AAA Awards 4 Diamond Rating To 15 Hotels, 5 Restaurants In Michigan

SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) - More than a dozen hotels and a handful of restaurants in Michigan can once again claim bragging rights as "best-of-the-best."

It's among the top honors in the travel industry: AAA's prestigious Four-Diamond rating. Spokesperson Nancy Cain said the Four-Diamond awards are presented each year to hotels and restaurants that exhibit hospitality industry excellence.

Cain said every location on the list had to pass some pretty stringent guidelines in order to make the cut. The rankings are based on secret visits by AAA inspectors with a long list of criteria to check.

"Just like a regular tourist, they will show up and they've got a checklist of more than 1,000 different things. Is the hotel lobby clean and elegant? Are the services good? Do the rooms have nice linens and carpeting? You know, they check everything," she said.

A total 15 hotels and five restaurants across Michigan have earned the AAA Four-Diamond Award for 2013.

Hotels

• Birmingham -- The Townsend Hotel

• Dearborn -- The Dearborn Inn

• Dearborn -- The Henry Hotel Autograph Collection

• Detroit -- The Westin Book Cadillac

• Detroit -- MotorCity Casino Hotel

• Detroit -- MGM Grand Hotel

• Grand Rapids -- Amway Grand Plaza Hotel

• Grand Rapids -- JW Marriott Hotel

• Kalamazoo -- Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites

• Mackinac Island -- The Grand Hotel

• Mount Pleasant -- Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort

• Plymouth -- The Inn at St. John's

• Rochester -- Royal Park Hotel

• Romulus -- The Westin Detroit Metropolitan Airport

• Southfield -- The Westin Southfield

Restaurants

• Birmingham -- Rugby Grill

• Detroit -- Iridescence

• Farmington Hills -- Café Cortina

• Grand Rapids -- Cygnus 27

• West Bloomfield -- The Lark