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By Michelle Deal-Zimmerman

November 6, 2009
The Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel has been awarded a AAA Four-Diamond rating, the auto club announced Thursday.

This is the first year the Hilton Baltimore, which opened in August 2008, has been recognized by the auto club. The rating may give a boost to the hotel, which like many lodging properties nationwide has struggled during the economic downturn.

AAA honored nine other Maryland hotels and two restaurants with the four- diamond rating. Most were repeat winners, including the InterContinental Harbor Court Baltimore, which received the top rating for the 23rd straight year. The Hilton Suites Ocean City Oceanfront was the only hotel in Ocean City to receive the rating. The Loews Annapolis Hotel was singled out in Annapolis.

Charleston in Baltimore and Sherwood's Landing at the Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels were the only restaurants to receive four diamonds.

AAA rates hotels and lodgings on a scale of one to five diamonds. Of the 60,000 properties the auto club inspects each year, only 2 percent receive the AAA Four-Diamond rating.