According to Michel Sabot, Operations Manager of the SBM (Société des Bains de Mer) which owns most of the top class hotels here, including the Hermitage, the wrinkle should be ironed out in the next few weeks.

As for the rest of the list the rankings hold few changes despite the fact that the criteria for eligibility have been radically altered on a par with the shake-up in France. Perhaps some hotels are breathing a sigh of relief that they do not have to have, for example, a phone box in the foyer to attain four-star status. On the other hand, it is no longer enough to have bi-lingual staff on the front desk, as they are now required to have three or four languages, including less common ones like Russian, Chinese and Japanese.

Possessing five-stars is not always an asset, particularly when it comes to business tourism, and some of the four-star establishments - Fairmont, Méridien and SBM’s latest the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort – have opted to stay put. Medical congresses for example are not allowed to stay in five-star hotels. Similarly some of those in the three-star category – Columbus, Novotel and Ni – are content with their lot to attract those attending events where a couple of four-star nights would rattle the shareholders’ cage.

The classification has been produced by the hotel industry commission in Monaco and is as follows:

Two-stars: Hôtel de France and Le Versailles. Three-stars: Ambassador, Columbus, Miramar, Novotel Monte-Carlo and Ni Hotel. Four-stars: Port Palace, Hermitage, Méridien Beach Plaza Monte-Carlo, Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort and Fairmont Monte-Carlo. Five-stars: Monte Carlo Beach, Métropole Monte-Carlo and Hôtel de Paris. CL