World's Best Lists

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BlacKnox

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Travel and Leisure's www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest/ 2005 World Lists are back with Sydney (again) winning the top City award (for the 8th time). What is paradoxical is that no Sydney hotels are featured in the Top 100 hotel list, whereas Bangkok (No.2 on the City List) has 5 hotels. In fact, only one Australian hotel/ resort makes the Top 100 list, with Lizard Island coming in at Number 9.

Comments anyone? Any lucky flyers who have stayed at several of the properties on the Top 100 hotel list?
 
Great info - aspirational yet somehow depressing...

Just two for me.

Noticed that a lot of the classic "D-luxe" hotels have been overtaken in the rankings. I'd suggest that this would because other hotels have improved rather then the "classics" having lowered their standards...
 
Yes, if only most of us could afford to stay at some of these...

I have only stayed at Ritz Carlton Bali

Done the obligatory tour of a couple of them (Banyan Tree, coughet and The Peninsula's) but alas can't trump up for them yet...
 
Well its obvious which of us have been surveyed about the best hotels. I don't have any of these on my list of regular haunts.
 
AlwaysUpThere said:
Great info - aspirational yet somehow depressing...

Just two for me.

Just two for me too. Have had coffee/ drinks/ dinner/ "obligatory tours" :D at 10 of the properties on the list, and have visited 8 of the top cities and 9 of the top islands on the Top 10 city/ island lists :D .

Perhaps a list of properties you'd like to stay would be more constructive...

My Top 10 Wish List

Singita Private Game Reserve - South Africa
Four Seasons Chiang Mai - Thailand
Peninsula Bangkok - Thailand
The Point - New York
Oberoi Amarvilas Agra - India
Four Seasons George V - Paris
Inverlochy Castle - Scotland
Little Ness - Aspen
The Datai Langkawi - Malaysia (not on Top 100 list)
Bora Bora Nui - Tahiti (not on Top 100 list)

After all, it doesn't cost anything to dream...
 
World's most expensive resorts

From: (Click here to see the world's most expensive resorts)
http://www.forbes.com/home/travel/2005/09/21/expensive-resorts-travel-cx_sb_0922feat_ls.html

(hat tip to Gleff - http://blogs.flyertalk.com/blogs/viewwing/ )

World's Most Expensive Resorts 2005
Sophia Banay

"Glorious sunsets, pristine beaches and sweet evening breezes may be naturally free, but they can sure cost a lot of money.

The irony attached to many of the world's most beautiful resorts is that they are in places so remote that for centuries they were known primarily to their indigenous people, pirates and castaways. For non-natives, these were places to escape from, not travel to. And certainly, if any unlucky seaman found marooned in the Maldives in the 18th century was told that in the 21st century people would be willing to pay $10,000 to spend the night there, not to mention thousands more to travel there, he would have thought you had been spending too much time at the grog barrel.

But that's the nightly high-season rate at Rania, a new luxury resort that launched this September in the Maldives. The five-figure rate entitles guests to several hours of travel daily in the resort's yacht, unlimited treatments at the on-site spa, and all the meals and drinks they care to consume at the two gourmet restaurants. Oh yeah--and for another $750 (each), they can bring their friends along. Planning a visit in April? Great--it's not high season, but you'll still pay $8,000 a night.

Or take the newest property from One&Only Resorts, the One&Only Maldives at Reethi Rah, which was developed in conjunction with Kerzner International (nyse: KZL - news - people ), a five-star hotel and resort operator. Here, guests enjoy the 109-acre island resort and its 12 private, white-sand beaches, and take their pick of the 130 guest villas. Some are on the beach, some over the water and some have their own pools--but each one comes with a "villa host" available around the clock to make sure the Champagne is properly cooled, or to test the pool water before anyone takes the plunge. Nightly room rates here start at a comparatively reasonable $930 during the holidays. But to avoid the riff-raff entirely, plunk down $1 million, which buys five days of room, board, Champagne, wine, tennis, diving and one spa treatment each for you and your 200 nearest and dearest.

Despite the lofty prices charged (and paid) at resorts like this, they account for an absolutely tiny proportion of overall global hotel revenue, according to Sean Hennessey, who runs New York-based hotel consultancy Lodging Investment Advisors. "It's clearly under 5% and probably less, for several reasons," Hennessey says. For one reason, there aren't that many properties charging $10,000 a night. In addition, "the properties that do exist operate with a relatively low number of rooms, meaning they generate less revenue overall," says Hennessy. "Finally, a lot of properties, even if they do have high-room rates, aren't profitable in the end because of the high cost of maintaining them."

