Every year the Michelin Red Guide offers a selection of the best establishments in France. This year it includes over 9000 hotels and restaurants ranging from the simplest to the most luxurious. All have one thing in common - they have been independently selected by Michelin's team of inspectors. To meet new reader expectations, the 2003 edition of the Michelin Red Guide features some innovations designed to make travel more pleasurable. A new hotel category has been introduced, the Bib Hotel, easily identifiable by the Michelin Man's head on a pillow. The "Bib Hotel" is synonymous with a "good price for a good night", in the same way as the Bib Gourmand means "good food at moderate prices". This year the Michelin Red Guide contains 176 hotels with double rooms at less than 60 (less than 75 in main towns and tourist resorts).
Since its first guide was published over 100 years ago, Michelin has continued to introduce more services in its mission to make life easier for the traveller.
To this end, The Red Guide has evolved to reflect changes in travel requirements: it may no longer list tyre outlets as it did in 1900 but it does tell you if a hotel has an exercise room and gives e-mail addresses of establishments listed. Today The Red Guide collection has 12 titles to choose from covering 11 European countries. Michelin is the European publisher with the most thorough selection covering the whole of Europe (range, depth of information, annual update, quality etc.), and is perceived as Europe’s authority in hotel and restaurant guides.
The collection is revised every year to meet consumer needs and expectations as far as possible. It aims to serve the greatest number of readers possible by offering both detailed information and a wide selection (variety of establishments, prices to suit all budgets etc).
The collection aims to offer its readers products that are practical, user friendly and easy to read (indexes by category of establishment, town plans, symbols that are easy to understand).
Strengths of the Michelin Red Guide:
- On site visits: the trademark policy for every establishment listed in the Michelin hotel and restaurant guide. Nothing can ever replace seeing for oneself first-hand, which is why Michelin has its team of professional inspectors, each with an excellent knowledge of the local hotel and restaurant industry. As Michelin employees, they all share the same methods and practices of the group, ensuring that their selections are consistent with each other.
- Independence: the second policy of the Michelin hotel and restaurant guide. Visiting a hotel or restaurant is not enough; objectivity must also be kept! Michelin is clear in its policy of remaining totally independent from hotel and restaurant owners. The inspectors visit each establishment anonymously and pay their bill. Opinions are formed objectively with nothing asked in return. This policy guarantees reliability for consumers and professionals alike as the guide’s sales and reputation can testify.
