YOUR CHOICE OF THE BEST

THE 2015 BUSINESS TRAVELLER ASIA-PACIFIC AWARDS have been announced and it’s time to congratulate the winners

To our regular readers, of whom there are many,

Business Traveller Asia-Pacific first of all owes you a debt of gratitude and a word of praise before we shower the winners with accolades. Gratitude because without your votes these awards, now in their 24th year, would not be possible. And praise because, as per usual, your decisions have been tellingly accurate.

As a first-timer to this awards presentation luncheon on September 9, I was amazed at how each award was applauded generously by the other contenders with nods of approval and recognition. How lucky are the people working within this industry to share good wishes so graciously.

All the winners were chosen through Business Traveller AsiaPacific’s exclusive poll of its readers undertaken between April and June. As always, the results have been tallied by independent global market research leader Ipsos.

And our readers know what they’re talking about – 20 per cent of them have spent more than 51 nights in hotel rooms in the past year on their travels, while a further 48 per cent have spent between 13 and 50 nights in hotels while away from home. A significant proportion (74 per cent) stay in upscale (four star) or luxury (five star) hotels when they travel.

A quarter of them fly more than 30 times a year – that’s a lot of air miles!

It’s been a year of ups and downs for the industry. As one Hong Kong general manager remarked to me at the awards luncheon, occupancies are down 12 per cent for his resort hotel, a fact he blames on political and economic factors, the majority of them emanating from China. And yet still demand is driving growth, especially in China.

Airlines, on the other hand, are flying high on low oil prices. With most having adjusted their abacus to US$100 a barrel profitability of not so long ago, the windfalls have been hefty.

Some dominant forces held their leads in the hotel and airline sectors of this year’s awards, reflecting a determination for excellence that our readers have again recognised.

Singapore Airlines won the overall award for Best Airline and for Best Asia-Pacific Airline for the 15th year running. The airline also won awards for: Best Airline First Class; Best Airline Business Class; Best Airline Economy Class; and Best In-flight Catering.

Lufthansa, United Airlines, Qatar Airways and Air China all won awards for their specific regions, while Changi Airport took out the best airport awards for Asia-Pacific and the world, respectively.

On the hotel side the Hyatt brand was a big winner. The Grand Hyatt won the award for Best Business Hotel Brand in the World for the third consecutive year, and also Best Business Hotel awards in Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Melbourne and Singapore. Meanwhile the Park Hyatt won Best Business Hotel awards in Ho Chi Minh City, Sydney and Tokyo. They must be doing something right.

Best Business Hotel in the World, meanwhile, went to Island Shangri-La Hong Kong, while The Peninsula Hong Kong won Best Business Hotel in Asia-Pacific. There were two new awards, reflecting the growth in popularity of this annual event, and was evidenced by a bumper turnout at the Conrad Hotel luncheon.

Mandarin Oriental took out the inaugural award for Best Luxury Hotel Brand in Asia-Pacific, while the new award for Best Hotel Loyalty Programme was won by Starwood Preferred Guest.

And there were many more, the details of which you can read in the following pages. Please do share your thoughts on the awards with us at editorial@businesstravellerasia.com. It would be nice to share some of your views on our inbox page, and a chance perhaps for you, too, to be a winner if it’s our Star Letter.