Guangzhou’s Garden Hotel along with The Furama Resort, Danang in Vietnam and Taiwan’s Ambassador Hsinchu Hotel scooped top honours in the annual WORLDHOTELS awards.

The new honours were announced in Hong Kong at the annual conference of the newly re-brandedÊÊWORLDHOTELS, one of the world’s leading global sales, marketing and distribution consortia for independent hotels and regional hotel groups.

WORLDHOTELS members honoured Guangzhou’s Garden Hotel with this year’s ‘New Member’ award - just ahead of Madison Hotel Hamburg and Palm Beach Shores Resort in Florida.

The 5-star business hotel in the commercial and financial hub of Guangzhou is a giant complex of twin Y-shaped towers incorporating 800 offices and serviced apartments along with the hotel’s 1,000 luxurious rooms and suites. Its magnificent lobby is one of the largest in Asia, adorned with unique Chinese works of art and treasures.

Danang’s renowned Furama Resort captured the ‘Members’ Choice’ award, ahead of five European nominees—Hotel Quirinale in Rome, Milan’s Hotel Sanpi, Grand Hotel Karel V in Utrecht, Hotel Allegro in Bern, and Barcelona’s Hotel Avenida Palace.

On “China Beach”, Vietnam’s longest and most stunning stretch of powdery white sand, the Furama Resort is a luxurious beachside sanctuary in Central Vietnam, and superb base for exploring three UNESCO-listed World Heritage sites—Hoi An, My Son and Hue.

Taiwan’s Ambassador Hotel Hsinchu took the honours in the Asia-Pacific for the WORLDHOTELS ‘Global Award” for highest room-rate turnover. The Ambassador is in the heart of Hsinchu City’s shopping and commercial centre, within minutes of the Hsinchu Train Station and the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park.Ê In the ‘Global Awards’, it ranked alongside Grange City Hotel in Europe and New York’s The Muse in the Americas.

In the WORLDHOTELS.Events Awards relating to the MICE business and based on response time, quality of offers and customer feedback, the Asia winner was The Caravelle Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City’s premier 5-star hotel and another winner for Vietnam.

Roland Jegge, Vice President Asia Pacific for WORLDHOTELS, said: “Our Asia hotel members impressed in these inaugural awards - as demonstrated by their share of the honours.

“They are setting quality benchmarks for the rest of the world to follow and we are expecting to further expand our Asian portfolio, which currently numbers 75 hotels and resorts.

“We look forward to continuing the awards, which were launched to reflect the company’s new identity and positioning - as well as its ongoing plans to develop globally.”

WORLDHOTELS last year generatedÊover 212,000 room nights andÊa revenue of US$35 million from Asia Pacific towards its almost 500 member hotels world-wide, an increase of 24% over 2003.

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