Two New Zealand hotels make world’s best 100 list

Two New Zealand hotels make world’s best 100 list

Auckland, 7 May – Two New Zealand hotels, the Westin Auckland Lighter Quay and the Heritage Hotel in Christchurch, achieved rankings on the Expedia Insiders’ Select™ list of the world’s best hotels (www.expedia.com/insidersselect). The Expedia Insiders' Select™ list formally recognises hotels that consistently deliver excellent service, a great overall experience and a notable value.

Expedia.co.nz Marketing Director Kristi Barrow is thrilled to have New Zealand hotels on the list: “It’s less than a year since we launched our expedia.co.nz site so it is great to be able to give some acknowledgement to some of New Zealand’s finest hotels”.

Expedia is home to more traveller reviews than any other online travel agency, with over 160,000 Traveller Opinions® submitted in 2007 alone.

Greg Findlay, General Manager of The Westin Auckland, described the Expedia listing as 'a terrific boost'. He adds: "We've only been fully open for nine months, so for guests to rate us so highly above hundreds of other hotels is a tremendous endorsement of what we strive to achieve. We're delighted to have impressed so many discerning, well-travelled international guests in such a short space of time."

The Heritage Hotel in Christchurch was also pleased to have been selected as one of the top 100 hotels in the world. “We are honoured to have made the Expedia Insiders’ Select™ List and are absolutely delighted our guests rate the Heritage Christchurch so highly. Staff at the Heritage Christchurch always endeavour to exceed our guests’ expectations so get this kind of positive recognition is very valuable and rewarding.” said Noel Dillon, GM of Sales and Marketing, for the Heritage Hotel Group.

The Heritage Hotels in Queenstown and Auckland were also acknowledged and placed in the top one per cent of all Expedia’s 80,000 hotels.

Topping the list this year was the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower, and other hotels of note to make the top 10 include the Cerulean Tower Tokyo Hotel, the Hotel 1000 in Seattle and the Knights Residence in Edinburgh.

The Expedia Insiders’ Select list was compiled using a weighted mathematical formula that includes several factors including:

Expedia’s collection of hundreds of thousands of Traveler Opinions® - hotel reviews created by Expedia travellers who recently stayed at the property;

A value rating determined by comparing hotels within the same star-rating and geographical region to identify hotels that deliver a notable value for the experience they offer; and

Local expertise and insight from hundreds of Expedia employees in destinations throughout the world.

"Expedia is committed to delivering the tools and information that help people book their travel, be it flights or accommodation, with confidence. The Expedia Insiders' Select™ list is just one more way that they can do that and choose a hotel that fellow travellers rate as providing value and a great experience," she said.

Ms Barrow said that all of Expedia’s Traveler Opinions® are accessible from the Expedia.co.nz site. She said this was essential, given consumers’ increased interest in traveller feedback as part of their overall research when booking their trips.

“Through Expedia’s Traveler Opinions®, Kiwi travellers planning their trips can
access real traveller reviews and opinions on more than 23,000 destinations and
80,000 hotels and attractions around the world,” she said.

The world’s top 10 best international hotels and resorts, as ranked in the Expedia Insiders’ Select™ list for 2008 are:

Rank Name City, State Country
1 Sofitel Chicago Water Tower Chicago, IL USA
2 JW Marriot Cancun Resort & Spa Cancun Mexico
3 Hotel 1000 Seattle, WA USA
4 Royal Palms Resort and Spa Phoenix, AZ USA
5 Vino Bello Resort Napa, CA USA
6 Cerulean Tower Tokyo Hotel Tokyo Japan
7 The Palms Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands
8 Argosy Casino Hotel and Spa Riverside, KA USA
9 The Sanderling Resort and Spa Duck, NC USA
10 The Knight Residence Edinburgh Great Britain

The New Zealand hotels which made it on the Expedia Insiders’ Select™ list for 2008 are:

Global Rank Name City Country
66 The Westin Auckland, Lighter Quay Auckland New Zealand
73 Heritage Christchurch Christchurch New Zealand
507 Heritage Queenstown Queenstown New Zealand
885 Heritage Auckland Auckland New Zealand

ENDS

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