The hotel industry got another lackluster review in the NAACP's 10th annual grading of diversity efforts by the major lodging chains. The national civil rights organization gave the industry an overall grade of C+, up slightly from last year's C but a long way from the D- mark it gave the industry in the inaugural survey in 1997.

Four brand companies — Adam's Mark, Marriott, Hyatt and Cendant — each got the highest grade, B-.

The group's methodology drew the ire of some African-American hoteliers, who coincidentally were meeting at the same time as the NAACP confab.

Speaking during the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers convention, Hank Thomas said the NAACP “needs to look at the fact that an increasing number of black Americans own hotels and that there is a path to ownership for African-Americans.”