Up until a couple of years ago I always thought AAA was for flat tires and a 5% discount at Denny's. Little did I know that they offer a variety of travel resources, such as hotel/restaurant ratings, booking services and discounts to all sorts of travel related places, such as hotels, restaurants, theme parks and experiences. This is in addition to their vehicle and insurance services that we won't discuss here. With all that, a membership will cost you less than a $100 a year and is a pretty darn good deal.
But, the point of this article isn't to plug AAA and get you to sign up. We want to know if a AAA Diamond Rating on a hotel really matters and can we trust it? What's the difference between their ratings? And how do they decide on these ratings? There are hundreds of travel sites with their own ratings, so what makes AAA's better than the pack?
First, AAA individually inspects every property that they assign a rating too. Honestly, this seems CRAZY! They personally inspect over 27,000 hotels to ensure the hotel is worthy of their distinction. They have a pretty strict criteria for each type of Diamond Rating as well, from 1 Star being the lowest to 5 Star being the best. Here's a link to their Lodging Approval Requirements and Diamond Rating Guidelines. As you can see, the process AAA follows is stringent, detailed and trustworthy.
See this video for a quick glimpse at their ratings and inspections process:
Check out this undercover video of a AAA Hotel Inspection:
Here's a couple of links to other AAA Diamond Rating Resources: