The mind reels:
3* Properties are called "Comfort" In addition to the standard star (**) hotels:
Reception opened 14 hours, accessible by phone 24 hours from inside and outside, bilingual staff (e.g. Spanish/English)
Three piece suite at the reception,
luggage service
Beverage offer in the room
Telephone in the room
Internet access in the room or in the public area
Heating facility in the bathroom, hair-dryer, cleansing tissue
Dressing mirror, place to put the luggage/suitcase
Sewing kit, shoe polish utensils, laundry and ironing service
Additional pillow and additional blanket on demand
Systematic complaint management system
Roatan? 3 1/2 Stars much less 3?
Ok, I suppose you could rate Roatan Properties on a comparative scale, just like ski areas have green circle bunny runs, blue square intermediate, and black diamond advanced. So at a Wisconsin ski area, a black diamond is their hardest run, but that's the only comparison to a black diamond run in Aspen.
The real problem with even that "comparative local rating" is that
almost every Bay Islands property suffers from
wild swings in consistency. Attribute it to management, the local mentality, the difficulty of the supply chain, whatever- but there is almost no predictability, plain and simple.
An unfortunate but common example. You hire a guy to show up and be ready to rake leaves every day at 8am. The first day, you see him at 8, so you send him to the shed for a rake and wheelbarrow. Every day thereafter, he will show up at 8 without the wheelbarrow and rake. Go get a rake, please. Every day is different, just because you told me to deliver fresh towels today, that doesn't mean any possibility of that tomorrow.
Make of it what you will, but when the likes of a Tiger Woods shows up, he sleeps on his yacht.
A small few Roatan resorts rate even 1* by the recognized "star rating system", but even then, you have to squint a bit to see it.