Newport RI AAA Four Diamond Award: Cliffside Inn Makes It Five-Years In A Row

Distinctive Inns of New England founding member Cliffside Inn has received the prestigious AAA Four Diamond award for the fifth consecutive year. The luxury Newport RI bed and breakfast is one of five Distinctive Inns hotel or inn properties that are AAA Four Diamond rated, the others are Vermont’s Rabbit Hill Inn, New Hampshire’s Manor on Golden Pond and Inn at Thorn Hill, and The Captain’s House on Cape Cod.

The Cliffside Inn joins its sister Newport RI bed and breakfast Abigail Stoneman Inn with the AAA Four Diamond distinction. Owned and operated by the same family under the name Legendary Inns of Newport, the group is now in the unique position of running more than a quarter of all the AAA Four Diamond inns or hotels in Rhode Island.

The coveted Four Diamond award is given each year to only about three percent of the more than 32,000 AAA rated inns and hotels in America. Only seven Rhode Island bed and breakfasts, inns, or hotels have been honored with AAA Four Diamonds for 2008. Cliffside Inn was the first Newport RI bed and breakfast or inn to be awarded AAA Four Diamond status in Rhode Island. Check availability at Cliffside Inn. See all DINE inns.

What Is The Difference?

Many people often wonder the difference between bed and breakfasts, country inns, and historic inns. One kind of bed and breakfast, known as a homestay, is usually a private home with just a few rooms and offers a simple breakfast to its visitors. Homestays are often a part-time operation run as a means of extra family income.

Most bed and breakfasts, however, are professionally run and offer more rooms than homestays. The Camden Maine Stay has nine rooms, while the Cliffside Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, and Captain’s House Inn, in Chatham Massachusetts, have around sixteen. B&Bs are owner managed and operated, and usually employ additional staff to help with cooking, housekeeping, and guest services.

Country inns are bed & breakfast inns that offer dinner service as well as breakfast. Often, their dining rooms are open to the public like Gateway’s Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts, which is an ideal getaway for conferences and weddings. Country inns tend to have between five to thirty rooms and, like the Windam Hill Inn and Rabbit Hill Inn in Vermont, or the Chesterfield Inn in New Hampshire, can have a staff of 20-30 people to maintain the inn and care for their guests. Some inns go one step further by offering on-site spas like those found at New Hampshire’s Manor on Golden Pond and Inn at Thorn Hill.

Many inns and bed & breakfasts are also historic inns as they are located in historic areas or are themselves a National Historic Landmark like the Deerfield Inn located in Deerfield, Massachusetts. The Deerfield Inn opened in 1884, and is part of a 350 year old village that is home to an assortment of 18th and 19th century museum houses.

Whether you are looking to visit a quaint bed and breakfast, a renowned country inn, or an inn that is part of history, New England is your destination and the Distinctive Inns of New England offer it all.

New England Inns Hotels Top 10 — Travel+Leisure Magazine Names Two DINE Inns New England’s Top 10

“Ten special inns whose warm hospitality is guaranteed to take the season’s chill out of the air, ” is how Travel+Leisure described its early Spring search for the 10 coziest inns in New England. The travel magazine named both Newport RI’s luxury bed and breakfast Cliffside Inn and New Hampshire’s small luxury hotel Manor On Golden Pond to its Top 10 Inns of New England list.

“Roosted above the Atlantic Ocean overlooking Newport’s Cliff Walk, this Victorian manor house and former home of painter Beatrice Turner channels the sort of joie de vivre stylings one might expect in an eccentric artist residence,” writes Adrien Glover about Cliffside Inn. “Enjoy afternoon tea surrounded by turn-of-the-century canvases in a living museum.” The magazine spotlighted the Governor’s Suite with grand king bed, 2 fireplaces, Victorian birdcage shower, whirlpool and iPod sound system. 

“Katharine Hepburn and a doddering Henry Fonda may have made Golden Pond famous, but it’s this New Hampshire Lakes District inn that keeps Squam Lake (the pond’s real name) on the map, ” reports Ms. Glover on the Manor On Golden Pond. “Dinners are elaborate candlelit affairs; the kitchen swings in both directions, offering Chateaubriand for Two as well as special dishes for vegans.” Featured room blue-and-white Churchill Room with king bed, Jacuzzi tub, and fireplace.

Both properties are founding members of the Distinctive Inns of New England and both are AAA Four Diamond rated. Check availability for Cliffside Inn or Manor On Golden Pond. Travel+Leisure Top 10 Slide Show

Romantic Getaways To Newport RI Valentine’s Day: Champagne, Fireplaces, Whirlpools, And Romance Packages

From one-night romantic getaways to sensuous weekend romance packages, Newport, Rhode Island’s top luxury bed and breakfast inns, the Legendary Inns of Newport, provides the extra romantic spark for spicing up Valentine’s getaways this month.

Newport RI Romantic Getaways Valentine’s Week Include Champagne

Escape to the romantic world of Newport RI’s luxury bed and breakfast Cliffside Inn the week of Valentine’s Day, and the bubbly’s on us. Enjoy a bottle of Italy’s red hot sparkler Domenico Prosecco as part of all one-night romantic getaways Feb. 10 to 14 — including Valentine’s Day — with our compliments. Cliffside Inn is Newport’s only luxury bed and breakfast named both America’s Top 10 Most Romantic Inn and Romantic Hideaway of the Year.