Welcome to the inaugural Business Travel Awards.

You know what they say about all work and no play... These awards have been created to recognise the hotels, restaurants, corporate retreats and conference centres that make doing business more pleasure than pain.

WE ASKED our expert correspondents around the country to nominate the hotels, retreats and restaurants that are best catering to corporate Australia. The criteria? Each establishment has to go above and beyond for the modern business traveller.

The Qantas magazine and Travel Insider team have whittled down our correspondents’ selections to the best of the best and we’re proud to announce the finalists on the following pages.

The winners will be selected by our panel of judges – which includes Neil Perry, Qantas’s creative director of food, beverage and service; Stuart Bishop, CEO of Hardy Brothers jewellers; and Ann Sherry, executive chairman of Carnival Australia – who are all well versed in the art of business travel. We’ll announce the award recipients at a cocktail party in Sydney at the end of June and in the July issue of Qantas magazine.

We’d love you to be involved, too. Tell us your favourite finalist in the Best Business Hotel category and you could win a Spin 7 convertible laptop or a Swift 7 laptop from Acer, our partner in this initiative (see page 126).

We hope these pages inspire you to add a dose of fun to your next business trip.