India, Sept. 27 -- When was the last time you booked a hotel simply because it had five stars? Chances are, you checked the photographs, zoomed into the bathroom, read reviews, looked at breakfast, checked the location on Google Maps and possibly spent an unreasonable amount of time deciding if that infinity pool actually looked as good as it did on Instagram. Somewhere along the way, the star rating became just one part of the decision. And that may be one of the more interesting shifts happening in Indian travel right now.

"The term 'luxury' is worn out, overused and diluted. Traditional star ratings no longer guide modern travel decisions," says Burkhard Wolter of Six Senses Fort Barwara. He points to pricing, brand perception and pee...