For the seventh consecutive year online reviewers of Rockdale’s Rainbow Courts have made the local motel/ bed and breakfast one of the top one percent of bargain hotels in the world.
Trip Advisor.com
announced on Friday the historical establishment—which boasts the oldest motel room in Texas—came in at No. 18 in the USA.
That’s welcome news to Rainbow Courts owners Dan and Joan Ratliff, but hardly a surprise. It’s the seventh consecutive year for the business to be listed in the nation’s top 25 in Trip Advisor’s Bargain Hotels category.
It’s also their seventh consecutive Traveler’s Choice award, honoring Rainbow Courts as one of the world’s top one percent.
ROLLING 7’S—What’s their secret, besides attention to detail, “above and beyond” service and lots of hard work?
“It’s our wonderful guests who give us such great reviews and also the history of this place,” Joan said.
“People really positively when they find out this has been in Joan’s family for over 100 years,” Dan added. “They develop a connection with it.”
“We think it’s pretty special,” Joan said. “When you look at the other places in the top 25, so many of them are in resort areas, major tourist destinations, near national parks and other attractions.”
In past years, Rainbow Courts has been as high as No. 8 on the bargain hotels list.
“When you look at it year-to-year, a lot of places drop off the list,” Joan noted. “I don’t know how many stay on top 25 for seven years.”
HISTORY—N.M. Bullock founded the Rainbow Courts in 1918. He later sold it to his brother—Joan Ratliff’s grandfather—I. B. Bullock.
The Ratliffs purchased the motel from Joan’s parents in 1992.
The Rainbow has had some famous visitors over the years, including playwright Tennessee Williams and Western Swing King Bob Wills, who paid for his stay with a record album.
Then there are the repeaters. Liz Carpenter, press secretary to Lady Bird Johnson, loved the Garden Room (pictured above) so much that her “booking” became a phone call with the admonition “get my room ready.”
The Rainbow has been designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
“We can’t thank our customers enough,” Dan concluded. “This is really something when you consider how long this has been going on and there are more than 64,000 hotels and motels in the United States.”
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