"It's clear that remote and exotic destinations - places that convey a sense of authenticity and adventure - are ruling the day once again in Travel + Leisure's World's Best Awards," said Nancy Novogrod, editor in chief of ACTUAL Travel + Leisure. "The top ten hotels overall are African camps and lodges; resorts in India; a property in Chiang Mai; and a luxury lodge in Montana. The top cities overall span the globe: Bangkok, Florence, New York, Istanbul, Siem Reap, and Sydney, to mention a few."
The results of Travel + Leisure's sixteenth annual World's Best Awards survey revealing readers' favorite hotels, cities, islands, cruise lines, airlines, car-rental agencies, spas, and tour operators and safari outfitters have been named, and will be the cover story of the August issue of the magazine, on newsstands July 22.
Here is a look at the winners:
WORLD'S BEST CITY: Bangkok
WORLD'S BEST HOTEL: Singita Grumeti Reserves (Saskwa Lodge, Sabora Tented Camp, and Faru Faru Lodge), Tanzania
WORLD'S BEST ISLAND: Santorini Greece
WORLD'S BEST LARGE-SHIP CRUISE LINE: Crystal Cruises
WORLD'S BEST SMALL-SHIP CRUISE LINE: Seabourn
WORLD'S BEST RIVER CRUISE LINE: Tauck
WORLD'S BEST INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE: Singapore Airlines
WORLD'S BEST DOMESTIC AIRLINE: Virgin America
WORLD'S BEST TOUR OPERATOR/SAFARI OUTFITTER: Micato Safaris
WORLD'S BEST CAR-RENTAL AGENCY: Zipcar
WORLD'S BEST DESTINATION SPA: Rancho La Puerta Fitness Resort & Spa Tecate, Mexico
WORLD'S BEST HOTEL SPA: Sofitel Queenstown Hotel & Spa New Zealand
Travel + Leisure World's Best 2011 Hotel Winners by Region:
Continental U.S. and Canada
TOP RESORT: Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tennessee
TOP LARGE CITY HOTEL: The Peninsula Chicago
TOP SMALL CITY HOTEL: Eliot Hotel Boston
TOP INN: Triple Creek Ranch, Darby Montana
Hawaii
TOP RESORT: Four Seasons Resort, Hualalai, Hawaii
The Caribbean, Bermuda and The Bahamas
TOP RESORT: Nisbet Plantation Beach Club, Nevis
Central and South America
TOP RESORT: Posada de Mike Rapu, Explora Rapa Nui Easter Island, Chile
TOP CITY HOTEL: Palacio Duhau - Park Hyatt, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mexico
TOP RESORT: One And Only Palmilla, Los Cabos
TOP CITY HOTEL: Four Seasons Hotel Mexico City
Australia, New Zealand and The South Pacific
TOP LODGE/RESORT: Lodge at Kauri Cliffs, Matauri Bay, New Zealand
TOP CITY HOTEL: The Langham Melbourne
Europe
TOP RESORT: Hotel Caruso Ravello, Italy
TOP LARGE CITY HOTEL: Stafford London by Kempinski
TOP SMALL CITY HOTEL: Milestone Hotel London
TOP INN/SMALL COUNTRY HOTEL: Hotel Villa Cipriani Asolo, Italy
Asia
TOP RESORT: Oberoi Udaivilas Udaipur, India
TOP CITY HOTEL: Mandarin Oriental Bangkok
Africa and The Middle East
TOP LODGE/RESORT: Singita Grumeti Reserves (Saskwa Lodge, Sabora Tented Camp, and Faru Faru Lodge), Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
TOP CITY HOTEL: Cape Grace Hotel Cape Town, South Africa
Travel + Leisure 2011 World's Best City and Island Winners by Region:
U.S. AND CANADA: New York City/Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada
EUROPE: Florence/ Santorini Greece
ASIA: Bangkok/Bali
AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC: Sydney/Great Barrier Reef Australia
MEXICO AND CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA: Buenos Aires/Galápagos
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST: Cape Town
HAWAII: Hawaii, the Big Island
THE CARIBBEAN, BERMUDA, AND THE BAHAMAS: Cuba
Travel + Leisure 2011 World's Best Hotel Spas Winners by Region:
CONTINENTAL U.S. AND CANADA: Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans, Louisiana
HAWAII: Grand Wailea Maui
MEXICO: (a tie) Excellence Riviera Cancun Mayan Riviera and Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort & Spa Los Cabos
EUROPE: Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel Rome
ASIA: Discovery Shores Boracay Philippines
AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC: Sofitel Queenstown Hotel and Spa New Zealand
CARIBBEAN, BERMUDA AND THE BAHAMAS: Couples Tower Isle St. Mary, Jamaica
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA: Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST: Singita Kruger National Park South Africa
The Twitter conversation about the World's Best Awards 2011 can be accessed with @travlandleisure #tlworldsbest.
For those who wonder how the winners were chosen, the research methodology is described below.
A questionnaire developed by the editors of Travel + Leisure, in association with ROI Research Inc., was made available to Travel + Leisure readers at TLWorldsBest.com from December 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011. Readers were invited to participate through Travel + Leisure magazine (January, February, and March issues), T+L iPad editions (T+L 500 and Romance), and online at TravelandLeisure.com.
To protect the integrity of the data, after March 31, 2011, respondents were screened by Travel + Leisure and responses from any identified travel-industry professionals who completed the survey were eliminated from the final tally. The survey website, TLWorldsBest.com, was maintained, monitored, and kept secure by ROI Research Inc., which collected and tabulated the responses and kept them confidential. The scores are indexed averages of responses concerning applicable characteristics. Respondents were asked to rate hotels, islands, destination spas, and rental-car agencies on five characteristics; cities, cruise lines, and tour operators and safari outfitters on six characteristics; and airlines and hotel spas on four characteristics.
In the hotel, cruise line, tour operators and safari outfitters, and airline categories, respondents could also rate additional optional characteristics; these ratings were not included in the final score. For each characteristic, respondents were asked to rate a candidate on a scale of 1 to 5, where "1" means poor and "5" means excellent. Required component ratings were then averaged, creating an overall score. A minimum response number was necessary for a candidate to be eligible for inclusion in the World?s Best Awards listings. Some companies were rated in both the cruise lines and tour operators and safari outfitters categories, and some properties were rated in both the destination spas and hotel spas categories.
These were the categories and characteristics:
Hotels: Rooms/facilities, location, service, restaurants/food, value
Cities: Sights, culture/arts, restaurants/food, people, shopping, value
Islands: Natural attractions, activities/sights, restaurants/food, people, value
Cruise Lines: Cabins, food, service, itineraries/destinations, activities, value
Tour operators and safari outfitters: Staff/guides, itineraries/destinations, activities, accommodations, food, value
Airlines: Cabin comfort, in-flight service, customer service, value
Rental-car agencies: Vehicle selection, vehicle availability, car-rental location, service, value
Destination spas: Accommodations/ambience, treatments, service, food, value
Hotel spas: Ambience, treatments, service, value
Throughout the Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards, scores shown have been rounded to the nearest hundredth of a point; in the event of a true tie, properties, companies, or destinations share the same ranking.
