A COMBINATION of difficult trading conditions, bad management and the government’s crackdown on extravagance has led to a drop in the number of starred hotels in Shanghai.

The city currently has 255 such establishments, or 18 fewer than it had seven months ago, the Shanghai Hotel Star-rating Appraisal Committee, under the tourism authority, said yesterday.

Of the hotels to lose their status, 14 were three-star and four were four-star, it said.