And while holiday-season rates may look like big Christmas presents to the resorts' owners, there is more to the story than those once-a-year rates, according to Brad Garner, the director of client services at Smith Travel Research, a Tennessee-based travel research firm. "They may get $10,000 a night a few nights out of the year, but when you boil it down to a monthly average, the daily rate is often closer to $500," says Garner. While Rania still hauls in a healthy $8,000 per night during the off-season, its policy of limiting bookings to groups of just nine guests at a time means that there may be long periods when the resort is empty, or only partially booked.

The cost of owning and operating a luxury resort like the ones on our list can vary considerably depending on factors such as location, staff-to-guest ratio and the number of rooms, but Hennessey estimates it could cost a minimum of several million dollars a year. While most commercial hotels are able to squeak by with an average of 0.8 or 0.9 employees per guest room, the high-end resorts on our list probably employ closer to three or four people per room, which spikes labor costs upward dramatically. In addition, for properties in remote locations, the cost of importing food and supplies necessary to maintain a certain standard of luxury could easily triple compared to what an urban hotel would pay.

While a standard Marriott (nyse: MAR - news - people ) or Hyatt property operates with profit margins of between 24% to 28% annually, the margin for a small-upscale resort is typically in the mid- to upper teens. "These properties are operated as a labor of love as opposed to an economic option" for the owners, Hennessey concludes.

However, the owners aren't all hopeless romantics with stars in their eyes instead of dollar signs. Savvy business ploys, like offering all-inclusive room rates, help to keep their guests on-property during their stay, and paying for incidentals, such as top-shelf liquor or an additional spa treatment, which aren't always included in the package. "It's called incremental revenue," explains Garner. "Keep the guest on the property, spending money on-site, helping out the resort's bottom line." While some resorts, like Turtle Island, in Fiji, include Champagne and spirits in their inclusive rates, others don't.

In the end, Garner believes it is a matter of simple economics. "The resort has amenities guests want to consume--excellent weather, sporting activities. Resorts command a higher price by virtue of where they are sitting, so they can charge more for it," he says--up to $10,000 a night, in some cases.

In addition to outrageous rates, what did we look for while compiling our list of the World's Most Expensive Resorts? First of all, we excluded urban hotels (even if their service and amenities were top-of-the-line). The Mansion at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, where room rates start at $5,000 a night, and which ranked first on our list of the Most Expensive U.S. Hotels, was out because of its city-center location. Then we sampled high-season rates for standard rooms at resorts all over the world. If a resort had a minimum-stay requirement during a particular season, or sold rooms only in weekly blocks, we factored that into our calculation of the nightly cost. Then, to facilitate your trip, whether you hail from New Delhi, Singapore or London, we indicated the prices in a variety of international currencies.

Not coincidentally, the resorts we came up with have a lot more in common than their weighty rate list. Ridiculously attentive personal service (like the staff-to-guest ratio at Altamer, in Anguilla, where a butler, chef and staff of eight come with each villa), stunning scenery (like Eden Rock's cliff-top location, in St. Barts) and fabulous amenities (Laluna, in Grenada, imports its own soaps and lotions from a monastery in the Italian Alps) would set these destination resorts apart, even if their price tags were less noticeable. But if the rates were any less noticeable, would a visit feel somehow less special?

As it turns out, you can put a price on luxury, and it's a big one."
 
Hotels have eyes for diamonds

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/10/19/bi.hotel.ratings.ap/index.html

"Diamonds can be a hotel's best friend.

The Otesaga Resort Hotel in Cooperstown, winner of AAA's four-diamond rating for five straight years after a $40 million renovation, uses the appraisal's cachet to attract guests from thousands of miles away and keep business buzzing.

The Mirror Lake Inn Resort and Spa in Lake Placid is one of just a handful of hotels in New York state to have won a four-diamond rating from AAA for 21 years in a row. The 128-room hotel, offering every guest a view of pristine Mirror Lake and fall foliage near the venues of two winter Olympics, has won accolades from numerous travel magazines. But like many other inns, it covets the AAA rating most.

"It's a very important stamp of quality," said Carl Gronlund, Mirror Lake's general manager for the past 16 years. "People are looking for diamonds or stars to verify the quality of the experience is going to be good."

Welcome to the high-stakes world of rating the nation's best inns and resorts. It's a world of secret inspections in which hotels strive to attain and retain high ratings.

