The Carolina Hotel and the Holly Inn in Pinehurst are among 20 accommodations and restaurants in central and eastern North Carolina that have earned 2009 Four Diamond ratings.

The rating is a prestigious designation awarded each year by AAA to qualified hotels and restaurants after an anonymous visit by full-time specially trained evaluators. The 2009 AAA Four Diamond rating was awarded to 40 North Carolina properties and 37 in South Carolina.

The central and eastern North Carolina winners received their awards at a recent ceremony at Washington Duke Inn and Golf Club in Durham.

Only 3.4 percent of the 58,000 facilities lodgings and restaurants evaluated this year throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean received the ranking.

This marks the 27th year that the Carolina Hotel has received a Four Diamond rating for accommodations. The Holly has received the designation for the seventh year.

Some of the other accommodations earning the designation include the Verandas in Wilmington, Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club in Durham, O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro and the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill.

Four Diamond restaurant winners included the 1895 Grille in Pinehurst , which has received the designation for eight years.

"Four Diamond lodgings and hotels represent the best the hospitality industry has to offer," said David E. Parsons, president and CEO of AAA Carolinas. "These properties are extraordinary in every manner. Lodgings at this level offer guests a wide range of amenities and services, and restaurants feature a distinctive fine dining experience and complex menus."

"AAA's requirements for a Four Diamond rating are rigorous, and those that win it are among the best hotels and restaurants in the world. Only 3.4 percent of the more than 58,000 annual inspections conducted nationally result in a Four Diamond rating."

AAA gives the Four Diamond awards annually to qualified hotels and restaurants in North America. More than 1,800 properties nationally earn the Four Diamond ratings after full-time specially trained evaluators conduct anonymous overnight stays or dine incognito.

Lodgings include eight different classifications, such as bed and breakfast, hotel, cottage and country inn, with four subclassifications such as historic, classic, resort and casino.

Each restaurant and lodging that receives any level of diamond rating from AAA is listed in AAA's TourBooks that are distributed free to any of the organization's 53 million members nationwide.

An affiliate of the American Automobile Association, AAA Carolinas is a nonprofit organization that serves more than 1.7 million members with travel, automobile and insurance services while being an advocate for the safety and security of all travelers.