Michelin Keys and Michelin stars compared

Michelin stars are awarded to restaurants for cooking. Michelin Keys are awarded to hotels for the stay. Michelin calls the Key the “equivalent of the MICHELIN Star for restaurants”, and both run from one to three. The same inspectors decide both, but the awards measure different things, cover different geographies and are a century apart in age.

Side by side

	Michelin star	Michelin Key
Awarded to	Restaurants	Hotels
What is assessed	The food on the plate only. Michelin says decor, service style and the wine list have “no bearing” on a star	The whole stay: architecture and design, service, character, value for price, connection to the destination
Levels	One, two or three stars	One, two or three Keys
Year started	1926 (one star); one to three stars from 1931; criteria published 1936	First awarded 8 April 2024 in France; first global selection 8 October 2025
Number awarded	3,885 starred restaurants listed on guide.michelin.com on 9 October 2026 (3,176 one star, 548 two, 161 three)	2,832 Key hotels in the 2026 selection (2,020 One Key, 657 Two, 155 Three)
How often refreshed	Annually, guide by guide; Michelin says existing stars are reassessed every year	Annually, in one global announcement (October 2025, September 2026)
Who assesses	Michelin’s full-time anonymous inspectors; stars are decided unanimously at meetings with the Guide’s International Director	Michelin’s full-time anonymous inspectors; “multiple anonymous stays or visits”, collective decisions
Where awarded	Only in destinations with a Michelin restaurant guide, “almost 70” in 2025	Any hotel in the Guide’s hotel selection; 79 destinations in the 2026 selection
Is a price implied?	No. Michelin says stars go to “street food stalls” as well as “grand palaces”	No. Value for the price paid is one of the five criteria; Key hotels are “not necessarily” Michelin’s most expensive
Other distinctions	Bib Gourmand (value), Green Star (sustainability)	Four Special Awards since 2025 (Architecture and Design, Wellness, Local Gateway, Opening of the Year). No value award
Can you apply?	Restaurants may “request consideration”; there is no application for a star	No published application; eligibility is being in the Guide’s hotel selection
Does Michelin sell what it rates?	Restaurant bookings go through partner platforms (OpenTable, Resy, TheFork)	Yes. Rooms are sold on Michelin’s own platform; Bloomberg reports a commission of around 15 per cent

The criteria

For stars, Michelin’s inspectors page lists quality of products, mastery of flavour and cooking techniques, the personality of the chef in the dining experience, harmony of flavours, and consistency between inspectors’ visits.

For Keys, Michelin’s hoteliers page lists the hotel as “an open door to the destination”, excellence in interior design and architecture, quality and consistency in service, comfort and maintenance, consistency between the level of experience and the price paid, and individuality, personality and authenticity.

The lists do not overlap. Decor, service and price are excluded from a star and central to a Key. Michelin’s star FAQ says stars are awarded “for the food on the plate” and “nothing more”.

Michelin also says the two selections are “distinct, and decisions on the Star and the Key are made independently of each other”. A hotel’s restaurant can therefore hold stars while the hotel holds no Key, and a Three-Key hotel need not have a starred restaurant.

Age and scale

Michelin’s history page dates the first star to 1926, the three-tier hierarchy to 1931 and the published criteria to 1936. The Key is in its third year.

Michelin’s website listed 3,885 starred restaurants on 9 October 2026 against 2,832 Key hotels in the 2026 selection. At the top the numbers are close, 161 three-star restaurants to 155 Three-Key hotels. Lower down they differ: one-star restaurants are 82 per cent of all starred restaurants, One-Key hotels 71 per cent of all Key hotels.

Geography

Stars are only awarded where Michelin publishes a restaurant guide, which its October 2025 media-day release puts at “almost 70 destinations”. Keys are not tied to those guides. Michelin’s July 2025 release describes the hotel selection as “over 7,000 properties located across 125+ countries”, and the 2026 Key selection covered 79 destinations, adding Armenia, Benin, Botswana, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Mongolia, Myanmar, Rwanda, Slovakia and Zimbabwe for the first time. Afar (10 October 2025) puts it plainly: a hotel can earn a Key wherever it is, while a restaurant can only earn a star if Michelin covers its city.

Inspection

Michelin says restaurant inspectors eat more than 250 anonymous meals a year, book under assumed names and pay their bills in full. Stars are decided at meetings attended by the Guide’s International Director, the local editor and the inspectors involved, and are “awarded unanimously”; if inspectors disagree, further visits are organised.

For hotels, Michelin’s published method is “multiple anonymous stays or visits” against the five criteria, with Michelin paying full publicly listed rates (confirmed by executives in October 2025, per Bloomberg). Michelin has not published the number of hotel inspectors, the number of nights per decision, or whether a Key can rest on a “visit” without an overnight stay.

Money

Neither award has a fee. Michelin says restaurants and hotels never pay to be listed or rated, and inspectors pay for their own meals and rooms. Two revenue lines sit alongside them. Michelin confirmed in October 2025 that government tourism boards pay for inspector programmes in their destinations, naming Thailand as the first. For hotels only, Michelin’s platform earns a commission on room bookings, around 15 per cent according to Bloomberg. Michelin says hotels do not have to be bookable on its site to receive a Key, and that inspection teams are kept separate from the commercial side.