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It is important to compare hotels in South Africa if you are looking for the best South African accommodation deals. Accommodation in the country is extremely varied, although accommodation grading bodies in the country try to make sure that hotels deserve the ratings they are given.

The grading bodies are the National Accommodation Association and the South African Tourism Grading Council. The NAA does not use a star grading system, but uses a classification system with various levels representing the facilities provided by the hotel or other establishment. The SATGC does use a star grading system, employing eight categories of which hotels is one. Others include backpacker hostels, guest houses, caravans and bed and breakfast establishments plus others.

Because we are concerned with hotels here, these others will not be discussed. Although South Africa is a vast country, with many different geographical features offering many different types of hotel, the grading system tries to be regular throughout. That means that a hotel in any specific region might have a lower grading but might nevertheless be the best in the area.

The four levels used by the NAA are Budget, Comfort, Comfort with Luxury and Luxury. These levels do not indicate levels of superiority, but only differences in services offered. The SATGC is the only body within the country permitted to officially use the star grading system for South Africa hotels. When you compare hotels it should be kept in mind that these may not relate exactly to the star system in your own country.

However, it can be assumed that even a 2-star hotel offers clean and comfortable accommodation: hotel grading is carried out annually so that no hotel can slip after being graded. What this all amounts to is that hotels in South Africa are as well monitored for quality as those in Europe and North America.

Given these facts, what is the best way to compare hotels in South Africa? Some use price, but many regret it. Should you use the SATGC star rating or perhaps the NAA grading of the hotels in the area you intend to visit? While each of these are useful methods of getting an indication of the degree of luxury or facilities offered by a hotel, they do little to give you the reality of what it is like to stay in.

One major problem with both the above rating systems is that even though they may be supported by annual inspections or 're-gradings', they do not necessarily reflect consumer experience. The best South African accommodation deals involve not only price, but also the whole hotel experience, and if a guest has had a bad time then even the cheapest price won't compensate.

The best way to compare hotels in South Africa, or anywhere else if truth be told, is to compare the experiences of those that have lived there. You may have a dreadful experience in a 5-star hotel where you are just another guest, but be looked after fabulously in a small hotel in a small township where people try their very best to make you feel welcome.

It's not the wine cellar, the menu or the glittering trappings that make a good hotel, but the people that run it and look after you, and if they are devoted to you having a good experience when staying with them that that is one of the best hotels - irrespective of price.

Therefore, if you can find a hotel comparison site that grades hotels according to the comments and reviews of guests, then that is how to find the best South African accommodation deals in the entire country. That doesn't mean that you should ignore the star gradings, far from it! However, they will supplement these gradings.

Let's face it - grading are gradings, they are not ratings, and a combination of star gradings and consumer ratings should give you the best comparison of the various hotels on offer in a specific area of any country. A 5-star hotel can offer poor service just as much as a lower graded hotel - in fact some do.

It is what people believe that matters, and if guests believe that they have been well looked after, the hotel is comfortable, the food is good and the price they paid was worth the experience then that is a good hotel. It is highly rated. On the other hand if they feel that the food was great, the wine fabulous, but the service OK and the attitude somewhat supercilious, then they may feel that the price they paid was perhaps not worth their experience.

Many 5-star hotels are fabulous all the way through, but so are many ungraded hotels to those that stay there. The best way to compare hotels in South Africa is by comparing the experiences of those that have stayed in them - would they stay there again? The most telling question of them all!