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JankoCHECKED IN

How I rate hotels

Every review on JankoCheckedIn.com ends with the same table: the JCI Score (Janko Checked In Score). It exists so that you can compare a €60 airport hotel in Warsaw with a five-star stay in Sydney on the same scale.

How the score is built

  • I rate seven criteria: Cleanliness, Comfort, Sleep, Shower, Work, Friendliness and Style.
  • Each criterion gets 0 to 5 points, in steps of half a point.
  • The JCI Score is the average of the seven, rounded to one decimal. The stars in the text are rounded to the nearest half star.
  • There is only this one score. There is no second “value” or “overall” score on top.

It is a personal score

I try to make the rating as objective as I can, and I explain every score in the review. But a hotel always presents itself to me personally, so the score stays subjective. That is especially true for Friendliness and Style, but it applies to the other criteria as well.

I rate the stay I actually had, in the room I actually got. A hotel can have renovated and non-renovated rooms. Sometimes I get an upgrade, and sometimes I may not even know that I got one. All of that flows into the score. Another guest in another room can have a different experience, and I say so in the review when I know it.

What I don’t score

  • Location. It matters a lot, but it depends on what you want to do. I describe it in the Quick Facts and in the text instead.
  • Price. I always tell you what I paid, but the score is about the stay, not the bill.
  • Breakfast. I tell you whether I had it and what I thought, but it is not a criterion.

Standards that don’t earn points

Some things are simply expected today. Free WiFi, fast enough to use, is one. Free drinking water, a bottle in the room or a tap you can use, is another. A hotel that doesn’t offer them loses points, a hotel that does gets nothing extra.

How to read a score

  • 5: the best I can imagine for this criterion.
  • 3: fine, does the job, nothing special.
  • 1 or below: a real problem.

Look at the criteria one by one:

The 10 best-rated hotels so far

Ranked by JCI Score

  1. The Costanero at dusk, when the glass facade finally shows its warm side. By day, the hotel looks rather cool and sober. MGallery Hotel Costanero Montevideo Montevideo 4.6JCI
  2. The old historic building, with the high-rise tower next to it. The hotel is split in two, old and new together, and it works. MGallery The Porter House Hotel Sydney Sydney 4.5JCI
  3. The old town of Tallinn with its church towers and a cruise ship in the port, seen from the sea as I arrived by ferry from Helsinki. The hotel is about a 20 minute walk from the terminal. Swissôtel Swissôtel Tallinn Tallinn 4.4JCI
  4. The view from the top floor over the rooftops of Vienna, with St. Stephen's Cathedral on the right. The bar up here, Das Loft, is dreamy. SO/ SO/ Vienna Vienna 4.4JCI
  5. The glass canopy and drive-through at the Pullman New Delhi Aerocity. The drop-off is big and comfortable, and the luggage is taken from you straight away. Pullman Pullman New Delhi Aerocity New Delhi 4.3JCI
  6. The tall glass facade with its clever V-shaped structure. A very good airport hotel, and for one night one of the best airport stays I have had. Novotel Novotel Auckland Airport Auckland 4.2JCI
  7. Tower Bridge and the Tower of London seen from the Thames in London under a blue sky Novotel Novotel London Canary Wharf London 4.1JCI
  8. The hotel by night, a big, easygoing base at the far end of town from the airport. Everything is generous here, starting with the big driveway out front. Pullman Pullman Cairns International Cairns 4.1JCI
  9. The illuminated TRIBE sign on a natural stone wall at night. The hotel is in an old building that has been renovated to a very high standard. Tribe TRIBE Riga City Centre Riga 4.0JCI
  10. The brick and glass tower of the Novotel Medellín El Tesoro. It is built on and next to a mall, and it is a modern interpretation of the Novotel look. Novotel Novotel Medellín El Tesoro Medellín 4.0JCI

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