Blanket Bay named among world’s greatest hotels

News Release from Blanket Bay
8 September 2009

Blanket Bay named as among the world’s greatest hotels

Readers of one of the world’s most influential travel magazines have named Glenorchy’s Blanket Bay lodge as the best leisure hotel in Australasia and the South Pacific. The luxury lodge also achieved 10th spot in the list of highest scores, irrespective of category, in the Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards 2009. Among the world’s great hotels, only two scored marginally higher than Blanket Bay, India’s Rambagh Palace in Jaipur and Four Seasons Hotel in Florence, Italy.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said winning an award of this calibre was a coup for Blanket Bay, and for New Zealand.

“New Zealand offers a great range of holidays for all kinds of budgets, but Blanket Bay sits at the top of what we offer in this country. The Conde Nast award recognises the consistent effort Blanket Bay puts into providing an excellent and friendly experience for visitors.

“Overall, New Zealand came second in the ‘Favourite Country’ category, Air New Zealand came second in the ‘Best Long-haul Leisure Airline’ category and Blanket Bay took top ranking as ‘Best Overseas Leisure Hotel’ in Australasia. That’s a pretty good result for a small country on the opposite side of the world from those voting,” Mr Hickton said.

The multi-awarded property has previously made the pages of glossy magazines as among the world’s best but Blanket Bay manager Philip Jenkins says to be named the best leisure hotel in the entire region is certainly the highest accolade yet.

“This is quite extraordinary and is a very exciting result for Blanket Bay. It really is as good as it gets for us. Conde Nast Traveller is read by the most discerning of UK travellers and the opinions of its readers are very important to us.”

Mr Jenkins believes the combination of scenery, luxurious surroundings, food and service has created the ideal place to stay for visitors to Australasia.

“New Zealand has been ranked as the second best destination in the world, second only to Italy, by the magazine’s readers. Our location in one of the most spectacular places in New Zealand combined with the unforgettable experience we work to produce for each and every one of our guests has been recognised by Conde Nast readers. We have a superb kitchen run by a talented team of award winning chefs to produce the very best in gourmet dining. We are just delighted to have the work of each and every member of our staff recognised in this way.”

ENDS

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