2009 Mobil Five Stars Awarded to 44 Hotels and 20 Restaurants

Mobil Travel Guide Recognizes Great Service and Hospitality for the 51st Year

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. January 26, 2009

CHICAGO, IL, January 22, 2009 - Mobil Travel Guide, originator of the Star ratings program and certifications, today unveiled their annual winners for the coveted Mobil Travel Guide Four- and Five-Star Awards. This list has defined the industry's highest standard for excellence in hospitality for over fifty years.

This year, two destinations made history by achieving the most Mobil Five-Stars ever awarded to one destination. Sea Island Resorts was awarded the Mobil Five-Star award for its hotels The Cloister (Sea Island, GA) and the Lodge at Sea Island Golf Club (St. Simons Island GA), the Georgian Room restaurant and the Cloister Spa. Hospitality mogul Steve Wynn also earns the triple Mobil Five-Star distinction with his Tower Suites Las Vegas, Alex restaurant and the Spa at Wynn winning Mobil Five-Star awards in 2009.

"It is undeniable that the travel industry has felt the effects of the recent economic downturn. However, it is in these difficult times that consumers recognize even more the importance of great service and hospitality," said Shane O'Flaherty, President and CEO of Mobil Travel Guide. "For over 50 years, Mobil Travel Guide has been a trusted travel companion to millions of people across the country. Now more than ever, consumers rely on our expertise to help them make informed travel decisions and spend their dollars wisely." He added, "These latest additions to the Mobil Travel Guide Four- and Five-Star family exemplify what extraordinary service is all about."

New to the Mobil Travel Guide Five-Star hotel list are four very different properties situated in travel destinations that range from bustling, metropolitan cities such as New York, and Las Vegas to suburban locations like Cary, North Carolina as well as the resort destination of Sea Island, Georgia, bringing the total number of North American Mobil Five-Star hotels to forty-four.

New Mobil Five-Star Hotels include:

---|Trump International Hotel and Tower New York (New York, NY),

---|The Umstead Hotel and Spa (Cary, NC),

---|The Cloister (Sea Island, GA), and

---|Skylofts at the MGM Grand (Las Vegas, NV).

With the addition of the Trump International Hotel and Tower New York, New York City maintains the title of leading Mobil Five-Star hotel city in the United States and Canada, with a total of five Mobil Five-Star hotels.

Four new restaurants have been added to the Mobil Travel Guide Five-Star restaurant list, bringing the total number of Mobil Five-Star restaurants in the United States and Canada to twenty. New Mobil Five-Star restaurants include:

---|Kai Restaurant (Chandler, AZ),

---|Lautrec (Farmington, PA),

---|Studio (Laguna Beach, CA) and

---|Addison (San Diego, CA).

This year's announcement features a significant expansion to the Mobil Travel Guide Five-Star spa list, increasing the number of Award winners from three to eight in all of the United States and Canada. New Mobil Five-Star spas include:

---|Spa Gaucin at St. Regis Monarch Beach (Dana Point, CA),

---|The Spa at Wynn Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV),

---|The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Miami (Miami, FL),

---|The Cloister Spa (Sea Island, GA), and

---|The Mayflower Spa at The Mayflower Inn (Washington, CT).

This past year, Mobil Travel Guide introduced the famous Mobil Star rating system to properties abroad, a first step in creating a cohesive, global Star rating system that travelers everywhere can recognize and rely on. Beijing and Hong Kong/Macau were the first two international regions to undergo ratings, and London will follow in 2009.

Since 1958, Mobil Travel Guide's ratings process has been based on more than 750 standardized criteria for hotels, more than 250 for restaurants, and more recently 450 different criteria for spas, making it the most rigorous and comprehensive in the industry. The process begins with a facility inspection that considers every aspect of the property, including its overall cleanliness, condition and location. To achieve Mobil Travel Guide Four- and Five-Star status, properties must meet or exceed Mobil Travel Guide's bar-setting service standards, which are determined through an unannounced, undercover service evaluation conducted by Mobil Travel Guide's expert inspectors. For a detailed explanation of how Mobil Travel Guide compiles its star ratings, visit www.mobiltravelguide.com.