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What Is AAA’s Diamond Rating System?
By Jim Rink, AAA Michigan
 Quality doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the product of genuine effort, astute direction, and skillful performance. It’s the key ingredient found in the select group of lodgings and restaurants that have received the AAA Four Diamond Award®.
The AAA Diamond Rating system provides travelers an effective way to select quality lodgings and restaurants that meet their individual needs and expectations. Found in AAA's TourBook® guides, these widely recognized and trusted symbols provide a professional, objective evaluation into the physical features, attributes, and service quality of lodgings and restaurants. AAA's diamond rating criteria reflect the design and service standards set by the lodging industry, combined with the expectations of AAA members.
Unlike other languages, the AAA Diamond Rating system is easy to translate and understand:
· One Diamond means an establishment meets AAA's basic requirements. Lodgings are modest, yet comfortable, and designed for the budget-minded. Restaurants feature simple, familiar, and unadorned foods served in a sensible, casual, and family-oriented atmosphere.
· Two Diamond establishments meet all of the One Diamond requirements while offering enhanced furnishings for lodgings and increasingly complex yet reasonably priced dining options for restaurants.
· Those establishments earning Three Diamonds offer guests an upgrade in the quality of physical attributes, amenities, and level of comfort. Three Diamond restaurants provide creative, complex menus and a skilled service staff.
· Four Diamond lodgings offer a variety of upscale facilities and extensive services. Guest rooms are spacious and well-appointed, with superior furnishings and personal amenities. The lodgings offer an impressive array of guest services well-executed by experienced, professional personnel.
Four Diamond rated restaurants feature creative cuisine, refined service, and upscale ambiance that combine to create a memorable dining experience. Menus typically reflect a high degree of creativity and complexity, featuring elaborate presentations of market-driven or traditional dishes. Unique combinations of ingredients can be found, while prime grades of meat and seafood are used.
More than 60 AAA tourism editors visit nearly 50,000 lodgings, campgrounds, restaurants, and attractions each year throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
AAA has included lodging information in its travel publications since the early 1900s. The association began rating hotels and other accommodations in 1963, adopting the current diamond rating system in 1977 in recognition of AAA's 75th anniversary. Evaluations and diamond ratings of restaurants began in 1986.
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