Condé Nast Traveler today announced the results of its 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards, ranking the best cities, islands, cruise lines, airlines, hotels, and resorts worldwide. The awards appear in the November issue (on newsstands October 18) and are derived from the Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice survey. This year, a record 28,876 readers cast a combined eight million votes on thousands of properties and destinations around the world. The list also highlights a few firsts:
- The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong, was named the top hotel in the world.
- Charleston, South Carolina grabs the number one spot in Top Cities in the U.S.
- After only two years since the grand opening, Chicago’s Elysian Hotel is named top hotel in the U.S.
- Despite a tough year for Japan, Kyoto claims title as Asia’s top city for the first time.
Conde Nast Traveler uses the following methodology to determine the winners of the awards:
The Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Survey, begun in 1988, is available to all readers through a secure Web site. This year’s final tabulations of 28,876 responses were done by Global Market Insite, Inc., of Boston. Organization: The online questionnaire contains lists of candidates in various categories (Cities, Hotels, etc.). Individual candidates are judged by relevant criteria for each. Those that receive a required minimum number of responses are deemed eligible for a Readers’ Choice Award. Evaluation: Each candidate is rated, criterion by criterion, on a five-point scale: excellent, very good, good, fair, and poor. Those scores, which represent the percentage of respondents rating a candidate excellent or very good, are averaged to determine the final score published here. For example, the Park Hyatt Seoul’s rating, 95.2, is the average of its scores for all hotel criteria: Food/Dining, Location, Overall Design, Rooms, and Service.
Below are results for the top three winners in each category. The full list of winners is available at: http://www.concierge.com/tools/travelawards/readerschoice.
Top Cities: United States
1. Charleston, South Carolina
2. San Francisco
3. Santa Fe
Top Cities: Europe
1. Florence
2. Barcelona
3. Rome
Top Cities: Asia
1. Kyoto
2. Bangkok
3. Hong Kong
Top Cities: Africa/Middle East
1. Cape Town
2. Beirut
3. Byblos, Lebanon
Top Cities: Canada
1. Quebec City
2. Vancouver
3. Victoria, British Columbia
Top Cities: Oceania
1. Sydney
2. Queenstown, New Zealand
3. Melbourne
Top Cities: Mexico
1. San Miguel de Allende
2. Oaxaca
3. Mérida
Top Cities: Central/South America
1. Buenos Aires
2. Cuzco
3. Antigua de Guatemala
Top Islands: Caribbean/Atlantic
1. Bermuda
2. St. John
3. Nevis
Top Islands: Oceania
1. Bora Bora
2. Great Barrier Reef
3. Moorea
Top Islands: Asia
1. Maldives
2. Bali
3. Phuket
Top Islands: United States
1. Maui
2. Kauai
3. Kiawah, South Carolina
Top Islands: Europe
1. Bozcaada and the Turkish Aegean Islands
2. Mykonos and the Cyclades
3. Madeira
3. Mallorca and the Balearics
1. Ayana Resort & Spa, Bali
2. Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan
3. Four Seasons, Chiang Mai
3. Oberoi Vanyavilas, Rajasthan
Top Resorts: Mexico
1. One&Only Palmilla, Los Cabos
2. Rancho La Puerta, Tecate
3. The Tides, Riviera Maya
Top Resorts: Africa
1. Four Seasons Sharm El Sheikh
1. Safari Lodges at Phinda Private Game Reserve, South Africa
3. Kirawira Luxury Tented Camp, Tanzania
Top Resorts: Europe
1. Hotel Caesar Augustus, Capri
2. Perivolas, Santorini
3. Park Hotel Kenmare, County Kerry
Top Resorts: Hawaii
1. Travaasa Hana (formerly Hotel Hana-Maui)
2. Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea
3. Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach Walk
1. The Reefs, Bermuda
2. Parrot Cay, Turks and Caicos
3. One&Only Ocean Club, Bahamas
Top Resorts: Middle East
1. Burj Al Arab, Dubai
2. Ritz-Carlton, Dubai
3. Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi
Top Resorts: Oceania
1. Lodge at Kauri Cliffs, New Zealand
2. Four Seasons, Bora Bora
3. Le Taha’a Island Resort & Spa, French Polynesia
Top Resorts: Mainland U.S.
