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Two California luxury hotels added to AAA’s 2010 Five Diamond Award list

Resort at Pelican Hill / Los Angeles Times

Open less than a year, the Resort at Pelican Hill in Orange County like all hotels, has struggled against the tides of a beleaguered economy. But that doesn’t mean it can’t take a great compliment. The luxury coastal property is one of two California resorts that have danced into the exclusive ranks of AAA’s just-released Five Diamond Award list for 2010. [Corrected at 5:45 p.m. Nov. 6: An earlier version of this post said the Resort at Pelican Hill is south of Laguna Beach. It is north of Laguna Beach.]

California, with 20 five-diamond hotels, also added the opulent Grand del Mar in San Diego to its coffers.

The new Golden State additions join the company of some real longtimers, like the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, which has populated the list for 24 consecutive years, and the Peninsula Beverly Hills, with 17 consecutive years under its belt.

To the 2010 list, which features 113 hotels and 52 restaurants, no new restaurants were added. But that’s no biggie for the Golden State, which already boasts seven five-diamond restaurants.

The Grand del Mar’s Addison, in San Diego, is the newest member, with this year being its second consecutive on the list.

Elsewhere, Nevada tied with Florida in gaining the most new accommodations winners this year. The Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, as well as Encore Las Vegas and the Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas are now considered five-diamond properties.

Mexico also bumped up its number of top-rated properties. The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort in Punta Mita and two Playa del Carmen resorts, Rosewood Mayakoba and the Mandarin Oriental Riviera Maya, are new additions to the 2010 list.

Over 58,000 lodgings and restaurants in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean are evaluated annually by full-time AAA inspectors.

—Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

Photo: The Resort at Pelican Hill now has five-diamond status. Its Coliseum Pool is said to be the world’s largest circular pool. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

This entry was posted on Friday, November 6, 2009 at 2:45 pm by Susan Derby and is filed under Business Travel, California, Gourmet, Hotels, Islands & Beaches, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Luxury Travel, Mexico, News, Tips & Advice, Orange County, San Diego, Weekend Getaways. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

One Comment on “Two California luxury hotels added to AAA’s 2010 Five Diamond Award list”

Pete Kosednar Says:
November 7th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Many of Scottsdale’s AAA Five Diamond Hotel’s are failing the health inspections! Both the restaurant side of operations and the rooms - are having problems with the health department.