The reason? Pure economics: The more diamonds, the higher the room rate.

The Mirror Lake Inn charges from $180 to $350 a night for a standard room and up to $865 a night for specialty suites. Rooms at the five-diamond rated Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows in Los Angeles start at $395 a night and run as high as $5,200 for the Presidential Suite.

To get a rating, hotels apply to AAA's national office in Heathrow, Florida. AAA then sends an inspector unannounced to the hotel. After a thorough once-over, the inspector assigns a rating between one and five diamonds, said Eric Stigberg, the marketing manager for AAA's Northway division, based in Albany.

The Mobil Travel Guide offers similar ratings for hotels in the United States.

AAA inspectors look at the level of service, the cleanliness of the halls and rooms and the amenities offered, from well-lighted parking to heated swimming pools. Also counted is the decor across the inn, touches of style -- from a well-placed antique lamp in the lobby or the lake view offered from a room's balcony -- that help set it apart.

Discerning travelers

Inspectors can show up at any time, so hotel staffers have no way to prepare, hotel managers say. The only thing they can do is keep their hotels up to snuff around the clock.

"Because of our rating and our price structure, every guest comes here with a high level of expectations," said John Irvin, general manager of the Otesaga, a 135-room federal style hotel on the shore of Otsego Lake. "We don't know when AAA is coming, so if we can exceed the expectations of every guest, we can exceed those of the inspector."

A four-diamond rating indicates the inn is "upscale in all areas, refined and stylish," Stigberg said, with an "extensive array of amenities, service and attention to detail."

The Otesaga, opened in 1909, features oak-paneled conference rooms, a golden chandelier in the lobby and groomed topiary at the entrance. Its fern-decorated back porch overlooks a manicured croquet court, swimming pool and the championship golf course. Inside, the staff is quick to open a door, help with a suitcase and attend to other guest needs.

The rating is "extremely important," Irvin said. "Our guests are a very sophisticated group. I really believe they look at that book to see where to stay when they're traveling."

Kari Akchurin, visiting Cooperstown from San Francisco for her son's baseball tournament in the village that includes the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, said she relies on the AAA ratings.

"We travel to Hawaii a lot and we always use it," she said. "What comes along with four or five diamonds is better service, better food and better amenities."

Maintaining ratings

The five-diamond rating, given to just 85 hotels nationally this year, indicates the ultimate in luxury and sophistication. Five of those are in New York City: The Four Seasons, The Peninsula, The Ritz-Carlton hotels in Battery Park and Central Park and The St. Regis.

A one-diamond mark indicates a hotel for the budget-minded traveler with nothing but the basics.

Just 3.3 percent of the 32,000 hotels AAA rated nationwide received a four-diamond rating this year.

"There is a certain amount of cost involved for that level of quality and an effort entailed in keeping that rating," Gronlund said. "If you jump into that realm, you want to keep it. It's not an easy task to do."

Mirror Lake recently installed high-speed Internet access to all of its rooms, just the latest amenity top flight hotels are now expected to have.

And keeping the rating means keeping the best people on staff.

"The first step is trying to hire the right kind of people and then training them," Gronlund said. "They need to have a great attitude and like to serve people."

To head off any chance of a hotel trying to influence a rating, inspectors carry out their jobs anonymously, said Janie Graziani, a spokeswoman for AAA. And whenever a hotel's rating is moving up or down a notch, the hotel is inspected several times and by different people.

Still, not all are convinced the ratings mean that much.

Lila Ford, the owner of Gallery of Travel in Rochester, New York says her clients rarely rely on AAA for information and most of her business travelers simply want to stay in decent hotels near the places they are doing business".
 
Most Romantic Hotels 2006

Most Romantic Hotels 2006

from: Forbes (can see article @ http://ehotelier.com/browse/news_more.php?id=7575_0_11_0_C )
Feb 14, 06 | 2:05 am

By Sophia Banay

Valentine's Day may ostensibly be about love, but we all know it's really about commerce. It's a time when retailers and restaurants look for a little midwinter lift from lovers of all ages and sexes--and too many of us are too in love, cautious or guilty to have the sense to keep our credit cards in our pockets.

Yet as any Valentine's veteran can attest, you don't always get the best value for your money on cupid's big day. Like ordering pizza during the halftime of the Super Bowl, good luck getting roses on Feb. 14. And if you book a table at your favorite romantic bistro, don't be surprised if the regular menu has been replaced with a "special" prix fixe (complete with two "complimentary" glasses of indifferent champagne) at double what you would pay any other night. Similarly, lingerie stores run out of most sizes, and chocolatiers insist on only making heart-shaped bon bons.

