Each year the world’s finest boutique hotels are chosen from expert panelists for the World Boutique Hotel Award. This year’s award ceremony was held on November 2nd at the Montcalm Hotel in London.
Xanadu is honored and ecstatic to have been chosen as “The Americas’ Best Relaxation Retreat for 2015”. Receiving the award on our behalf was Nicola and Karen from Naturally Belize Travel Agency.
Below is an excerpt of the philosophy behind the Boutique Hotel Awards quoted from Edward Gabbai – Director and Founder, World Boutique Hotel Awards:
“Our Awards are the world’s first and only accolades dedicated exclusively to luxury boutique properties, providing a global arena in which hotels can showcase their unique excellence. Above all, the World Boutique Hotel Awards looks for hotels that are undeniably, irrefutably unique. How we judge our winners: We start by conducting a thorough interview with a hotel’s manager or owner. The questions are tailored to each hotel, since most (or the good ones at least) are very different. We have a collection of well-traveled judges, often with expertise in a field closely linked to the award category they review, that visit each shortlisted hotel. We believe it is of the utmost importance that each hotel shortlisted for one of our awards is reviewed in person, with the judge staying exactly as a guest would do. No matter how detailed your research, there’s no substitute for personally experiencing what a hotel has to offer and meeting the people behind it. Elements of design and concept, dining, facilities, location and service are included in the review they perform. That said, we primarily look to gauge the emotional journey, focusing more on the feel achieved by a hotel rather than using strict quotas or standards in our judging. Our panel then meets once all the hotels have been evaluated to pour over the reviews and other research gathered by our team to decide upon the winners.”
