GOSTELOW REPORT—”Being awarded best hotel in the world for 12 years running is a tremendous honor and a responsibility,” says Tony Costa, the managing director of Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, in Dubai, UAE, who saw his hotel gain the award at the annual Ultratravel Awards. This year’s Ultras, as they are usually called, was held last week and was arguably the most global such event in the business.
There are, admittedly, already so many awards, joyously trumpeted by winners for marketing purposes and to motivate staff. But how transparent are they? Generally, hotel winners are separated by a fraction of a point, so a property gaining, say, 93.6 comes first, while 93.5 trails as runner-up.
Statisticians say that thousands of votes are needed to achieve such differentiation. The short-lived Ultimate Service Award, which managed two years of computation a decade ago, barely achieved a couple of thousand votes, total, despite being sponsored and promoted by both American Express and CNN. Magazines invariably say how many could vote, but never how many actually do.
But there is safety in numbers. Readers of Ultratravel, published in the U.K. by The Daily Telegraph and in the UAE by Al Ittihad, and The National, could vote, as could the 13 million members of Discovery, the loyalty program of the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA). Results were computed via Telegraph Travel, the world’s 10th-largest travel site, and those machines are not saying how many voted.
“But of those Discovery members, 5 million are based in the USA, and another million in Canada and Mexico,” said Christopher Hartley, CEO of GHA, which has 33 hotel-group members offering over 550 hotels in 77 countries. Although no one reveals who voted for what, it is notable that the U.S. was considered the top destination country in the world. “Increasingly, however, Dubai, the airline hub between east and west, is the centerpoint of world travel, and it gets 200,000 room nights a year from Discovery members,” he explained.
Hartley was the evening’s co-emcee, sharing the stage with Ultratravel Chairman Nick Perry. Awards were presented by U.K. sports legends, racing driver Damon Hill, rugby football star Mike Tindall and his wife, Zara Phillips, equestrian Olympian and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II.
Hotel winners were:
- Top golf resort: Gleneagles Scotland
- Best hotel Americas: Mandarin Oriental New York
- Best hotel Europe: Hôtel du Cap Eden Roc, Antibes, France
- Best hotel Africa, One&Only Cape Town, South Africa
- Best hotel Middle East, Burj Al Arab Jumeirah (which also later received its best hotel in the world title)
- Best hotel Indian Ocean: St. Regis Vommuli Maldives
- Best hotel Asia: Mandarin Oriental Bangkok
- Best hotel Australasia: Park Hyatt Sydney
- Best luxury hotel group, editors’ choice: Wilderness Safaris
- Ultratravel Collection hotel of the year: Siam Kempinski Bangkok
As a sign that winners had no prior notice, Amanda Elder, Kempinski Hotels and Resorts’ chief commercial officer, literally tripped in her stilettos when hearing that last winner. “This is fantastic news and we will complement our own social media by pushing information out to all those 13 million GHA members, stressing that this is a central city resort, great for business and for shopping — it’s directly connected to Bangkok’s signature mall,” she she explained.
The Ultras were held on a lawn to the west of the iconic Burj Al Arab building. Shortly after he arrived in March this year, Tony Costa looked out of his office window and saw a guest proposing to his girlfriend on that lawn. He immediately thought what a good venue it would be for special occasions. He installed lighting and purchased removable duck-board flooring, and the space was premièred for the Ultras.
Costa does not call himself a disruptor but he does admit he does things differently: Instead of the usual cocktail-hour canapés, he showcased the hotel’s five restaurants with live serving stations, including a seafood barbecue manned by a Michelin-starred chef).
The 300 invited guests included GMs of all winning properties, and those of the four runners-up in each category. Knowing he was shortlisted, St. Regis Vommuli Maldives’ Alexander Blair was sure to fly to Dubai for the event: “It makes such a difference for the GM to show involvement in awards, especially when they are truly global,” he said.