General

CAA/AAA Four Diamond Award Winners Announced

January 28, 2009 – CAA/AAA has announced the 4 hotels and 12 restaurants that have achieved Four Diamond status in the region. This announcement included 1 new resort and 2 new restaurants. The CAA/AAA Four Diamond Award is the travel authority’s rating for hotels and restaurants.

Area restaurants receiving the prestigious 2009 CAA/AAA Four Diamond Award are:

• Cut Contemporary Steakhouse, Halifax, NS, 1st year new
• Little Louis’, Moncton, NB, 1st year new
• Gio, Halifax, NS, 2nd year
• Onyx, Halifax, NS, 2nd year
• Fleur de Sel Restaurant, Lunenburg, NS, 3rd year
• Bish World Cuisine, Halifax, NS, 4th year
• The Inn at St. Peters Dining Room, St. Peters Bay, PEI, 4th year
• Dalvay by-the-Sea Heritage Inn Dining Room, Dalvay Beach, PEI, 5th year
• da Maurizio, Halifax, NS, 7th year
• The Inn at Bay Fortune, Bay Fortune, PEI, 8th year
• The Cabot Club Fine Dining, St. John’s, NL, 15th year
• The Windjammer Dining Room, Moncton, NB, 17th year

Area lodgings receiving the prestigious 2009 CAA/AAA Four Diamond Award are:

• Fox Harb’r Golf Resort & Spa, Wallace, NS, 1st year new
• Rodd Crowbush Golf & Beach Resort, Morell, PEI, 5th year
• The Prince George Hotel, Halifax, NS, 7th year
• Halifax Marriott Harbourfront, Halifax, NS, 24th year

These establishments join an elite circle of Four Diamond Award winners. Only 3.3 percent of the estimated 32,000 AAA/CAA-rated lodgings and 3.1 percent of the estimated 23,000 restaurants are awarded the prestigious AAA/CAA Four Diamond designations each year. For the 2005, there are 1,757 winners including 1,065 lodgings and 692 restaurants.

“Four Diamond restaurants and lodgings represent an important tier of the hospitality industry, offering guests superior experiences with a high level of hospitality in luxurious surroundings,” said Gary Howard, a spokesperson for CAA. “To achieve and maintain this level of service is an amazing accomplishment and CAA/AAA is pleased to honour these recipients.” The assignment of a CAA/AAA Four Diamond Rating marks the completion of a successful annual evaluation. All properties must first meet CAA/AAA’s rigorous requirements to become “CAA/AAA Approved” establishments. The two components work in sync – “CAA/AAA Approved” offers the stamp of quality and the CAA/AAA Diamond Rating shows where establishments fit in the spectrum from basic to luxury.

More than 65 tourism editors visit over 70,000 lodgings, campgrounds, restaurants, and attractions each year. Tourism editors conduct unannounced evaluations, assigning a rating of One to Five Diamonds to qualifying establishments in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

AAA/CAA has included lodging information in its travel publications since the early 1900's. The association began rating hotels and other accommodations in 1963, adopting the current rating systems in 1977 in celebration of AAA/CAA's 75th anniversary. Evaluations and Diamond ratings of restaurants began in 1986.

CAA/AAA’s Diamond Rating System is the only rating system that covers all of North America and one of only two that conduct physical, on-site evaluations. It is also the only system that uses full-time, professionally trained evaluators to inspect each property on an annual basis using a set of guidelines that are made available to all establishments. CAA/AAA rates more properties than any other rating entity. The Diamond ratings are included in each restaurant and lodging listing in the 2009 CAA/AAA Atlantic Provinces & Quebec TourBook® guide, in print and on CAA’s Web site, www.caa.ca/maritimes.