You can call us cynical--but we would rather you called us smart. We want value for our money, and we know how to romance with the best of them. That's why if someone is looking to do something special for Valentine's Day, we recommend booking a hotel room.

The reasons should be obvious.
Not only is a hotel room something that a couple can share and enjoy equally, but also it is a special treat. More elaborate than a dinner out, more fun than waking up in your own bed, a little romantic adventure the two of you can share. And there's room service.

To be sure, many hotels go trolling for suckers, too. Marriot International 's  Ritz-Carlton, Central Park in New York City is promoting a "Love on the Rocks" package for $850,000. For their money, well-heeled lovers get a round-trip transfer in a private jet to New York, three nights at the Ritz and a 10.14 carat, round, brilliant cut diamond, which Tiffany   will custom-design into your own personal piece of jewelry.

There's a reason why hotels go over the top with these Valentine's Day packages--especially this year when it falls midweek. '"When Valentine's Day falls on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, it tends to give hotels a bit of a bump in terms of occupancy because they can sell a package, and guests stay for an extended weekend," says Bobby Bowers , senior vice president at Hendersonville, Tenn.-based Smith Travel Research.

"On a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, it's harder to do that," Bowers continues, because people are less likely to take a day or two off from work than they are to leave for the weekend. Smith Travel Research data shows that hotel occupancy on Feb. 14 is historically sensitive to the day of the week: occupancy in the U.S. was 74.5% and 82.6% respectively in 2003 and 2004, when Valentine's was on a Friday and a Saturday--significantly higher than average weekend occupancy rates.

And Smith Travel Research estimates that when Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday, hotels across the country gain about $55 million in room revenue (international data not available).

Nevertheless, American consumers will spend $13.7 billion this year on Valentine's Day, and that's not including travel, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Retail Federation. Hotels all over the world are trying to cash in on the love, offering special Valentine's Day promotions that aren't necessarily tied to the weekend right before--or after--Feb. 14.

Even the French are not immune to trying to make a few extra bucks off l'amour. The Hôtel Ritz in Paris, for example, is offering a "Love is in the Air" promotion--which is actually a pretty good deal. For their normal rate of €560, or $670 per night, including breakfast, guests can enjoy champagne in their rooms, a special gift upon arrival and general VIP treatment any time between Feb. 1 and Feb. 28.

Feeling a bit amorous ourselves, Forbes.com has compiled our annual list of the most romantic hotels. Of course, one couple's definition of romance can differ from another's, so we included something for everyone. French and Italian hotels featured heavily on our list, for the Europhiles among us. Warm-weather destinations, such as the Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa in French Polynesia and The Spa at Elbow Beach, Bermuda, made the list, as did The Point in Lake Saranac, New York, the old Adirondacks lodge of William Avery Rockefeller. For a more exotic trip, we included the Oberoi Vanyavilas, in Ranthambhore, India, which is located on the edge of a tiger reserve and where guests sleep in luxury tents.

Room rates are Valentine's Day specials where indicated, otherwise they are high-season rates. Many of these hotels offer special packages this month, but in case you're getting a late start this year, book now for next year--or even better, any time you need a quick getaway. After all, the luxurious room, sumptuous dinner and chocolate-covered strawberries hardly matter when you're checking in with the one person in the world you most want to be with.

 
Click here for the slide show
http://www.forbes.com/2006/02/08/cx_sb_0209featslide.html?thisSpeed=35000&boxes=custom',780,600)
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Anyone do something special - or was everyone watching the cricket :?:
 
What - no formula 1's on the list, I would have thought the Sydney airport F1 would have made the list :D Nothing like trying to get out of a top bunk bed with a full bladder after a long QP session.
 
markis10 said:
Nothing like trying to get out of a top bunk bed with a full bladder after a long QP session.
Charming image thanks markis10. And appropriate to the Valentine's day theme too :p :D .
 
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10 Most Expensive Cars

Forbes reveals 10 most expensive cars (& other pricey stuff)
From: http://finance.news.com.au/story/0,10166,18460823-462,00.html
March 15, 2006

THE world's ten most expensive cars include such dreams-come-true as a street-legal, ten-cylinder Porsche race car, the Carrera GT, and cars with over 1000 horse power (HP) each. These kinds of cars make Ferraris and Aston Martins look like relative bargains; despite their fame, they are much cheaper than the cars on the Forbes list.

