I read the article a couple of weeks ago and thought the same thing. "Fanciest" is really luxury.

Their "luxury" category has some brands I would call upscale, but most in the business category. Likewise, their "upscale" category falls mostly into "business lodging" in my book.

Their "moderate" is my "budget" (i.e. mostly don't stay there if any choice at all), and their "budget" is really "ghetto slum", cancel the trip if you can't find anything better.

I found their sample pricing to be really skewed to the low side too.