Alright. I am in my room at the Sheraton Grande in Edmonton. It is not a Club Floor room, but as a Starwood Gold I did get upgraded to a well-appointed room. By that I mean it has a full range of toiletries, including mouth wash and shoe horn [things not found in basic rooms: soap, shampoo, conditioner and maybe lotion, shower cap and shoe polish cloth] and a bathrobe and slippers [the latter one finds at the top end and seldom any lower down].

I assume this constitutes either a Superior or Deluxe room.

However, after all these years of staying in hotels of all chains, at all levels of status and rack rates, I still don't know how the hierarchy of hotels works. We all know the subtle differences in airline fare codes, and the general entitlements on dometic or international flights. But hotels?

What is a Standard Room? Does a Deluxe come next, or is Superior the next step up?

I realize some of this will vary by the overall positioning of a chain: i.e. we get less basics at a Four Points than at a Sheraton, and even more in a Luxury Collection room.

Can anyone help? Maybe Starwood's Lurker and Hilton's Adam Burke can provide us with the descriptions of such rooms and their contents as they are to be found at the various segments of their respective chains?