22 Michigan Lodgings and Restaurants Earn 2006 AAA Four Diamond Award(R)

Ann Arbor now has Four Diamond cuisine

DEARBORN, Mich., March 28 -- The City of Ann Arbor has joined the list of Michigan cities with AAA Four Diamond properties. During a special luncheon ceremony conducted at Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant today (March 28), The Earle Uptown, located at 300 South Thayer in Ann Arbor, received its first AAA Four-Diamond plaque.

In all, 22 Michigan properties earned the prestigious AAA Four Diamond Award(R) for hospitality excellence this year, and one restaurant -- The 1913 Room at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids -- earned five diamonds for a fourth consecutive year. The 1913 Room is the first restaurant in Michigan to attain five-diamond status and is one of only 48 restaurants nationwide to earn the distinction.

Ten restaurants and 12 lodging establishments in Michigan now carry the four-diamond rating. In 2006, just 3.4 percent of the more than 32,000 AAA Rated(R) lodgings and 3 percent of the nearly 25,000 AAA Rated(R) restaurants were awarded the prestigious AAA Four Diamond designation. AAA's more than 49 million members rely on diamond ratings in the AAA TourBook(R) guide to assist them in choosing an establishment.

More than 65 AAA/CAA tourism editors visit over 70,000 lodgings, campgrounds, restaurants, and attractions each year throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Tourism editors conduct unannounced evaluations of lodgings and restaurants, scrutinizing such areas as cleanliness, ambiance, amenities, and service.

According to AAA guidelines, guests staying at a Four Diamond property in Michigan will find establishments "upscale in design and amenities, attentive to detail and with a high level of hospitality."

  Michigan establishments receiving 2006 Four Diamond awards include:

                                  HOTELS

  *  Amway Grand Plaza Hotel (Grand Rapids, 21 consecutive years)
  *  The Townsend Hotel (Birmingham, 18 years)
  *  Ritz-Carlton of Dearborn (Dearborn, 17 years)
  *  The Atheneum Suite Hotel (Detroit, 13 years)
  *  Radisson Plaza at Kalamazoo Center (Kalamazoo, 13 years)
  *  Grand Hotel (Mackinac Island, 12 years)
  *  Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort (Mount Pleasant, 8 years)
  *  Hyatt Regency Dearborn (Dearborn, 4 years)
  *  Westin Hotel Southfield (Southfield, 4 years)
  *  Westin Detroit Metro Airport (Romulus, 3 years)
  *  The Dearborn Inn (Dearborn, 3 years)
  *  Radisson Hotel Detroit (Bloomfield Hills, 2 years)

                               RESTAURANTS

  *  The Lark Restaurant (West Bloomfield, 16 consecutive years)
  *  Webster's (Kalamazoo, 13 years)
  *  Tribute (Farmington Hills, 9 years)
  *  Iridescence (Detroit, 5 years)
  *  Rugby Grille (Birmingham, 5 years)
  *  The Grill at the Ritz-Carlton (Dearborn, 4 years)
  *  Cafe Cortina (Farmington Hills, 3 years)
  *  Il Posto Ristorante (Southfield, 3 years)
  *  Cygnus (Grand Rapids, 2 years)
  *  The Earle Uptown (Ann Arbor, 1 year)

Diamond ratings will be included for each lodging and restaurant listed in the 2006 AAA Michigan/Wisconsin TourBook(R) -- one of a series of popular travel guides published for AAA members in the U.S. and Canada. AAA Michigan members can access the Auto Club's online TourBook(R) at http://www.aaa.com/ .

AAA has included lodging information in its travel publications since the early 1900s. The association began rating lodging properties in 1963 and adopted the diamond designation in 1977. Restaurant evaluations began in 1986.

For more information on the AAA Diamond rating process, visit: http://www.aaa.com/Diamonds .