Ranking the Hotels: Five Top Reviewers | washingtonpost.com

The calculus for hotel rankings doesn't always add up: One reviewer's three-star property is another's five-star. Absent a universal standard for evaluating properties, a variety of entities have formulated their own criteria and judging techniques. The result for the traveler: mostly confusion. For a better read on the stars (and diamonds and pearls), we dissected the reviewing systems of five major players.