Of the ten most expensive cars, only two are made by brands with household names, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz, although that depends on what your household is like.

But the ten most expensive cars are not just rare. They are beautiful, but in daring, sometimes avant-garde ways that mainstream cars cannot follow.

Click below for related links:

Slideshow: World's Most Expensive Cars
Slideshow: Billionaire Yachts
Slideshow: World's Most Expensive Private Islands
Slideshow: World's Most Expensive Golf Gear
Slideshow: World's Most Expensive Restaurants

Their top speeds set records. Their technology is pioneering, and attainable only by the wealthiest of car buyers.

"If rich people didn't buy these things," wrote a leading car blog in response to our piece last year, "they'd never get made, and the world would be a poorer place for all piston-heads."

Just how rich a world is the world in which the ten most expensive cars live? For one thing, no Ferrari, Aston, Bentley, Lamborghini or Rolls-Royce made the list. Two Maybachs did, but just barely.

The final cut was determined through extensive research and stringent methodology.

For one thing, the list only concerns vehicles of which multiple copies exist.

In addition, some hot-rod shops can build, to a customer's specification, cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. These custom jobs are not the sort of thing we considered for this story. Nor did we consider kit cars, under the logic that things you build in your garage don't count. We also only considered original-issue cars, and not modifications of other manufacturers' vehicles.

For each nameplate that we evaluated, we only looked at its most expensive model. For example, Italian automaker Pagani makes several different editions of its Zonda supercar, but we only included the most expensive one--the $US667,000 Clubsport version of the Zonda Roadster F C12S 7.3.

Pagani recommends all of its global dealers offer the Zonda for the same base price. However, other companies' cars can change prices for different countries, and we're not just talking about the inclusion of region-specific charges, such as duties and transportation fees.

For example, Saleen's S7 Twin Turbo supercar costs $US83,000 more in Europe than in the US, a price hike of 15 per cent. This is because Saleen originally designed the car for the American market and must modify it to make it street legal in other regions.

But each of the ten cars in the slide show, the ten most expensive street-legal cars in production in the world at press time, is not available in all markets.

Although some cars on the list are not available in the US, we converted all base prices to US dollars to determine each vehicle's place in the rankings. We based all conversions on current exchange rates.

In order to properly position such cars as the S7, which have different base prices in different areas, we fit each car into the rankings based on its highest base price in the world. Other cars have one base price that applies throughout the world.
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What's that old lotto jingle - "wouldn't it be nice...".
 
news_print_logo.gif
Most expensive hotel rooms

By Sophia Banay
02-05-2006
From: Forbes


0,10114,5147874,00.jpg
The Penthouse Suite at The Hotel Martinez is the ritziest place to stay in town and has a private Jacuzzi and views of the Mediterranean.
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Slideshow: The World’s Most Expensive Hotel Rooms


It is an expensive time to be wealthy. Luxury goods are available everywhere. You can spend $US215,000 ($284,406) on a bottle of perfume from perfumer Clive Christian or $US120 on a hamburger at DB Bistro Moderne in New York City.

Not to be outdone, hoteliers are keeping pace. In Forbes list of the most expensive hotel rooms in the world, five of the top ten rooms ring in at $US25,000 ($33,0707) per night or more.

The most outrageous one, the Penthouse Suite at Hotel Martinez in Cannes, France, has a nightly rate of $US37,200. For that, you get four bedrooms, a private terrace with a Jacuzzi and sweeping views of the Mediterranean - plus the comfort of knowing you're getting the most expensive night's sleep money can buy, although we don't know whether it's the best.

Slideshow: The World’s Most Expensive Hotel Rooms
Slideshow: The Most Expensive Hotel Rooms in the US
Slideshow: The World's Most Expensive Private Islands
Slideshow: Travel Like A Billionaire
Slideshow: Summer Travel Preview


Even the cheapest suite on our list is nothing to sniff at. It is located in the Burj Al Arab, an imposing hotel on the coast of Dubai, built to resemble a billowing sail. Parts of the hotel lobby are plated in 24-karat gold, and the building is tall enough to swallow the Eiffel Tower. As befits such a grand property, the Royal Suite features an enormous rotating bed, a private cinema and an indoor Jacuzzi. Guests arrive via private elevator. The cost per night? A very royal $US10,900.

