Monday, August 19, 2013

Luxury travel network announces top hotel, bar and spa

(CNN) -- It was a frenetic week in Vegas for members of the luxury-travel industry.

Virtuoso, the self-proclaimed "leading luxury travel network," hosted its annual travel conference at the Bellagio last week.

Virtuoso's members reportedly generate around $9.6 billion in luxury travel sales each year.

More than 4,200 industry members from 90 countries were in town for this year's speeches, luncheons and the luxury travel industry's equivalent of speed dating (four-minute meetings), with the aim of closing extravagant bookings.

Mukul Beach won the Best Spa award.
Mukul Beach won the Best Spa award.

Just how extravagant?

A three-night, $450,000 wedding at Mexican luxury resort Rosewood Mayakoba closed within four minutes for VIP travel agent Jack Ezon, who told Las Vegas Review-Journal that Virtuoso Travel Week was "the most important week of the year" for his company.

Read: Hottest new hotels for 2013

The network also announced its annual Best of the Best Hotel Awards, which honors 10 winners from the network's portfolio of 983 luxury properties around the world.

The winning hotels were picked by editors of Virtuoso Life, the network's travel magazine, based on feedback from its reported 200,000 readers. Take a look at their choices below:

Have you stayed at these hotels? Do you agree with the selections? Let us know in the comments

Best of the Best Hotel Awards - winners

Best Achievement in Design: Dorado Beach, Dorado, Puerto Rico

Best Culinary Experience: La Scene, Prince de Galles, Paris

Best Bar: The Armani/Bamboo Bar, Armani Hotel Milano, Milan

Best Family Program: The Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland

Best Spa: Spa Mukul, Mukul Beach, Golf & Spa -- Tola, Nicaragua

Most Innovative Guest Experience: Banjaar Tola by Taj Safaris -- Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India

Sustainable Tourism Leadership - Hotel: The Savoy, London

One to Watch: The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Hotelier of the Year: Francois Delahaye, Hotel Plaza Athenee, Paris

Hotel of the Year: Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

Read: Which luxury hotel brand is the world's most popular?


This article is taken from CNN.com

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