4th Edition for India Awards honours 104 Indian Hotels across
6 categories
Rajasthan reclaims honour from Kerala as the state with maximum hotel
awards while the National Capital takes the top slot among metros
TripAdvisor®, the world’s
largest travel site*, today announced the winners of its 2013 Travellers’
Choice® awards for hotels.
In their 4th year in India, the awards have identified the 104 most
outstanding properties across the country. In all, 150 awards have been given
in the following categories: Top Hotels, Luxury Hotels, Bargain Hotels, Service
Hotels, Small Hotels, B&B/Inns.
Representing its biggest ever Travellers’
Choice campaign, TripAdvisor has named more than 6,000 award-winning properties
around the world this year, with dedicated lists now covering 82 countries and
nine regions worldwide. Unlike any other hotel honours, TripAdvisor Travellers’
Choice winners are based on millions of valuable reviews and opinions covering
more than 650,000 hotels and collected in a single year from travellers around
the world.
Commenting on the significance of the Travellers Choice Hotel Awards, Nikhil Ganju, Country
Manager, TripAdvisor India said, “TripAdvisor’s
Travellers Choice Hotel Awards have become the gold standard for hospitality by
being the voice of millions of travellers from around the world. Moreover, they
recognize excellent service standards, value for money and overall experience
as well as different hotel categories providing travellers with a range of
options to suit their travel plans. ”
“Interestingly, in India, smaller
standalone hotels are steadily catching up with large chain properties especially
in the Service category, clearly indicating that marketing budgets and size of
establishment are not imperative to delivering a great customer experience”,
added Mr. Ganju.
When
it comes to service, small is beautiful
This year’s list saw an almost equal presence of
chain hotels and independent/boutique players in the Service category. In fact,
standalone hotels such as Sajhome, Kaiya House and Chapslee rank higher than
many large hotel brands in the list of top hotels for Service. Reviewing the ‘State’ Of Hospital
- Dislodging last year’s winner Kerala, Rajasthan emerged as the state with the maximum number of awards across categories. Rajasthan hotels won 37 awards followed by Kerala hotels with 31 awards, swapping last year’s winning order. Also Himachal Pradesh takes the third spot knocking off Goa (which was the state with third most awards last year) to fourth spot.
- While Kerala dominates the B&B/Inn & Bargain categories, Rajasthan establishes itself as the hot spot for high end tourism with the most winning hotels in the Luxury & Top Big hotels categories
- Hotels in Srinagar and Andaman & Nicobar make their debut in the Traveller’s Choice list this year in the Top Small & Bargain categories respectively. Srinagar has seen a revival in tourist arrivals in 2012 and this debut is a reflection of this welcome change as well as a growing interest in offbeat Andaman & Nicobar Islands. On this Mr. Ganju said, “ In light of the turbulent times that Kashmir has seen, it is heartening to see it back on the tourist map not just in terms of increasing number of holidaymakers heading there, but also of a hotel going on to win a Traveller’s Choice Award; hopefully a sign of better times to come.”
The Chain Effect
- The Oberoi Group which leads the brigade of best hotels in several categories has maximum number of winning properties this year. While the Oberoi Group had outnumbered Taj Hotels by a very slim margin last year, this year they have surpassed the Taj group properties by a significant lead.
- While other Leela properties have received Travellers Choice Hotel Awards in the past, their relatively new property, The Leela Palace New Delhi has clocked an impressive three awards in the India list for Top Big, Service and Luxury hotels and two awards in the Asia list for Top Big & Luxury hotels in its debut year on the list.
Commenting on the recognition,
Tamir Kobrin, general manager, The Leela Palace New Delhi said, “Digital evolution highly impacts the
decisions of discerning travellers the world over, therefore being recognized
by the World’s largest and most trusted travel site for two consecutive years,
is indeed a proud moment. We thank all our patrons for sharing their valuable
experience on TripAdvisor and believe these accolades are the true testament of
our hard work and a great way to enter 2013 and it is just the beginning.”
National Capital takes the top spot among metros
- The National Capital strides ahead of all other metro cities with the highest number of winning hotels as well as awards. Delhi leads with 11 awards and 7 winning hotels while Chennai falls behind with not a single award this year.
CITY
|
AWARDS
|
WINNING
HOTELS
|
Delhi
|
11
|
7
|
Bangalore
|
7
|
5
|
Mumbai
|
5
|
2
|
Kolkata
|
4
|
2
|
Hyderabad
|
2
|
1
|
Chennai
|
0
|
0
|
Winners in a Row
- Last year’s topper in the Bargain category, Kaiya House, Kerala maintains its sheen and continues to be at number one.
- Saubhag Bed and Breakfast, Delhi continues its reign as number one in the B&B/Inn category for the third year in a row.
- Sajhome, Kerala shines at the top spot for Service for the third year in succession.
- None of the chain hotels retained their top positions from last year.
Asia’s heart resides in India
India rules the Asia list, being the country with most
awards in top Asia hotels across categories, followed by Indonesia and
Thailand.
- The Oberoi Udaivilas (Udaipur), Orange Country, Kabini (Nagarhole), The Leela Palace New Delhi (New Delhi), Taj Lake Palace Udaipur (Udaipur), & Wildflower Hall (Mashobra) all make it to list of top 25 Big hotels as well as top Luxury hotels in Asia.
- Kerala’s Kaiya house & Saubhag Bed & Breakfast, New Delhi shine at number 2 in top Bargain hotels and top B&B/Inns in Asia respectively.
- Sajhome, Kerala and Wildflower Hall, Mashobra rank 13th and 24th respectively among the best hotels of Asia in terms of service.
Serving India to the World
While India glows in the Asia lists, its presence in
the World list is not as spectacular with only two wins across categories this
year.
- The Oberoi Udaivilas stands at 22nd position among the top hotels of the world.
- Kaiya House from Kerala ranks 14th among the best Bargain hotel around the globe.
The complete list of Travellers’ Choice award-winning
hotels can be found at http://www.tripadvisor.in/TravelersChoice-Hotels
