The winners of Luxury Travel Magazine’s Gold List 2008, Australia’s most prestigious travel awards, were announced yesterday.

Now in its fourth year, the Gold List 2008 survey was even wider reaching in scope than in previous years – making this one of the most comprehensive luxury travel surveys ever conducted by an Australian travel magazine. The results make for fascinating reading. Palazzo Versace, Gold Coast was voted Best Australian Hotel. For the fourth year running The Peninsula, Hong Kong, was considered the pre-eminent overseas hotel. The award for Best Australian Resort went to Hayman. Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay, Bali was voted Best Overseas Resort. Luxury travellers voted Singapore Airlines’ First Class the best, and Qantas took top spot for its Business Class. Golden Door Elysia in The Hunter was voted Australia’s Best Spa And Chiva-Som, Thailand, Best Overseas Spa. Silversea Cruises scored a double wammy being voted Best Cruise Line and Silver Whisper, Best Small Cruise Ship. QM2 was voted Best Large Cruise Ship.

This year for the first time, readers also cast votes for their favourite boutique hotel both in Australia and overseas. Australia’s Best Boutique Hotel was Lake House, Daylesford, Victoria. Paratiho Lodge, Nelson, NZ was voted Best Overseas Boutique Hotel. Lovers of style voted Louis Vuitton their favourite Duty Free Luxury brand, closely followed by Dior and Gucci. Paris wooed respondents as Best Overseas City for the fourth year running.

The awards are the result of a survey in which tens of thousands of Luxury Travel Magazine’s subscribers and readers, and Virtuoso Traveller’s, were asked to nominate the world’s best hotels, resorts, spas, cruise lines, golf courses, airlines and destinations – a total of 23 categories in all.

This year the magazine again joined forces with Virtuoso – the world’s most exclusive collection of luxury travel agents. Louis Vuitton, Pevonia Botanica, and Thai Airways and Sofitel all were valuable sponsor partners this year.

“Australian’s are among the world’s great travellers and the response to our survey shows that each year we demand a greater level of luxury and style from the hotels we choose to stay in,” said Hilary Doling, Editor in Chief of Luxury Travel Magazine.

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For further details please click onto our new website which has full details of the event, the winners, and their award- winning products, www.luxurytravelmag.com.au

Or, contact Luxury Travel Magazine, Alice Coomans on (02) 9281 7523, acoomans@luxurytravelmag.com.au. (Gold List 2008 Magazine cover image, and logos, available on request.)

Please find below a list of Top Five in each category:

The extensive online survey was conducted between September and October this year and offered no prompts to respondents, simply allowing them to choose their favourite luxury travel experiences in each category. The responses were then tabulated electronically and the results listed in order of votes polled.



Gold List 2008 Results: Top 5



BEST AUSTRALIAN HOTEL


1. Palazzo Versace, Gold Coast
2. Crown Towers, Melbourne
3. Hilton, Sydney
4. Park Hyatt Sydney
5. The Westin, Sydney

BEST OVERSEAS HOTEL


1. The Peninsula, Hong Kong
2. The Ritz, London
3. Burj Al Arab, Dubai
4. Raffles Hotel, Singapore
5. The Oriental, Bangkok


BEST AUSTRALIAN SMALL BOUTIQUE PROPERTY

1. Lake House, Daylesford, VIC
2. Lyall Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
3. Lilianfels, Blue Mountains, NSW
4. Kims Beach Hideaway, Toowoon Bay, NSW
5. Cape Lodge, WA

BEST OVERSEAS SMALL BOUTIQUE PROPERTY


1. Paratiho Lodge, Nelson, NZ
2. Amansara, Cambodia
3. Huka Lodge, NZ
4. Amanjiwo, Indonesia
5. Blakes Hotel, London, UK

BEST AUSTRALIAN RESORT

1. Hayman, QLD
2. Lizard Island, QLD
3. Beach Club, Hamilton Island, QLD
4. Bedarra Island, QLD
5. Cable Beach Resort, Broome, WA

BEST OVERSEAS RESORT

1. Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay, Bali
2. Sheraton Denarau Villas, Fiji
3. Turtle Island, Fiji
4. W Retreat & Spa, Maldives
5. Banyan Tree Phuket, Thailand


BEST AUSTRALIAN SPA

.
1. Golden Door, Elysia, Hunter Valley, NSW
2. Peppers Springs Retreats, Hepburn Springs, VIC
3. Gwinganna Health Retreat, QLD
4. The Observatory Day Spa, NSW
5. Angsana Resort & Spa, Palm Cove, QLD

BEST OVERSEAS SPA


1. Chiva-Som, Thailand
2. Banyan Tree, Phuket, Thailand
3. Four Seasons Resort Bali, Jimbaran Bay, Bali
4. Huvafen Fushi, Maldives
5. Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, Thailand


BEST AUSTRALIAN GOLF RESORT

1. Hyatt Coolum, QLD
2. Cypress Lakes Resort, NSW
3. Hyatt Sanctuary Cove, QLD
4. Royal Pines, QLD
5. Sheraton Mirage, Port Douglas, QLD

BEST OVERSEAS GOLF RESORT


1. St Andrews, Scotland
2. Pebble Beach, California, USA
3. Banyan Tree, Phuket, Thailand
4. Millbrook, NZ
5. Kauri Cliffs, NZ

BEST AUSTRALIAN SKI RESORT


1. Perisher Blue, NSW
2. Hotham, VIC
3. Thredbo, NSW
4. Mt Buller, VIC
5. Falls Creek,VIC

BEST OVERSEAS SKI RESORT


1. Whistler, Canada
2. Aspen, USA
3. Vail, USA
4. St Moritz, Switzerland
5. Queenstown, NZ

BEST FIRST CLASS AIRLINE

1. Singapore Airlines
2. Qantas
3. Emirates
4. Thai Airways
5. British Airways


BEST BUSINESS CLASS


1. Qantas
2. Singapore Airlines
3. Emirates
4. Thai Airways
5. British Airways

BEST CRUISE LINE


1. Silversea
2. Cunard
3. P&O
4. Crystal Cruises
5. Regent Seven Seas

BEST LARGE CRUISE SHIP

1. Cunard QM2
2. Cunard QE2
3. Crystal Serenity
4. Sun Princess
5. Crystal Symphony

BEST SMALL CRUISE SHIP

1. Silver Whisper
2. Silver Shadow
3. Orion Cruises
4. Seabourn Spirit
5. The World


BEST CITY

1. Paris
2. New York
3. London
4. Rome
5. Hong Kong

BEST TRAVEL PROFESSIONALS

1. Bicton Travel, WA*
2. GlobeNet Travel
3. Travel Phase, NSW*
4. World Travel Professionals, NSW*
5. Abercrombie and Kent
*Denotes Virtuoso Member



FAVOURITE DUTY FREE LUXURY BRAND
1. Louis Vuitton
2. Dior
3. Gucci
4. Chanel
5. Prada
6. Hermes