I've never been given any kind of preferential hotel treatment in irrops as an EXP. Never stayed at the Atrium DFW, but I can assure you it can't be any worse than the Comfort Inn they gave me at LGA or the Days Inn at CLT.
My irrops hotel experiences with AA have generally been so bad that, as mentioned above, I never even bother anymore, always book whatever I can find on my own then just submit receipts (either to your CC company or directly to AA).