DETAILS OF FIVE MAJOR HOTEL REVIEWERS

www.aaa.com : The American Automobile Association employs a five-diamond rating system. Ratings appear on AAA's website and in its TourBook guides. It covers 37,000 properties in the United States, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean. Inspectors arrive unannounced, asking to see several rooms and to tour the property. The criteria cover six key areas, such as guest room decor, ambience and amenities. Anonymous experts stay overnight only at four- and five-diamond hotels. Properties are reevaluated every year.

www.expedia.com : The trifecta rating system comprises stars (one to five), consumer reviews (started in 2004) and Insiders' Select (2007), top picks culled from consumer input. More than 100,000 properties in 1,000-plus cities worldwide are reviewed. For domestic hotels, Expedia uses its own star system based on secondhand data. (Inspectors visit properties that have changed drastically or raise concerns.) For consumer reviews, only proven guests can post experiences, submitted via a template. Insiders' Select distills consumer reviews and chooses the top 1 percent.

SOFA on which the family greyhound is reclining comfortably.

The glamorous, yet natural-looking mother always offers up some savvy decorating wisdom, such as: “Seek out flea market pieces that have good bones.” Or, “I like to decorate with white slipcovers because you can just pull them off and throw them in the wash!” With a house full of toddlers and sofa-sleeping greyhounds, this mother (or her maid) must be washing her slipcovers five times a day.

My slipcovers would be living in my laundry room. My sisal rug would have cat barf on it (How does one clean cat vomit out of the fibers of a sisal rug anyhow? With a toothbrush?). Do Lazy-Boy recliners have “good bones?” Where do I find a flea market near me? We have garage sales, thrift stores and a “swap meet,” but unless your decorating style is “Early Salvation Army” or involves antlers, you might be a bit disappointed with the availability of elegant antique bargains where I live.

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