Condé Nast Traveller´s ”Top 100 Hotels & Resorts Readers Choice” is here!

The people has voted and the “Condé Nast Traveler Top 100 Hotels & Resorts in the World: Readers’ Choice Awards 2014” is out. This year Condé Nast received 76,659 votes for the 26^th year.

I have always been a great fan of the magazine, especially since it was a great way of staying ahead in information before the age of the Internet and for its quality of reporting and ability to look at the business with understanding of the trade but still fairly objective.

New Evaluation Process of Candidates this year.

Condé Nast Traveller asked Equation Research to handle the “Top 100 Hotels & Resorts Readers Choice” this year and they took a new approach in evaluating the candidates. The questionnaire contains lists of candidates in various categories where candidates must receive a required minimum number of responses to be eligible for a Readers’ Choice Award.

Evaluation: Individual candidates are judged on a set of criteria relevant to their category, based on a standard five-point scale: excellent, very good, good, fair, and poor. The mean average of these ratings determines the final score published—a departure from 26 years of calculating only the percentage of excellent and very good ratings.

For example, in South Africa, Londolozi’s score of 98.958 represents the mean average of ratings it received from all respondents for all criteria relevant to resorts: Rooms, Service, Location, Food/Dining, Design, Activities/Facilities, and Value (new in 2014). ​

Conclusions

There is a majority of US properties and properties aimed for the US market on the list and I think that is explained in 2 ways:

1. The majority of the magazine´s readers are Americans and vote for a property in their own country. It is not about patriotism, I just imagine that some have spent their vacation in the US during a slightly troubled economy.
2. North America and bordering countries are great destinations and attracts travellers from all over the world, and by doing so also gets a lot of votes.

I am not sure how Hotel Alfonso XIII in Seville got their place on the list with only 90,2 in score, but I assume it is a typo when publishing the list.

Africa has been slightly forgotten even though it is a great experience, which makes it nice to see many African properties on the list and especially one in the first place.

