Seventeen Southern California hotels and two restaurants have received the AAA Five Diamond Award® for 2013, the travel authority’s highest rating, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California. The Montage Laguna Beach has received the AAA Five Diamond rating and was added to the prestigious list.
The Auto Club and AAA’s professional inspectors evaluate and rate 59,000 lodgings and restaurants each year, more than any other rating entity.
“The AAA Five Diamond Rating is ‘the’ hallmark in North America for the global hospitality industry. It represents meticulous world-class service and imaginative menus to attain AAA’s highest standard of service in travel and dining excellence,” said the Auto Club’s Approved Accommodations Supervisor Patricia Marenco. “The Auto Club congratulates the 2013 AAA Five Diamond establishments in Southern California along with their management and staff on reaching this achievement. Many establishments have been highly rated over many years; a feat that is difficult to maintain.”
Only about 0.3 percent of the 59,000 lodgings and restaurants earn the prestigious AAA Five Diamond distinction. Details about the Five Diamond establishments can be accessed online at AAA.com/Travel and through downloadable eTourBookSM guides at AAA.com/ebooks. Smartphone users can locate Diamond Rated establishments using the free AAA TripTik® Mobile app or AAA Mobile Web at AAA.com/mobile.
The AAA Diamond rating system provides consumers with the broadest coverage of any U.S. rating system, both geographically, including the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. AAA’s Diamond rating program is the only hotel and restaurant review system in the nation that uses specially trained full-time field representatives who collectively visit some 1,200 hotels and restaurants every week. As part of AAA’s national network, the Auto Club’s own staff reviews establishments in Southern California without prior notification using objective and detailed rating procedures.
The Southern California hotels that received the 2013 AAA Five Diamond Award® rating with year rated:
Beverly Hills
Montage Beverly Hills, 2011
L’Ermitage Beverly Hills, 2001
The Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows, 2008
The Peninsula Beverly Hills, 1993
Carlsbad
Park Hyatt Aviara Resort, Golf Club & Spa, 1999
Dana Point
St. Regis Resort, Monarch Beach, 2007
The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, 1986
La Jolla
The Lodge at Torrey Pines, 2002
Laguna Beach
Montage Laguna Beach, 2012
Marina del Rey
The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey, 1992
Newport Beach
Island Hotel Newport Beach, 1992
The Resort at Pelican Hill (Newport Coast), 2009
Ojai
Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, 2006
San Diego
The Grand Del Mar, 2009
Santa Barbara
Four Seasons Biltmore Santa Barbara, 2005
Simpson House Inn, 1997
Westlake Village
Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, 2008
Two Southern California restaurants receiving a 2013 AAA Five Diamond rating with year rated are:
Beverly Hills
The Belvedere (in The Peninsula Beverly Hills), 1995
San Diego
Addison, (at the Grand del Mar), 2008
To be considered for AAA approval and rating, lodgings and restaurants must undergo a thorough inspection. AAA Five Diamond establishments go through the most extensive reviews of the Diamond rating programs. The inspectors work remotely and bring significant prior industry experience to the association.
AAA started listing accommodation information in its travel publications in the early 1900s. AAA has been doing field inspections of restaurants and lodgings since 1937.