Practical guides

How to prepare your holiday rental for its star-rating inspection

Published on 19 July 2026Florian Grisorio9 min read

During the classification inspection, the inspector assesses your property against the 133 criteria in the official French classification standard. Some criteria are mandatory, while others are optional, and which ones apply depends on the star rating you are seeking. To obtain your chosen rating, your property must achieve at least 95% of the mandatory points, as well as the required number of optional points. Cleanliness and good-condition criteria cannot be offset by other points: all of them must be met.

Some criteria concern surprisingly small details: the exact amount of tableware, information included in your listing, or a missing piece of equipment. Yet these details can make all the difference on inspection day. This guide covers the items most often overlooked or likely to cause problems, so you can avoid unwelcome surprises when the inspector arrives.

The examples below illustrate the general requirements of the classification standard. Only an on-site inspection can confirm a property's star rating.

Key takeaways

The star rating you are applying for and your property's guest capacity determine some of the equipment and quantities required.
Some criteria cover several items: just one missing piece of equipment can be enough for the entire criterion to fail.
Information and services must be verifiable through written or digital materials, while all cleanliness and good-condition criteria must be met.

In this article

Understand the criteria for your chosen star rating

Before the inspection begins, you specify the star rating you are applying for. The inspector then assesses the property against the criteria for that rating.

An item of equipment may be optional at one star level and mandatory at a higher one. These examples show how that works:

Kettle

1 star: Optional
2 stars: Mandatory
3 stars: Mandatory
4 stars: Mandatory
5 stars: Mandatory

Bathroom toiletries

1 star: Optional
2 stars: Optional
3 stars: Mandatory
4 stars: Mandatory
5 stars: Mandatory

Espresso machine

1 star: Optional
2 stars: Optional
3 stars: Optional
4 stars: Mandatory
5 stars: Mandatory

Examples of criteria by requested star rating
Example criterion	1 star	2 stars	3 stars	4 stars	5 stars
Kettle	Optional	Mandatory	Mandatory	Mandatory	Mandatory
Bathroom toiletries	Optional	Optional	Mandatory	Mandatory	Mandatory
Espresso machine	Optional	Optional	Optional	Mandatory	Mandatory

To obtain the requested star rating, your property must reach at least 95% of the mandatory points and the quota of optional points required for that rating. Failure to meet a single mandatory criterion does not automatically prevent classification.

Not sure which star rating to apply for?

The Etoilys simulator adjusts all 133 criteria to your property's guest capacity and lets you carry out an initial self-assessment before the inspection.

Try the simulator (in French)

Match the equipment to your property's guest capacity

Declared guest capacity affects more than the number of beds. It also determines how much tableware is required, the number of seats at the dining table and several other criteria.

Criterion 63: check your tableware quantities

Criterion 63 concerns the minimum quantity of matching tableware per guest.

For each guest, the property must have at least:

2 water glasses;
1 wine glass;
2 dinner plates;
2 soup plates;
2 dessert plates;
2 tablespoons;
2 teaspoons;
2 knives;
2 forks;
2 bowls;
2 cups or mugs.

For a property with a six-person capacity, that means, among other things, 12 water glasses, six wine glasses, 12 dinner plates, 12 bowls, 12 cups or mugs, and 12 of each type of cutlery required in pairs.

Not all your tableware has to look identical. For example, for 12 bowls in a six-person property, you could have six matching white bowls and six matching blue bowls. That gives you two consistent sets, each containing one bowl per guest. By contrast, 12 completely different bowls would not count as matching sets.

Criterion 65: check every item on the list

To meet this criterion, your property needs all of the following:

For cooking: 1 ovenproof dish, 2 saucepans, 1 frying pan, 1 large cooking pot and 1 lid;
For food preparation: 1 mixing bowl, 1 chopping board, 1 bread knife, 1 colander, 1 salad spinner, 1 pie and/or cake tin, 1 peeler and 1 measuring jug;
For smaller utensils: 1 corkscrew, 1 bottle opener, 1 pair of scissors, 1 tin opener, 1 trivet, 1 ladle, 1 skimmer, 1 spatula and 1 whisk.

All these items fall under a single criterion. If even one is missing, criterion 65 cannot be met.

Seating must also match your guest capacity

The dining table and its chairs must seat the property's full guest capacity. The same applies to seating on sofas and armchairs in the living area, but this requirement is capped at seven guests. A property designed for ten guests does not therefore need ten seats in the living room to meet this criterion.