1. Resort at Pelican Hill, Newport Coast, California
2. Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa at Beaver Creek Mountain, Avon, Colorado
3. Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, South Carolina
Top Small Resorts: Mainland U.S.
1. Keswick Hall at Monticello, Virginia
2. Mii Amo, Sedona
3. Amangani, Jackson Hole
1. King Pacific Lodge (Rosewood), British Columbia
2. Emerald Lake Lodge, British Columbia
3. Long Beach Lodge Resort, Vancouver Island
Top Resorts: Caribbean
1. Nisbet Plantation Beach Club, Nevis
2. Jade Mountain, St. Lucia
3. Anse Chastanet, St. Lucia
Top Resorts: Central/South America
1. Four Seasons Resort Carmelo, Uruguay
2. Xandari Resort & Spa, Costa Rica
3. Kanantik Reef & Jungle Resort, Belize
1. Seabourn
2. Silversea
3. Windstar
1. Crystal Cruises
2. Regent Seven Seas Cruises
3. Disney
Top Cruise Lines: Large-Ship Lines
1. Celebrity
2. Princess
3. Royal Caribbean
Top Cruise Lines: River Cruises
1. Uniworld Boutique River Cruises
2. Grand Circle Travel
3. Viking River Cruises
Top Foreign Airlines
1. Singapore Airlines
2. Virgin Atlantic
3. Emirates
Top U.S. Airlines
1. Virgin America
2. JetBlue Airways
3. Hawaiian Airlines
Top Small Airlines
1. OpenSkies
2. Porter Airlines
3. Air Tahiti Nui
1. Hôtel de Paris, Monte Carlo
2. Il San Pietro di Positano, Italy
3. Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet
1. Mandarin Oriental, Prague
2. Beau-Rivage Palace, Lausanne
3. Regent Berlin
1. Palazzo Sasso, Ravello
2. Château de La Chèvre d'Or, Côte d’Azur
3. Villa San Michele, Fiesole, Tuscany
1. Lapa Rios Ecolodge, Costa Rica
2. Casa Santo Domingo, Antigua Guatemala
3. Inn at Robert’s Grove, Belize
1. Observatory Hotel, Sydney
2. Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel at Circular Quay
3. The Langham, Auckland
3. Westin Sydney
Top Hotels: British Isles
1. Culloden House, Inverness, Scotland
2. Chewton Glen, Hampshire
3. The Halkin, London
1. Peninsula House, Dominican Republic
2. The Caves, Jamaica
3. Eden Rock, St. Barts
1. Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong
2. Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok
3. The Peninsula, Tokyo
1. Steenberg Hotel, Cape Town
2. The Saxon, Johannesburg
3. Cape Grace, Cape Town
1. Langdon Hall Country House Hotel & Spa, Cambridge, Ontario
2. Auberge Saint-Antoine, Quebec City
3. Hôtel Nelligan, Montreal
1. Las Mañanitas, Cuernavaca
2. La Casa Que Canta, Zihuatanejo
3. Casa de Sierra Nevada, San Miguel de Allende
2. 21c Museum Hotel, Louisville
3. The Peninsula, Chicago
1. Colonial Houses, Williamsburg, Virginia
2. Fairbanks House, Amelia Island
3. Fearrington House Inn, Pittsboro, North Carolina
1. Hotel Fasano, São Paolo
2. Alvear Palace Hotel, Buenos Aires
3. Palacio Duhau-Park Hyatt, Buenos Aires
Top Hotels: Middle East
1. Park Hyatt Dubai
2. Al Faisaliah Hotel (Rosewood), Riyadh
3. Four Seasons, Doha
The Readers’ Choice Awards gala was held on Monday, October 10th in New York City at the Edison Ballroom and was hosted by Christine Baranski and Chris Noth.
Information kindly provided by Conde Nast.
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