World's best Awards 2011

Results of the Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards 2011 Readers’ Survey Announced Today Revealing Top Hotels, Cities, Islands, Cruise Lines, Airlines, and More.


New York, NY (July 7, 2011) – Singita Grumeti Reserves in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania is named best hotel in the world, New York City is ranked No. 1 city in the United States and Canada, and car sharing company Zipcar is voted the top car-rental agency in the Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards 2011 readers’ survey, announced today. 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 are listed on www.TravelandLeisure.com now, will be featured in the first-ever World’s Best Awards 2011 iPad edition, available via www.TravelandLeisure.com/iPad and on the iTunes App Store beginning July 11, and is the cover story of the August issue of the magazine, on newsstands July 22. 

Singita Grumeti Reserves , composed of Sasakwa Lodge, Sabora Tented Camp, and Faru Faru Lodge in northern Tanzania, is a first-time World’s Best Hotel Overall winner this year and is one of six African properties to place in the Top 10 among hotels worldwide. Posada de Mike Rapu, Explora Rapa Nui , Easter Island makes its debut in the World’s Best Awards survey results this year with a No. 1 ranking on the list of Top Resorts in Central and South America. Santorini is a new World’s Best Island Overall winner, moving up from its No. 6 ranking on last year’s list of Top Islands Overall and displacing the Galápagos from the No. 1 position. New York City holds its title for the eleventh year in a row as the Best City in the U.S. and Canada, and rises to its highest ranking since 2000 among top cities overall at No. 4, while Bangkok retains its number one ranking in the world for a second consecutive year. On the list of Top Cities in the U.S. and Canada, Charleston rises to the No. 2 spot, its highest ranking ever, and New Orleans moves up to No. 6 this year from No. 7 in 2010. Cuba regains the title of Best Island in the Caribbean that it last held in 2003.
Two companies have held onto their No. 1 rankings every year since the poll began in 1996: Crystal Cruises (Best Large-Ship Cruise Line) and Singapore Airlines (Best International Airline). The 2011 results, including the Top 100 Hotels Overall, Top 50 Resorts in the Continental U.S. and Canada, Top 10 Cities Overall, and Top 10 Domestic Airlines , among other lists, are featured on www.TravelandLeisure.com/worldsbest now.

TRAVEL + LEISURE WORLD’S BEST AWARDS 2011 WINNERS OVERALL

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

“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 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.”


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 Big Island

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&Only Palmilla Los Cabos
TOP CITY HOTEL	Four Seasons Hotel México, D.F. 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 WORLD’S 2011 BEST CITY AND ISLAND WINNERS BY REGION

REGION	CITY	ISLAND
UNITED STATES 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 WORLD’S BEST 2011 HOTEL SPAS WINNERS BY REGION*

Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort & Spa Los Cabos ( tie )

CONTINENTAL U.S. + CANADA	Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, Louisiana
HAWAII	Grand Wailea Maui
MEXICO	Excellence Riviera Cancun Mayan Riviera
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 top winners in each category will be honored at an awards ceremony on July 14 hosted by Editor in Chief Nancy Novogrod and VP/Publisher Jean-Paul Kyrillos at the new Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel in Los Angeles. Mr. C is the flagship west coast property of the new signature hotel brand from the fourth generation of the Cipriani family. MSNBC’s Alex Witt will emcee the awards program.
The World’s Best Awards 2011 digital edition for the iPad will be available for $1.99 on iTunes beginning July 11. This special iPad edition will include dozens of trip ideas, with itineraries created by T+L editors and insider information on World’s Best Award-winning destinations such as New York, Florence, Bali, the Great Barrier Reef, and beyond. Users can tap in to TravelandLeisure.com destination guides for the top cities and islands right from the digital version, with advice on where to stay, what to do, and how to create your own perfect trip. Plus, there are direct links to sites for the hotels, cruise lines, outfitters, and destinations for easy booking and users can share trip ideas via Facebook, Twitter, and email.
Follow the World’s Best Awards 2011 conversation on Twitter with @travlandleisure #tlworldsbest.

 

Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards 2011 Survey Methodology 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 (see below). 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 number of responses 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. In both cases, companies and properties have different scores for each category. Hotel types were determined using the number of rooms and suites. Inns have fewer than 40 rooms; resorts have 40 rooms or more. Small city hotels have fewer than 100 rooms; large city hotels have 100 rooms or more. In some regions, inns and resorts and large and small city hotels were grouped together. 

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.

*Spa results are featured on www.TravelandLeisure.com now, within the World’s Best Awards 2011 iPad edition, and in the September issue of Travel + Leisure, on newsstands August 23.
With an eye for the authentic, the innovative, and the irresistible, Travel + Leisure® ( www.travelandleisure.com , @travlandleisure) fuses expert reporting on culture, food, style, and design with stunning photography, transporting readers to the places—and the travel experiences—that matter now. T+L, the monthly title from American Express Publishing and the long-standing authority in its field, has the largest audience of any travel magazine and is an indispensable guide for global nomads. Travel + Leisure has a network of international editions, including Travel + Leisure Mexico, Travel + Leisure Turkey, Travel + Leisure China, Travel + Leisure South Asia, and Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia.