Three luxury hotels in Iowa are being recognized with top designations by the continent’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization. Gail Weinholzer, at Triple-A-Iowa, says the three hotels have all attained the coveted “four diamond” rating. “The Hotel at Kirkwood Center in Cedar Rapids, the Ameristar Casino Hotel in Council Bluffs and the Hotel Blackhawk in Davenport,” Weinholzer says. “There are fewer than 4% of all the hotels are given that distinction so that’s quite an honor for those three facilities.”

She says the hotels selected in Iowa met tough standards to earn the designation. “They sign up for the program, they have to be evaluated by our national office as far as what sorts of amenities they provide, the luxuriousness of the hotel, the responsiveness of their staff,” Weinholzer says.

These select properties represent the upper echelon of the hospitality industry, she says, providing guests with a personalized experience and attentive service in comfortable, high quality surroundings.

(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)