swandor Hotels.
- Added: Pangu 7 Star Hotel, Galleria Vik Milano and Laucala Island, which are named on other seven-star lists (Wikipedia, Condé Nast Traveler, Revfine, Skratch).
- New data: Michelin Keys, Forbes Travel Guide stars, 50 Best placings, room counts and top suites for every hotel.