Between 2002 and 2026, the number of ecolodges in Iran has increased more than 4.5‑fold; however, this quantitative growth has been accompanied by a decline in service quality and a departure from the fundamental principles of ecotourism. Adopting a qualitative approach and employing a directed content analysis method, this study aims to diagnose the pathologies underlying the evaluation and grading process of these accommodations, with the statistical population encompassing all key stakeholders involved in the evaluation, grading, and certification process—namely academics and subject‑matter experts, experts from the Cultural Heritage Administration and official evaluators, tourism industry practitioners and facilitators, managers and owners of eco‑lodges, and professional tourists with substantial experience in ecotourism. Purposeful snowball sampling yielded a final sample of 20 eligible participants, all with at least three years of relevant work experience and complete familiarity with the evaluation process, comprising 7 academics, 4 government experts and evaluators, 2 tourism activists, 4 ecolodge managers and owners, and 3 professional ecotourists. Data were collected through in‑depth semi‑structured interviews and analyzed using MAXQDA software, and drawing upon the four‑function framework of sustainability certification and signalling theory, the findings reveal that Iran's ecolodge evaluation system suffers from four fundamental pathologies: incompatibility of evaluation standards with the indigenous and community‑based nature of these accommodations, subjective and inconsistent grading procedures, lack of effective and efficient monitoring over both licensed and unlicensed units, and an inherent conflict between quantitative expansion and qualitative requirements. Consequently, these pathologies have undermined the primary functions of certification—namely guidance and regulation, positioning and identification, profitability and benefit, and knowledge enhancement and progress—and have ultimately led to a "signal failure" in the ecolodge market.