PALM BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- Perennial winners and a handful of newcomers made the American Automobile Association's 1998 five-diamond ratings for hotels and restaurants, released Monday at the organization's Florida headquarters.

For the first time, an historic bed and breakfast (the Simpson House Inn in Santa Barbara, California) and a Puerto Rican hotel (Las Casitas Village in Fajardo) made the hotels list, joining frequent winners like Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton hotels.

"The elitest of the industry," AAA's Michael Petrone said of the hotels on the list. "They are the best. Overall, they are the best of the best."

AAA inspectors make surprise visits to hotels that apply for the five-diamond rating -- all AAA-approved hotels are inspected annually, but the five-diamond winners get a more extensive inspection. Fifty-seven hotels made the grade this year.

AAA began listing accommodations information in its travel guides in the early 1900s, and hired hotel, motel and restaurant inspectors for the first time in 1937. In 1963, AAA began a ratings systems naming accommodations as good, very good, excellent and outstanding, and instituted the diamond rating system in 1977.

Petrone said that service is the distinguishing factor for these elite hotels.

"We look at everything from reservations, to check-in, bell services, room service," he said.

Five hotels have carried five diamonds for the 22 years AAA has used the system:

• Marriott's Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, Arizona
• The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs Colorado
• C Lazy U Ranch in Granby, Colorado
• The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
• Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia

In addition to the Simpson House and Las Casitas Village, The Inn at National Hall in Westport, Connecticut; Ihilani Resort & Spa in Kapolei, Hawaii; the Woodlands Resort & Inn in Summerville, South Carolina; and the New York Palace were new to the list in 1998.

Forty establishments made the list on the restaurants side of the ratings ledger, including two first-time recipients, Aureole and Le Cirque 2000 -- both in New York City, which now has six five-diamond restaurants and three five-diamond hotels.

AAA tour books containing the five-diamond winners -- and diamond ratings for all of the more than 34,000 hotels and restaurants approved by the automobile association -- are currently being released.

Based on a report from CNN's Business and Travel and Beyond. The segment appears Monday through Friday on Daybreak at 5:30 AM (ET) and on Early Edition at 7 AM (ET). BT&B also airs Sundays on the World Today at 10 PM (ET).

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Related sites:

• AAA
  • Five-diamond press release
• Mobil Corporation's Travel Guide
  • 1997 Five-Star Winners

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