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It largely comes down to amenities and service.
I spent near a decade working at a 3 star property. Nothing fancy, just your average hotel. When I went on vacation, I would use my employee discount to stay at the 4 star brand that was part of the same company, and the most noticeable difference was in the staffing. My 3 star property had “normal hours” for maintenance, housekeeping, restaurant, and bar staff, and if a guest wanted/needed something outside of those hours, it would be on the front desk to basically find a “bodge job” that would be good enough. The 4 star properties I stayed at had someone available, or at least on-call, who could do that thing that was specific to their department.
I’ve only stayed in one 5 star property, but they took it one step further by just *doing the thing*. Whatever that thing might be, they would find it, and do it, without being asked. I stayed at that 5 star for a week-long vacation. Came in from the airport on their shuttle, didn’t have to retrieve my bags – they put them in my room while I was checking in. On day 1, I decided to wear my suit. Day 2 was a jeans and tee kind of day, and I left the suit hanging over the desk chair so it didn’t get too horribly messed up. When I came back to my room after day 2, the suit had been dry cleaned, pressed, hung back up, and someone even fixed a hole that had developed in the breast pocket. My dress shoes had been polished, and they cleaned my boaters, even removing a scuff that I had tried and failed to get rid of. I didn’t ask them to do that, they just made it happen. The day before I was scheduled to check out, while I was out on the town, they laundered all of my clothes. Sure, a 4 star will do that if you ask, but they just did it – that level of service was par for the course for them. It was also all part of the service, and didn’t cost me anything beyond my room costs. After the first night, every time I went to the lobby bar, the bartender already had my drink waiting for me. When I went to their high end bar/restaurant one night, the bartender down there knew exactly what I liked, and had her own recommendation of a “high-class” version. I’m not a famous celebrity, or a big money spender, or really anything other than an average guy, but they made me feel like an A-lister. That’s what makes a 5 star stand out – how they make you feel.
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