 NEW YORK, Oct.
16, 2012 - Conde Nast Traveler today announced the
results of its 25th annual Readers' Choice Awards, ranking
the best cities, islands, cruise lines, airlines, hotels, and resorts
worldwide. Who but Conde Nast Traveler readers would have
heard of, let alone, traveled to, Bozcaada or Knysna?
They're winners this year, and that is only part of what makes these
Readers' Choice Awards so exceptional. A record 46,476 readers
participated, rating 370 hotels, resorts, and cruise lines above a
score of 90! (To put it in perspective, the first list in 1988 saw the
highest score of 87.) In total, the readers elected a grand total of
1,306 winners—so many, in fact, that we have made them easier to locate
by region: Consider Italy, now meriting its own list, with 17 hotels
rated above 90.0, and the United States,
which has sixteen 90.0-plus properties in the South alone. Some list
highlights:
- Qualia on Hamilton Island, Great Barrier Reef, was
named the top property in the world, with a perfect 100 score.
- Charleston, South Carolina
is not only the favorite city in the U.S. for the second
year in a row, but it's also the favorite city in the world!
- For the 19th year, Maui
is the top island in the
United States, and this year, it's tops in the world.
- The Waldorf Astoria, Chicago,
nabs the top spot in the U.S. hotel category.
- New York has ten
hotels scoring above 90, including The Peninsula, Trump
International Hotel & Tower, and the Four Seasons.
- Top honors on the high seas again go to Crystal
Cruises; on rivers, Grand Circle Travel is number one.
- The smart question is not if Mexico but where, as
the list is led by One&Only Palmilla, Capella Ixtapa, and
Le Blanc Spa Resort.
- In the Caribbean/Atlantic
region, the Peninsula House again takes top honors.
- China debuts with
its own list, dominated by its three powerhouse cities, and in India, Oberoi claims the top two spots.
"Every year, the most discriminating travelers in the world (our
readers) pick the world's superlative hotels, resorts, airlines, cruise
lines, islands, and cities," said Editor in Chief Klara Glowczewska.
"In its 25th incarnation this year, the Readers' Choice Awards are
vaster and more compelling than ever before, featuring more than 1,300
properties and places that are truly the cream of the crop."
For the complete list of 2012
Readers' Choice
Awards, visit http://www.condenasttraveler.com/rca
Methodology
The Condé Nast
Traveler Readers' Choice Survey, begun in 1988, is available
through a
secure Web site at condenasttraveler.com/vote.
This year's tabulations of 46,476 responses were done by Global Market
Insite,
Inc., of Boston. Organization: The questionnaire contains lists
of
candidates in various categories (Cities, Hotels, etc.). Individual
candidates
are judged by relevant criteria for each. Those that receive a required
minimum
number of responses are deemed eligible for a Readers' Choice Award. Evaluation:
Each candidate is rated, criterion by criterion, on a five-point scale:
excellent, very good, good, fair, and poor. Those scores, which
represent the
percentage of excellent and very good ratings, are averaged to
calculate the
final score published here. For example, King Pacific Lodge's rating,
96.9, is
the average of its scores for all criteria: Food/Dining, Location,
Overall
Design, Rooms, Service, and (for resorts) Activities/Facilities.
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