Michelin reveals how its restaurant and hotel guides make money. Are they still credible?
The French brand’s confirmation that it takes cash from tourism boards gives those who doubt its impartiality ‘ammunition’, an expert says
At an event at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris on the evening of October 8, the Michelin Guide unveiled its first global selection of keys – the equivalent of stars, but for hotels.
But hours before, at a separate event, it unveiled something more controversial: an honest look into the ways that it makes money from such reviews, both on the hotel and restaurant sides of its operations.
For years, questions have swirled in the travel industry about whether the company can maintain impartiality in awarding stars to restaurants while at the same time accepting payment from the tourism bodies charged with their promotion.
As it turns out, reviewing hotels – an expensive practice that has become all but impossible for most publications to do in a thorough, independent way – is what forced Michelin to come clean about its practices. And that is not because Michelin is compromising its standards.
In fact, executives at the guide confirmed that the company pays full-price, publicly listed rates for every hotel it vets, and also for the flights required to get there. It does the same with restaurants, which it visits anonymously.