The List

Place	Name	Location	Country	Score
1	Londolozi Private Game Reserve and Camps	Sabi Sand	South Africa	98,958
2	Lodge & Spa at Brush Creek Ranch	Saratoga, Wyoming	USA	98,661
3	The Mulia	Bali	Indonesia	98,377
4	Singita Sabi Sand	Sabi Sand	South Africa	98,111
5	Triple Creek Ranch	Darby, Montana	USA	98,046
6	Nayara Springs	Arenal	Costa Rica	97,940
7	Singita Grumeti	Serengeti	Tanzania	97,727
8	Aro Ha	Queenstown	New Zealand	97,704
9	Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle	Chiang Mai	Thailand	97,449
10	Southern Ocean Lodge	Kangaroo Island	Australia	97,348
11	One & Only The Palm	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	97,024
12	Gateway Canyons Resort	Gateway, Colorado	USA	96,616
13	Cal-A-Vie	Vista, California	USA	96,508
14	Casa Palmero	Pebble Beach, California	USA	96,505
15	Viceory Riviera Maya	Playa Del Carmen	Mexico	96,480
16	The Lodge	Sea Island, Georgia	USA	96,357
17	Qualia	Hamilton Island	Australia	96,296
18	Nayara Hotel, Spa & Gardens	Arenal	Costa Rica	95,994
19	Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge	Parc National Des Volcans	Rwanda	95,883
20	Mii Amo	Sedona, Arizona	USA	95,588
21	Lake Austin Spa Resort	Austin, Texas	USA	95,566
22	XV Beacon	Boston, Massachusetts	USA	95,537
23	Il Salvatiano	Fiesole	Italy	95,500
24	Lion Sands	Sabi Sand	South Africa	95,497
25	Rancho Valencia Resort	San Diego, California	USA	95,378
26	Castello Di Casole	Casole D’elsa	Italy	95,332
27	Fairmont Heritage Place, Franz Klammer Lodge	Telluride, Colorado	USA	95,281
28	Burj Al Arab Jumeirah	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	95,238
29	21c Museum Hotel	Cincinatti, Ohio	USA	95,204
30	The Langham Chicago	Chicago	USA	95,177
31	C Lazy U Ranch	Granby, Colorado	USA	95,096
32	Palazzo Avino	Ravello	Italy	95,089
33	Primland Resort	Meadows of Dan, Virginia	USA	95,044
34	Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan	Bali	Indonesia	94,968
35	The Point	Upper Saranac Lake, New York	USA	94,898
36	Rancho La Puerta	Tecate	Mexico	94,839
37	Jade Mountain	St Lucia	St Lucia	94,834
38	St. Regis Punta Mita Resort	Punta de Mita	Mexico	94,793
39	Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong	Shanghai	China	94,656
40	Summer Lodge	Evershot	England	94,643
41	Bushmans Kloof	Cedarberg Mountains	South Africa	94,643
42	Guana Island Resort	Guana Island	British Virgin Islands	94,494
43	Las Alcobas	Mexico City D. F.	Mexico	94,481
44	Oberoi Udaivilas	Udaipur	India	94,444
45	Old Edwards Inn & Spa	Highlands, North Carolina	USA	94,417
46	Mystique (Luxury Collection)	Santorini	Greece	94,405
47	Waldorf Astoria Hotel at Shanghai on the Bund	Shanghai	China	94,388
48	Mombo and Little Mombo Camps	Moremi	Botswana	94,345
49	Waldorf Astoria Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	USA	94,289
50	Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti	Serengeti	Tanzania	92,246
51	Wailea Beach Villas	Maui, Hawaii	USA	92,242
52	Four Seasons Resort Langkawi	Langkawi	Malaysia	94,156
53	Madden’s on Gull Lake	Brainerd, Minnesota	USA	94,119
54	Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve	Sabi Sand	South Africa	94,112
55	&Beyond Lodges	Sabi Sand	South Africa	94,085
56	Wequassett Resort and Golf Club	Harwich, Massachusetts	USA	93,990
57	Kings Pool Camp	Linyanti	Botswana	93,981
58	Raffles Dubai	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	93,956
59	The Pitcher Inn	Warren, Vermont	USA	93,948
60	Canoe Bay Resort	Chetek, Wisconsin	USA	93,849
61	Twin Farms	Barnard, Vermont	USA	93,750
62	Weekapaug Inn	Weekapaug, Rhode Island	USA	93,750
63	The Cloister	Sea Island, Georgia	USA	93,739
64	Taj Lake Palace	Udaipur	India	93,710
65	The Sanctuary Hotel at Kiawah Island Golf Resort	Kiawah Island, South Carolina	USA	93,695
66	The Wauwinet	Nantucket, Massachusetts	USA	93,681
67	Hotel Astoria	St. Petersburg	Russia	93,485
68	Palm Island Resort	Palm Island	St. Vincent & the Grenadines	93,452
69	Singita Kruger National Park	Kruger National Park	South Africa	93,403
70	Stein Eriksen Lodge	Park City, Utah	USA	93,279
71	Hotel Matilda	San Miguel De Allende	Mexico	93,244
72	Hotel Alfonso XIII (Luxury Collection)	Seville	Spain	90,2?
73	Amandari	Bali	Indonesia	93,175
74	Hotel Sorella CityCentre	Houston, Texas	USA	93,150
75	Winvian	Litchfield, Connecticut	USA	93,063
76	St. Regis Lhasa Resort	Lhasa	China	93,003
77	Chewton Glen	New Milton, Hampshire	England	92,857
78	Saffire Freycinet	Coles Bay, Tasmania	Australia	92,857
79	Curtain Bluff	Antigua	Antigua & Barbuda	92,815
80	Thompson Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	USA	92,778
81	Loden Vancouver	Vancouver, BC	Canada	92,738
82	Sheen Falls Lodge	Kenmare, Co. Kerry,	Ireland	92,725
83	St. Regis Bora Bora Resort	Bora Bora	French Polynesia	92,682
84	Colonial Houses	Williamsburg, Virginia	USA	92,674
85	Chateau du Sureau	Oakhurst, California	USA	92,669
86	Montage Laguna Beach	Laguna Beach, California	USA	92,666
87	Lodge at Kauri Cliffs	Matauri Bay, North Island	New Zealand	92,656
88	Ocean House	Watch Hill, Rhode Island	USA	92,656
89	Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora	Bora Bora	French Polynesia	92,611
90	River Inn of Harbor Town	Memphis, Tennesee	USA	92,607
91	Nisbet Plantation Beach Club	Nevis	St. Kitts & Nevis	92,588
92	Dunton Hot Springs	Dolores, Colorado	USA	92,560
93	Esperanza	Cabo San Lucas	Mexico	92,547
94	Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo	Tokyo	Japan	92,500
95	Hyatt Regency Danang Resort and Spa	Da Nang	Vietnam	92,500
96	Excellence Playa Mujeres	Playa Mujeres	Mexico	92,483
97	Ashford Castle Hotel	Cong, Co. Mayo	Ireland	92,482
98	Serengeti Migration Camp	Serengeti	Tanzania	92,474
99	Savute Elephant Camp	Chobe	Botswana	92,411
100	Four Seasons Hotel Prague	Prague	Czech Republic	92,391

You will find the list, together with a description of the evaluation process on: http://www.cntraveler.com/travel-awards/readers-choice-awards/2014

Earlier this year Condé Nast Traveller published their “Hot List 2014“.

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