Special to the
Opelika Observer
With spring break and summer vacations quickly approaching, U.S. News & World Report analyzed hotels across Alabama and named its Top 15 List.
Opelika’s Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa came in 13th on the list, and one of seven resorts along Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.
Following is a list of the other top-15 finishers:
- The Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel & Spa – Mobile
- Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa – Pt. Clear
- Grand Bohemian Hotel Mountain Brook, Autograph Collection – Mountain Brook
- Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa – Florence
- Fort Conde Inn – Mobile
- The Westin – Huntsville
- Renaissance Birmingham Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa – Hoover
- Wind Creek Casino & Hotel – Atmore
- Wind Creek Wetumpka – Wetumpka
- Elyton Hotel, Autograph Collection – Birmingham
- Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel – Mobile
- Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center – Montgomery
- The Admiral Hotel – Mobile
Perdido Beach Resort – Orange Beach
Calculating the
Rankings
Each hotel’s place in the rankings takes into account the aggregate opinion of published travel experts and the overall customer satisfaction expressed in online guest reviews provided under license by TripAdvisor. The highest-ranking hotels are typically those that both experts and users recognize for their exceptional quality.
To rank hotels, they compute a hotel score based on the following underlying components:
Awards and
Recognition: They evaluate the number and prominence of awards and recommendations a hotel has received from expert travel industry sources. A hotel with several accolades may accumulate a high number of Awards & Recognition points. However, all such awards and recommendations are not considered equal. Some are highly selective and may apply to only a handful of hotels across the globe; hotels that have earned these more selective accolades will receive a higher number of points in the awards and recognition category. Other awards apply to a vast number of hotels and are thus considered less selective and worth fewer points. Each year, we evaluate award sources and seek out the top industry influencers to take into consideration. A hotel may receive up to 10 points for Awards & Recognition. In addition, up to three more points may be earned by hotels with a higher than expected ratio of accolade points to popularity (as approximated by user review counts), acknowledging that newer or less-visited hotels may go above and beyond to earn critic accolades.
Hotel Class: A hotel’s class rating – a 3.5-, 4-, 4.5- or 5-star rating – is a general indicator of quality. However, it is by no means universal. Many travelers may be surprised to learn that a hotel labeled a 3-star property by one publication may be considered a 4.5-star property by another. In our analysis, U.S. News editors have reviewed multiple sources to estimate the mean-average class rating for each hotel that they rank. In their rankings calculation, a hotel may receive up to 10 points for its average hotel class. The number of points is directly proportional to the class rating. A 3.5-star hotel receives 7 out of 10 points, a 4-star hotel receives 8 out of 10 points, a 4.5-star hotel receives 9 out of 10 points and a 5-star hotel receives 10 out of 10 points.
Guest Rating: A hotel’s guest rating is calculated using data provided under license by TripAdvisor. The guest rating is worth between 7.5 and 12.5 points in our hotel rankings methodology, with the weighting based on the number of underlying guest reviews. Hotels with fewer guest reviews will see a guest rating weighted closer to 7.5 points, whereas hotels with thousands of guest reviews will have higher weightings for the Guest Rating.
U.S. News combines the number of points earned by the hotel and divide that by the number of points for which the hotel was eligible. On a given list, hotels are ranked highest to lowest according to the calculated hotel score.
For more information, visit www.usnews.com.
