Le Meridien scores double World Travel Award win

The senior management for Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort & Spa have departed for the World Travel Market 2003 with the news that the world’s travel industry has voted the luxury property as the Middle East’s leading resort.

Meanwhile, Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts has retained its top ranking in the region, voted leading hotel group in the Middle East at the recent World Travel Awards ceremony in New York.

Pam Wilby, general manager of Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort & Spa, said: “The hotel sector in Dubai is highly competitive, with both local and international brands continually setting new benchmarks of excellence – to come out top among such high-regarded names is a great accolade for us and one of which we are very proud.

“The challenge is now to find new ways to delight our customers, and continually strive to raise our own performance levels, to stay ahead of the competition.”

Receiving this news on the eve of World Travel Market comes as an official stamp of recognition to Wilby and her team as they prepare to showcase the resort’s upcoming sister property Grosvenor House Hotel & Apartments, West Marina Beach Resort, to the travel trade.

Grosvenor House is set to be an exclusive address in the upcoming Dubai Marina, which has been earmarked by developers as ‘the lifestyle hub of Dubai’. It will be Le Meridien’s seventh property in Dubai, and tenth in the UAE.

Winner in the category in three of the past four years, Le Meridien came out top again in the industry poll, which is carried out online to enable up to 500,000 travel agents worldwide register their votes.

Sami Zoghbi, managing director, Middle East and West Asia for Le Meridien, was delighted with the news that the group had retained its title. He said: “We are thrilled to receive this recognition from those in the know, our partners the travel agents that recommend our properties and make our guest bookings.”

Dubai was dominant across the Middle East categories, winning every hotel award, as well as leading airport and leading destination and Zoghbi added: “The combined efforts of Dubai’s private and public sector have paid off, as the city continues to show the way in the leisure, business and incentive arenas in the Middle East.”

Le Meridien’s Middle East double win rounds off a highly successful ceremony for the UK-based hotel group, which also saw wins for Le Meridien Limassol Spa & Resort (world’s leading spa resort), Forte Village in Sardinia (world’s leading resort), and Le Meridien Port Vila Resort & Casino in Vanuatu (Australasia’s leading casino resort).

The award ceremony will be recreated at World Travel Market, the second largest travel trade show and exhibition in the world, to be held in London from November 10 to 13.