LOS ANGELES, CA–(Marketwire – December 8, 2010) – Seventy Southern California hotels and 34 restaurants have earned the 2011 AAA Four Diamond Award, the Automobile Club of Southern California announced today. Seven locations appear for the first time on the 2011 list including Lake Arrowhead Resort & Spa, Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, La Valencia Hotel, as well as Cut, and Donovan’s Steak & Chop House restaurants. Patina received its 20^th consecutive AAA Four Diamond Award rating.

The coveted rating plaque featuring a design of four raised simulated diamonds and the AAA Four Diamond Award logo are presented to hotel and restaurant general managers and executive chefs to recognize the award-winning properties, which rank among the top 3.4 percent of more than 2,600 Southern California hotels, motels, and restaurants inspected by the Auto Club, the nation’s largest AAA affiliate.

“North America’s AAA Diamond Rating System is a long-time trusted systematic method of rating lodgings and restaurants, especially during what has been a difficult economic year for the hospitality industry and also for travelers,” said the Auto Club’s Approved Accommodations Supervisor Patricia Marenco. “Southern California’s hotels and restaurants that earn the AAA Four Diamond award maintain a very high standard of service in their hotels and restaurants in order to continue pleasing their guests.”

The list of 2011 AAA Four Diamond hotels and restaurants throughout Southern California follows, along with the consecutive years each property has earned the award:

AAA’s Diamond rating program is the only hotel and restaurant review system in the nation that uses specially trained full-time field representatives. 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.

Lodging inspections include at least one unannounced inspection each year. Inspectors review and rate exterior, grounds and public areas, room décor, ambiance and amenities, guest room, bathrooms, housekeeping and maintenance, management and staff and guest services. Once the inspection process is complete, properties that meet all requirements receive a rating of one to five Diamonds.

AAA approves and rates more than 57,000 lodgings and restaurants each year throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. A wide range of property listings are included in printed regional TourBook® guides and on www.AAA.com, where many travel planning and information services — including the well-known TripTik® Travel Planner, TourBook® listings and Diamond Ratings — are now available to non-members as well. They are also available, in part, on www.AAAmaps.com. The AAA Four Diamond rating is exclusive in that less than 4% of all AAA approved properties achieve this rating.