Londolozi Private Game Reserve and Camps

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

Hotels

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 26th 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“.

Do you have thoughts, comments or ideas about this article? Do you have an own list of favourites? Please let me know on Twitter, on Facebook or in the comments below.

Leave a Reply