Top ranking atop Beijing skyline

China World Summit Wing Beijing joined the ranks of China's top hotels when it was officially awarded the status of a national five-star hotel on May 15.

"It is the result of hard work by all our colleagues and support from our guests. We will continue to do even better in the future," said Adrian Rudin, the hotel's general manager, in his speech at a ceremony to mark the five-star rating.

Officials from the tourism authority and representatives from the hotel's owners jointly unveiled a five-star tablet, the highest rating in China's hotel industry.

The hotel is in the capital city's tallest building, the 330-meter, 81-story China World Trade Centre complex in Beijing's central business district.

China introduced its star classification system in 1988, said Yu Debin, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development.

There are now more than 660 five-star hotels in China, according to a list the China Tourist Hotels Association released early this year. Industry experts predict the figure could surpass 1,000 by 2015.

Hotel rating systems vary by country, but the Michelin system from guidebooks by the tire company is believed to be the origin of the star ratings that are used today for hotels and restaurants worldwide.

In 1933, Andre Michelin and his brother Edouard published the first French restaurant listings and introduced the Michelin star system in the Michelin Red Guide, awarding one to three stars to restaurants of outstanding quality.

Other similar guides later increased the number of stars to four or five, with one star being the lowest rating. The stars are sometimes replaced by symbols such as a fork or spoon.

The American Automobile Association uses diamonds instead of stars to express hotel and restaurant ratings.