Edible artworks such as this dessert are crowd-pleasers at Le Cirque

Message boards: Your favorite restaurants and hotels

(CNN) -- Three restaurants and three hotels have earned high marks for performance, becoming first-time recipients of five-star awards from "Mobil Travel Guide."

The annual list of the best hotels and restaurants in the United States and Canada was released on Tuesday, continuing a tradition started in 1958, when Mobil first ranked places to stay and dine based on a five-star system. The five-star designation means "one of the best in the country."

This year's first-time five-star winners are the hotels Inn & Links at Spanish Bay, in Pebble Beach, California; Four Seasons in Palm Beach, Florida; Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York City and the restaurants The French Laundry, in Yountville, California; Le Cirque 2000 in New York City; and Jean Georges, also in New York.

Altogether, 44 establishments -- including 26 lodgings and 18 restaurants -- earned five-star status by demonstrating superiority in all facets of their operations, attending to every detail and consistently giving guests a memorable, one-of-a-kind experience, according to a news release from Mobil.

There were 38 repeat five-star recipients on the 1999 Mobile list. The longest-running are The Broadmoor, a Colorado Springs, Colorado, establishment that has been on the five-star list for 39 years; The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, 38 years; Cincinnati's Maisonette, 35 years; The Carlyle in New York, 31 years; and Marriott's Cambelback Inn in Scottsdale, Arizona, which has enjoyed 30 years with five stars.

A team of culinary and hospitality experts evaluate lodgings and restaurants for the "Mobil Travel Guide," using rating criteria that are specific for each star level and are revised as necessary to reflect the changing tastes and expectations of travelers, Mobil said.

"Over the years, these standards have become benchmarks for excellence in the travel industry," said Mark A. Jacobson, program advisor for Mobil Corporation.

This year, 372 establishments, 33 fewer than the 405 from last year, earned Mobil's four-star rating, which means that they are "outstanding" and "worth a special trip." Mobile editors say that the four-star award has become more difficult to earn over the past several years because standards for excellence are rising among restaurants and lodgings in that category.

The 1999 "Mobile Travel Guide" series covers all of the U.S. and Canada in 13 volumes, which are published by Fodor's Travel Publications and are available in bookstores nationwide. The series contains details on about 22,000 restaurants, hotels resorts, motels, lodges, guest ranches and inns.