If your property accommodates six guests but the living room has only five seats, this criterion cannot be met. However, this does not automatically prevent classification, which depends on the overall result of the assessment.

Prepare guest information and documents

Some criteria are about more than whether equipment is present. They also check the information and services actually available to guests.

Where a criterion concerns information or a service, the inspector must be able to verify it in a written or digital source: your listing, welcome guide, website, email, brochure or notice. Simply saying that you provide something during the inspection is not enough to meet the criterion.

Criterion 100: provide five sources of local tourist information

Criterion 100 requires local and tourist information in French and at least one foreign language.

To meet it, you need:

at least five leaflets, brochures or information resources in total;
at least three of these available in one or more foreign languages.

A bilingual brochure counts as information in both French and the foreign language. Resources can be printed or digital: QR codes, a tablet, downloadable documents, a website or a digital guide.

These might cover local sights and monuments, leisure activities, excursions, events, the tourist office, shops, public services or nearby healthcare professionals.

Criteria 105, 106, 108 and 110: make sure the services are documented

The following criteria concern services offered to guests:

105

Service to be documented: Bed linen is always offered by the host

106

Service to be documented: Towels are always offered by the host

108

Service to be documented: Beds made up on arrival are always offered by the host

110

Service to be documented: A cleaning service is always offered

Guest services that must be verifiable in writing
Criterion	Service to be documented
105	Bed linen is always offered by the host
106	Towels are always offered by the host
108	Beds made up on arrival are always offered by the host
110	A cleaning service is always offered

These services can be free or paid. What matters is that they are offered as standard and that guests can verify this in writing: in your rental listing, welcome guide, website, standard email, brochure or notice inside the property.

Don't confuse two separate services: offering bed linen and offering to have the beds made up on arrival are assessed under different criteria.

Criterion 116: state whether the property is accessible

Criterion 116 concerns accessibility information included in guest-facing materials.

Your property does not need to be suitable for guests with reduced mobility to meet this criterion. However, guests must be clearly informed about its level of accessibility. If the accommodation is not adapted, this should be stated in your listing, on your website, in the welcome guide or in another source of information for guests.

A simple sentence may be enough:

This property is not suitable for guests with reduced mobility.

Criterion 130: help guests reduce their environmental impact

Criterion 130 is about making guests aware of the steps they can take during their stay to protect the environment.

That information can appear in the welcome guide, your listing, your website or a notice in the property. There is no need to write a three-page environmental policy. A short, practical reminder can be enough, for example:

Please switch off the lights and air conditioning when you leave the property, and try to limit your water use during your stay.

Other ideas include recycling and waste sorting, public transport, bicycle hire, walking routes, local products or other ways to reduce the environmental impact of a stay.

Present the property as guests will find it

The inspection covers the property as it is actually offered to guests. All rooms included in the rental must be accessible, beds must be set up as they normally are, and all declared equipment must be present, accessible and working.

All appliances and remote controls must work. If the property offers Wi-Fi, the inspector must be able to test the connection. Any documents promised to guests must also be available.

Bathrooms and toilets, floors, walls and ceilings, furniture, bedding, and the kitchen and its equipment must be clean and in good condition.

Pre-inspection checklist

Before your appointment, check the following:

Is the star rating you are applying for realistic given your property's equipment?
Does the declared guest capacity match the beds actually available?
Do the dining and living room seats meet the requirements for that capacity?
Do you have the amounts of tableware required under criterion 63?
Does your tableware form matching sets?
Do you have every item required under criterion 65?
Is all equipment accessible and in working order?
Are at least five tourist information resources available, including three in a foreign language or bilingual?
Are the services offered to guests clearly documented in writing?
Is the property's accessibility or lack of accessibility clearly stated?
Is there a simple message encouraging guests to respect the environment?
Is the property clean, well maintained and presented as it would be for guests?

Can you submit additional evidence after the inspection?

The official inspection guide allows certain supporting evidence to be submitted within 15 working days after the inspection. This might include a document, a notice, a welcome guide or evidence relating to a small item of equipment.

This is neither automatic nor a substitute for preparing the property. Equipment and services must normally be checked on site on inspection day. Whether additional evidence can be accepted depends on the criterion and the evidence provided.

A quote or invoice cannot, for example, be used to validate work that has not been carried out, a cleanliness issue, a maintenance problem or major equipment that was not present at the inspection.

Etoilys will tell you whether the additional evidence can be accepted for the criterion concerned. To understand all the stages and timescales, you can also read about the classification process.