The winners of this year’s Business Traveller Asia Pacific Awards are revealed

The votes have been cast and counted, and we now reveal this year's winners

Who’s the winner in your book? If you're a regular reader of Business Traveller Asia-Pacific, you’ll know why I'm asking this question. On September 26, we announced the names of travel service providers that had captured the most votes from our readers in the 2014 Reader Poll and taken home the trophies at the Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Travel Awards luncheon.

As with previous years, the poll was conducted between April and June, with results tallied by global market research leader Ipsos. The most significant difference this year is that we have gone fully digital with the process, which has given us the flexibility to add new questions that better reflect today’s travel environment.

We are based in a dynamic region and reporting about an everchanging sector, so it is important that our poll keeps up with the times and remains relevant to our readers. This year, we are adding one award category: "Best In-flight Catering".

When you spend an accumulation of hours and days on the plane every month, you naturally become more discerning about inflight products and service. Airlines are investing much more in the food they serve across all cabins, and even in economy, “fish or chicken” just won’t do anymore. We want to acknowledge the efforts that they have put in.

And our readers enjoy flying, based on discussions we see on our online forum and my recent meeting with one of our readers, Rohan Muralee. “I like flying, because it's the only time in your life, really, that you are non-contactable,” he said.

But he’s probably not going to root for a “Best In-flight Connectivity” award. “I normally refuse to – unless it’s absolutely necessary – do any work on a plane, because it’s personal time – I am cut off, I can’t be on the phone, I can’t be on the internet, I enjoy that time.”

I also recently sat down with a group of subscribers for lunch, to gauge their views on various subjects, especially about low-cost carriers. Two years ago we added a new award category for this growing sector.

John Hotchandani, one reader who travels to LCC-hotbed Singapore frequently, said:“I know a lot more people are using them. I personally would not, as frankly the price differential is not that much if you don’t book at the last minute. When you travel for business, and you have a status on the airline, you want the lounge access, you want priority boarding and you want the miles.”

He also cited scheduling as the reason for sticking with legacy airlines, as an LCC would not be able to offer him an early morning flight to Singapore and a late night flight back – something he does regularly.

Fellow reader Stefan Behr-Heyder, however, said that to make the best of LCCs, one needed to do away with the conventional approach to booking flights. He said:“You can go on Jetstar come back on Tiger.”

Travis Wong, who works as a travel agent recalled a bad experience with an LCC, where he was stuck in Hanoi for seven hours. “For business travellers, time is money,” he said.

It is, however, necessary to point out that LCC offerings are increasingly competitive and they are gaining in popularity. AirAsia, arguably the region’s pioneer LCC, has held a firm grip on the awards. Has it been because of first-mover advantage, or offerings such as Red Carpet service and no-child zone? That is hard to say, but for sure, competition is getting fiercer as new LCCs such rivals Vanilla Air and Tiger Taiwan come onboard.

We also spoke about hotel trends, and one of the discussions was whether or not hotels still need to have business centres. The consensus seemed to be "no".

Wong said, “I’ve arranged for lots of corporate clients to go on business trips; nowadays I don’t see them using business centres frequently.”

Jasmine Zhou, who works for a developer that is also involved in hospitality, said:“A lot of hotel rooms these days have their own fax machines and internet, so hotels would rather save space for other amenities.”

Hotchandani also pointed out a club lounge would provide the same services.

So, is there potential for a “Best Club Facility” award in the future? Do let us know – we are all ears.

For now, let’s take a look at this year’s winners. Don’t be afraid to share your thoughts by emailing editorial@businesstravellerasia.com. Frankly, you are the reason why we are doing what we are doing.

Happy travels!