With reference to hotels , what does AAA rated mean?

If you are a member of triple AAA they have a tourbook describing how the hotel compares with others using a rating system (highest = 5 black diamonds).

If a property is not rated by AAA, that does not mean it's a dump. The property owner needs to pay AAA to be rated and listed in the guidebook.

A great property may choose not to put AAA in their marketing plan.

It's possible the post wasn't asking about the American Automobile Association's rating, but instead about guidebooks that give hotels a 'AAA' rating, which really means nothing.

If you're talking about a rating from the Automobile Assocation of America (AAA), it just means that the hotel is part of the AAA network that offers a discount or has been rated by AAA. As JohnD noted, AAA rates hotels from one diamond to five. You have to look at a AAA guidebook to see what criteria they use to give a hotel its AAA rating.

The 1 to 5 diamond system has more to do with amentities (on site restaurant, room service, pool, etc.) rather than overall value, I was under the impression that hotels didn't have to pay to be listed, but that paying for an ad gave them an advantage in terms of exposure.

Here is a link to what AAA says their ratings mean:
http://www.aaa.com/Diamonds/prop_rat...AAA&clb_id=097

I was checking out budget hotels on the internet and one came up triple "AAA" inspected and approved. Unfortunately there is no other information , but if it is using the diamond system , then I'm guessing the establishment is atleast clean.
Thanks for the replys