Most people have heard of five-star restaurants but few of us have eaten inthem. Now, the Triple-A Motor Club has named its equivalent of a”four-diamond” hotel in central Iowa — one of only three in the state.Sherry Freese is publications manager for the 43-million member association.The Hotel Pattee (pah-tee’) in Perry is the newest four-diamond property inIowa. The hotel first opened in 1913. After a ten-million dollarrestoration, it re-opened in 1997. Freese says the high ranking of theDallas County hotel will “absolutely” be a boost to Iowa tourism. Freesesays attaining the four-diamond status is very important for an independenthotel which doesn’t have corporate backing and big budget advertisingdollars. The other four-diamond hotels in Iowa are The Abbey Hotel inBettendorf and the Ameristar Casino Hotel in Council Bluffs. Triple-A saysthere are only 800 four-diamond hotels in all of North America.

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