Where to stay

Picking where to stay across the South-East and Florida comes down to matching the trip to the place, not the other way round. Beach towns, theme-park bases, mountain gateways and big-city cores each behave differently, and the star class that suits one rarely suits the next. Start with the shape of the holiday. Miami, Miami Beach and Orlando carry the deepest five-star stock, which suits travellers who want the top class from the outset. Fort Lauderdale and Naples add more five-star options on the coast, while Charleston and Savannah bring their own. Kissimmee and Davenport sit close to the Orlando parks. For inland trips, Atlanta, Charlotte, Birmingham and Knoxville anchor the cities, and Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and Sevierville cover the mountains.

Three-star hotels form the broad middle of the region and cover most of the ground: every popular place here lists hotels, and most of the smaller towns rely on this class alone. Choose three-star when the destination matters more than the building and you want a straightforward base.

Four- and five-star hotels are concentrated rather than spread. Miami and Miami Beach lead with 9 five-star hotels each, Orlando has 6, Charleston and Savannah 5 apiece, Fort Lauderdale and Naples 3 each. Where these counts are high, the upper classes are a real choice; elsewhere, three-star is simply what is available.