Hotels are not the only places to carry stars. In France, a villa let to holidaymakers can also hold an official rating, from one to five stars: the classement des meublés de tourisme. It is voluntary, but its effects are real: on your guests’ confidence, on the tax you pay on rental income and on the tourist tax. Here are the essentials, drawn from official sources.
An official, voluntary rating
The rating of furnished holiday lets is a national scheme, set out in the French Tourism Code. It has five categories, from one to five stars, and remains voluntary: no villa has to be rated in order to be let.
Once granted, a rating lasts five years. The process then has to be repeated to keep the category and the benefits that come with it.
The French government’s page on furnished holiday lets (in French) describes the scheme in detail; Atout France, the state tourism agency, publishes the rating table and the list of approved inspection bodies.
What is assessed
The rating grid has 133 criteria, in three main chapters, revised in 2021: equipment and fittings, services offered to guests, and accessibility and sustainability.
Some criteria are compulsory for a given category; others are optional ‘à la carte’ criteria that earn points, so that a strength can make up, to a degree, for a weakness. A few, finally, are compulsory and cannot be traded off.
In practice, the inspector looks at the size and layout of the house, the beds and bedding, the equipment in the kitchen and bathrooms, heating and cooling, the services offered, how guests are welcomed and informed, and what is done for the environment. The higher the category, the higher the bar, for equipment and for service alike.
How the process works
The owner, or their agent, chooses the body that will inspect the villa from among those accredited by Cofrac, the French accreditation body, or otherwise approved; Atout France publishes the list. The inspection is paid for by the owner.
Within a month of the visit, the body issues an inspection certificate: a report, the completed grid and a proposed rating. The owner then has 15 days to turn the proposal down. If no refusal is made in that time, the rating is granted.
The rating decision must then be displayed in a visible place inside the villa. The outdoor plaque, however, is optional.
What the stars change for your guests
The rating is, above all, a point of reference. It assures every guest of a level of comfort and service checked by an independent body, rather than resting on the wording of a listing. For an exceptional villa, it is a quiet way of confirming what the photographs promise. Guests from abroad, used to hotel stars, understand it at a glance.
What they change for your income
The law of 19 November 2024 widened the gap between rated and unrated holiday lets under micro-BIC, the simplified French tax regime for furnished rental income. For 2025 income, declared in 2026, the regime gives a flat-rate allowance of 50% to rated holiday lets, up to €77,700 of annual receipts. For an unrated property, the allowance falls to 30% and the ceiling to €15,000.
These rules are set out on service-public.gouv.fr (in French). Every situation is different: your tax adviser is the right person to say what they mean for yours.
And for the tourist tax
For a rated property, the tourist tax (taxe de séjour) is a fixed amount per person per night, set by the local council for each category within a national range. For an unrated property it becomes proportional: a rate of 1 to 5% of the cost of the night per person, capped. Rating makes the amount fixed and predictable, for you and for your guests.
Rating and declaration: two separate steps
Rating does not exempt you from any formality. Letting a furnished holiday home has to be declared at the town hall, and the law of 19 November 2024 provides for every furnished holiday let to be registered with a national online service, with the registration number shown on listings. Rating, declaration and registration go together; we keep track of how each of them develops, for your villa.
Aiming for four stars at least
For the villas in our collection, we aim for at least four stars in France’s official holiday-home rating. That is the level that matches the stay we want to offer: hotel-quality linen, a personal welcome, a house prepared before every arrival. The rating is not an end in itself; it is the confirmation, by an outside eye, of care taken every day.
We guide you through every step. We put the file together and get the villa ready for the inspection: we know the Atout France criteria and check that the villa meets them before the inspector visits. We then pass the certificate on to you. If a criterion is missing, we advise on the improvements that lead to it, and schedule them out of season.
All our services are described on our holiday let management page, and our frequently asked questions answer owners’ first questions. If your villa shares these standards, we would be glad to get to know it.
