The star classification system for hotels in Germany is to be radically overhauled and will now include a mixture of expert opinion and consumer reviews.
A deal struck between the Organisation of German Hotels and Restaurants (DEHOGA) and social media monitoring platform TrustYou [TLabs Showcase - TrustYou] follows a similar move by the sister industry body in Switzerland, Hotellerie Suisse.
The TrustYou system analyses hundreds of review sites, hotel online rating systems and social networks to find the overall consumer rating for a property.
DOHEGA will combine TrustYou's data with existing professional reviews from writers and hotel pundits to establish a new star rating for each of the accommodation and eating venues included in its database, currently around 240,000.
Helmut Otto of DOHEGA the classification committee says the decision to alter the rating process will give its star rating board a better impression of the "strengths and weaknesses" of each property.
The deal is slated to last for three years and comes after TrustYou entered a similar partnership with the Swiss organisation, part of a European network of hotel industry groups.
Elsewhere in Europe, UK tourist authorities are also withdrawing their support for the long-standing hotel star rating system after claiming user reviews are a better indicator of hotel quality.