In 2003, the last time we compiled a list of the most expensive hotel rooms in the world, our top suites fell into one of two categories: European resort towns or major US cities like New York and Las Vegas. This year, when reviewing the rooms available, we were spoiled for choice. We could have filled one list with New York suites alone and another with private island hideaways. As a result, we did split the list into two segments, the US (see Forbes.com's " Most Expensive Hotel Rooms in the US") and the world.

The explosion of super-suites has us wondering: How did a garden variety, $US5000-per-night suite become declasse? And will super-suites one day outnumber regular old hotel rooms? "Expectations are at an all-time high," says Bjorn Hanson, who heads hospitality industry research at PricewaterhouseCoopers. "The quality of suites, their furnishing and amenities, is at an all-time level of extravagance, because the expectations of guests staying in regular rooms increased with flat-screen TVs, better bedding, in-room technology and wireless Internet access."
And according to industry analysts, international travellers can now finance those grand expectations like never before.

"The increasing wealth of the world's population is one of the drivers of increased demand for these facilities," says Mark Woodworth, executive vice president at PKF Consulting, a hotel consultancy with offices throughout the U.S. "Those people in the upper one-tenth of 1 per cent, who are truly insensitive to price and want the best of what's available wherever they are going, so that pool continues to get bigger."
Because of their relatively high cost to develop, super-suites will never be as prevalent as budget hotel rooms, he says. Even so, for the resorts that build them, there are some very practical benefits.

"Hoteliers are finding this is one way to distinguish themselves relative to their competition," Woodworth says. Introducing a super-suite "can be a marquis branding initiative, one that will increase their overall competitive profile."

To compile our list of the most expensive hotel rooms in the world, we chose the most expensive suite in several large international resort communities, plus a few metropolises including Hong Kong, Dubai and Paris. To keep our overview comprehensive, we limited ourselves to a maximum of one suite per country; France and Greece, whose resorts seem to have reinvented decadence, got two apiece.

From: http://finance.news.com.au/story/0,10166,19000721-5004082,00.html
 
I'ver managed 2 on the list - Four Seasons in Istanbul and Oriental in Bangkok.

Only managed to stay in the first one because it was mid winter, the hotel was half empty and it was cheap(ish). I noticed the room rate was nearly double in peak season.

The problem with this approach is that whilst I might be able to afford to stay in the hotel, I can't afford to eat in the restaurant, order room service or use the mini bar.
 
TripAdvisor has just released its 2008 Traveler Choice Awards. I tried to download the pdf and my computer froze; tried to have said list e-mailed to me and their system responded with errors. One can see an overview from gleff, who like me is dubious of such awards. Sure, tripadvisor is useful, but I tend to put more credibility in reviews from places such as asiarooms where reviews are limited to bonafide customers who have purchased rooms through asiarooms itself.
 
BlacKnox said:
TripAdvisor has just released its 2008 Traveler Choice Awards. I tried to download the pdf and my computer froze...

It's a 4.9 MB document, and their server is on Valium. Add to that the disappointment when it finally arrives, and I would recommend that you don't bother. Did you know, for instance, that the Sofitel New York is the #2 on the 'Best Luxury U.S. Hotels" list? LOL! It would be interesting to know what the voters consider "luxury".

Spare a thought for poor Canada - their #1 'luxury' hotel is located at YVR airport!

At least they have provided me with a "best avoided" category in every geographical location - the top-rated hotels/resorts for families.
 
Large PDF's are best off downloaded and tried to open locally. I often find freezing's if I try to open them directly.

I think there are people on this list that may have issues with The Grace Hotel, Sydney being listed :)
 
oz_mark said:
Large PDF's are best off downloaded and tried to open locally. I often find freezing's if I try to open them directly.

I think there are people on this list that may have issues with The Grace Hotel, Sydney being listed :)

I didn't see that one... Oy vey! Now I am convinced that either the awards are a sham, or the people who vote don't know a Motel 6 from a Peninsula.
 
Yep NYCguy, agree about the "best avoided" category; anywhere advertised as very kids friendly I try to avoid.

NYCguy said:
I didn't see that one... Oy vey! Now I am convinced that either the awards are a sham, or the people who vote don't know a Motel 6 from a Peninsula.
Perhaps sites such as priceline tend to skew the results. People who may normally stay at a Motel 6 can now score rooms at 3* - 4* places at the same price. Of course they will rave about their stays, and the tripadvisor algorithms reward such establishments. The various Pens who don't participate in many 3rd-party bookings would thus be penalised.
 
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