Six new hotels and four new restaurants have been added in AAA’s 2009 Five Diamond Award ® winner listings. 103 hotels and 59 restaurants are now listed as having achieved Five Diamond status.
Out of the six new hotels in the list, three are in California - The Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows, Beverly Hills; Montage Laguna Beach, Laguna Beach; and the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, Westlake Village. The other three are the Palm Beach, Manalapan, Fla.; InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, Atlanta; and Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis, St. Louis.
The four new restaurants are Addison, San Diego; Chef Mavro, Honolulu; Restaurant Guy Savoy, Las Vegas; and The Pavilion Antigua, New Winthorpes, Antigua.
In a press statement, Michael Petrone, director of AAA Tourism Information Development, said that “The ability to achieve and maintain the highest level of hospitality in the most luxurious surroundings is what the Five Diamond rating is all about. AAA is pleased to honor these establishments. The physical attributes of these properties are unique, enticing and extraordinary — complemented by an extensive array of personalized services for every guest, which consistently exceeds the expectations of even the most refined traveler.”
California now has 19 hotels and 7 restaurants in the list, while Florida has 10 lodging properties and New York has 5. Illinois has the most number of restaurants on the list (seven, all in Chicago). The Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle and the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia in Philadelphia have been on the list for 25 years now.
The Inn at Little Washington Dining Room in Washington, Va., is the only restaurant to maintain Five Diamond status for 21 consecutive years, ever since AAA first started applying Diamond Ratings to restaurants. Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia had been on the list for 20 consecutive years until 2008, but is not on the list this year.
The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., and Camelback Inn, a JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz., have maintained a Five Diamond Rating for 33 consecutive years.
Photo by Alan Light via flickr (creative commons).