Just wondering, but what are the differences in Paris between hotels with 1 star, 2 stars and 3 stars? Is there a typical list of amenities that one gets at a 2 but not at a 1, or at a 3 but not a 2?

Here's the explanation, albeit in French (but deciperable into English, I think): http://www.bayonne.cci.fr/hotel-normes.asp

The main thing to note is that, with respect to hotels, stars relate to amenities, not quality.

It is a very long list of criteria, several pages. I don't know about typical, they are gradual and I there are points for various thigns, I think, so it's not that clearcut. Some have to do with room size, or having an elevator, but then that depends on the size of the building, so isn't static (a 3* hotel needs an elevator if it has four levels, whereas a 4* hotel needs one at three levels, a 2* hotel at five levels, etc.).

Some of the sizes vary like that also, just incremental by stars (size of reception area, as well as rooms). Room size varies by stars depending on how many people are allowed in the room.

For example, a double room has to be 9 m2 minimum useful surface in a 1-2* hotel, 10 m2 in a 3*, and 12 in a 4*.

Contrary to some of the things you may read on here, you don't get stars for hair dryers, etc., and restaurants aren't required of 4* hotels.

number of bathrooms per guest room varies by stars. The reception person must speak at least one foreign language in a 2* hotel (none are required below that); two foreign languages of which one must be English in a 3* hotel. Breakfast must be able to be served in the rooms in a 3* and higher only.

It's true that the star rating is completely technical rather than subjective. One of the recent changes in the rating system is the presence of a telephone in every room. Under the old system, every single one of the automated motels (Etap, Première Classe, B&B, Fast Hôtel, Villages Hôtel, Formule 1, etc.) was rated 0-star because they did not have telephones in the rooms, even though plenty of them were air conditioned and had satellite TV. In the age of cell phones, it was finally considered not necessary, so now most of these hotels have been reclassified 1 or 2 stars.
For those high rollers of you out there, you might want to know that the number of ****L hotels in Paris (most of you would call that 5-star) is going to grow from 7 to 9. The Fouquet's Barrière on the Champs Elysées is going to open at the end of the year, and the Shangri La group has pounced on a very luxurious property near Trocadéro which they plan to open around 2008 or 2009.

I suppose that point that is to be emphasized is that the rating system is enforced by the government, so a hotel can't just decide to call itself 5 stars for marketing reasons (Mexico??). So on the front of every accomodation, you will see the plaque with its star rating.

Hotels can, however, decline to be rated--right?

I was reading a portion of the law, which says that any place that offers rooms commercially (I guess as opposed to a B&B?) and had a minimum of 5 rooms, would be classified from 0 to 4 stars luxury

However, a place like the Hôtel Eldorado (www.eldoradohotel.fr) has a big sign in the reception indicating that the hotel is not classified as a tourist hotel by the Ministry of Tourism, so they are clearly not fulfilling some sort of major requirement. However, the hotel is always full of tourists anyway.

The French hotel star rating system does not measure quality. It measures quantities. Here is a complete article on the hotel star ratings in France:
http://www.paris-eiffel-tower-news.c...ng-systems.htm