The hotel classification system, which was used in the decision to strip four of Dublin's top hotels of their five-star status, is currently under review and new guidelines are expected in the next nine to 12 months.
It also emerged yesterday that all four of the hotels have lodged appeals against the decision to downgrade them.
Fáilte Ireland confirmed that the Shelbourne on St Stephen's Green, Jurys in Ballsbridge, the Conrad on Earlsfort Terrace and the Radisson on Stillorgan Road are appealing the move last month to reclassify them as four-star hotels by Excellence in Tourism Ltd, the agency charged with classifying tourist accommodation by Fáilte Ireland and the Irish Hotels' Federation (IHF).
The hotels will remain five-star until the appeals process is complete.
The deadline for appealing a decision passed yesterday. An independent panel comprising nominees from Fáilte Ireland and the IHF, as well as an independent chairperson, will review the hotels' appeals.
No timeframe for the review process has been established. The independent review panel is not expected to be set up until early September.
Meanwhile, the current guidelines, which were drawn up in 1992, are under review, according to a spokeswoman for Fáilte Ireland. The "overhaul" will look at all areas of hotel classification and should be completed in the next nine to 12 months, she said.
"The tourism sector and the hotel trade have seen huge changes in this time and it is timely to have a look at the guidelines in place."
This review is long overdue, according to the chief executive of Jurys, Mr Pat McCann, who expressed his disappointment at the manner in which the reclassification has been handled.
This system "needs to be resolved before hoteliers have any confidence in the grading system in Ireland", he said.
"The industry needs to have confidence in the system and the problem is that at the moment we don't have that."
Mr McCann maintained that three- and four-star hotels in Ireland were of a much higher standard than those in the rest of Europe. He said many hotels were choosing to go unclassified.
Mr Phillip Spencer, general manager of the Shelbourne Hotel, said the classification system was not as relevant as it was when it was established in the 1990s.
"What was considered fine dining in the 1990s is not necessarily what is considered so now, and fine dining is not necessarily what people are looking for in a city hotel."
Mr Laurens Zieren, general manager of the Conrad Hotel, confirmed that the issue for the Conrad centres on fine dining and whether fine dining should be part of a five-star hotel rating.
A Radisson spokesperson said the hotel would not comment during the appeals process.