RatedTrips.com ratings
All accommodation and restaurants on RatedTrips.com are either rated or recommended by the AA or VisitEngland, the two main organisations that inspect, assess and recommended places to stay, dine and visit across the UK. Attractions are also assessed by VisitEngland.
Our professional inspectors and assessors that visit and assess establishments against a set criteria agreed between the AA and the main national tourist authorities.
Rated accommodation
Accommodation establishments on RatedTrips.com (hotels, B&Bs, self-catering cottages, campsites and holiday parks) are classified on a scale of one to five stars, with one being the simplest and five the most highly recommended.
Stars are awarded by either the AA or VisitEngland (sometimes both), under an agreed criteria known as common standards. The AA awards pennants to caravan and campsites, which can be seen in the awards section of relavant camping pages (see below). For consistency and easier comparison between AA and VisitEngland sites the pennants have been converted to stars at the top of a site's profile page.
Awards and Accolades
The star ratings are further enhanced by a range of awards given by the AA and VisitEngland – these are highlighted in the ‘Awards and Accolades’ area of an establishment's profile page.
VisitEngland gives a gold award to its highest-rated establishments, while the AA awards red stars 'Inspector's choice' to hotels and gold stars (B&Bs and self-catering). Both organisations have a silver award as a ‘highly recommended’ second tier.
AA Caravan and Campsites are given Pennants on a scale of 1 to 5, with a Platinum award given to the best 5-Pennant sites.
Other awards shown include:
VisitEngland welcome schemes icons that show if a property is well suited to and equipped for guests with particular requirements, including walkers, cyclists, families and pets.
AA Hospitality Awards – every year, the very best hotels and restaurants are awarded 'of the year' awards at a special ceremony. Read about the current award winners.
VisitEngland ROSE Awards – every year, 100 assessed properties are awarded a Recognition of Service Excellence (ROSE) award.
The Breakfast award icon shows that the establishment offers a very special breakfast.
The Dinner award icon shows that shows that the establishment offers a very special evening meal.
A Rosette award for culinary excellence is shown where an AA star-rated accommodation or standalone restaurant has been inspected for the quality of its food. Read more about Rosette-rated restaurants.
Rated Accessibility
VisitEngland works with tourism businesses to improve their accessibility and quality. VisitEngland provides a number of tools and resources to help tourism operators accommodate people with access needs, such as the National Accessible Scheme symbols you will see on our pages. Read more about what the symbols mean.
Rated dining
Restaurants on RatedTrips.com either have an AA Rosette for Culinary Excellence award or are assessed for a Visit England Taste Award.
Rosettes are awarded on a rising scale based on a meal visit by one or more AA inspectors. Read more about what it takes to be awarded AA Rosettes.
Covid Confident
Run by the AA and open to all hospitality establishments across the UK, the Covid Confident accreditation is designed to assure travellers and holidaymakers that the place that they're visiting is following all national and relevant industry guidelines.
The accreditation is awarded to all businesses that submit evidence of Covid-specific risk assessments, staff training and safety programmes – you can find out more on our Confident Travels page.
Recommended places
RatedTrips.com also lists various visitor attractions and standalone pubs (without rated acccommodation) around the UK, which are recommended by the AA’s team of travel editors and inspectors.