The Definitive Consumer Guide (by Consumers) for Hotels & Resorts in the Oceanic Region

Australia and New Zealand’s Best Hotels & Resorts (including the Pacific Islands) available in bookstores now.

The inaugural edition of Australia and New Zealand’s Best Hotels & Resorts (including the Pacific Islands), the region’s only accommodation Guidebook based on genuine consumer reviews, was launched today. The book is published by leading online accommodation specialist, HotelClub, in association with Insight Guides, renowned publisher of over 450 travel guides.

Australia and New Zealand’s Best Hotels & Resorts (including the Pacific Islands), features 300 hotels and resorts covering 8 countries, compiled from over 74,000 consumers from 170 countries worldwide. The Guidebook is a unique and authoritative guide on where to stay in the Oceanic region – whether for business or leisure travel.

As part of an online survey conducted throughout November 2005 – January 2006, over 74,000 consumer votes were received for 2,200 hotels across 17 countries. Of these 2,200 nominated hotels, 300 were short listed based on their scores against voting criteria# and number of votes. These 300 hotels and resorts were then independently reviewed by a member of the editorial panel who stayed at each of the hotels as a mystery guest and reviewed the hotels.

Chloe Lim, Director of Global Marketing & Publisher, HotelClub, said: “We are pleased to launch this unique Guidebook – a first to cover the Oceanic region and be exclusively on accommodation choices in the region. Each hotel and resort that has been included in this Guidebook has been chosen by its customers – a confirmation of guest experiences at these great hotels. Australia and New Zealand’s Best Hotels & Resorts (including the Pacific Islands) is an iconic book for the experienced traveller to the first time traveller to the Oceanic region. We hope that you enjoy this Guidebook and that it inspires you to stay at one of Australia and New Zealand’s Best Hotels and Resorts (including Pacific Islands).”

Published in association with Insight Guides, the 320-page guide includes an overview for each of the 8 countries, and each hotel is rated on eight criteria including ambience, value for money, staff attitude, family friendliness and dining options. All the entries are cross-referenced with supporting indexes to help readers select the hotel or resort that best meets their needs. Maps highlight each hotel’s location and over 1,000 full-colour photographs vividly convey their ambience.

David Gooding, Sales and Marketing Director at Insight Guides said, “We are thrilled to continue our successful relationship with this guide with HotelClub. We are very excited about the new release, it offers our readers a stunning selection of hand picked boutique, family and luxury accommodation that caters for all budget requirements. It is incredibly practical and offers our readers great value for money as they have an opportunity to receive US$20.00 hotelclub.com member dollars when they book their next holiday”

Katia Giurtalis, Director of E-Commerce Asia Pacific of Accor said "There are 20 Accor properties featured in the book including Sofitel & Novotel hotels throughout key capital cities throughout the region. The hotels have different features that appeal to each and every traveller. It is an honour to be recognised by the travelling public. The association with HotelClub has proved extremely fruitful for our hotels and Accor is delighted to be associated with such a well respected online partner."

Australia and New Zealand’s Best Hotels & Resorts (including the Pacific Islands) contains a HotelClub Membership card which gives purchasers a USD 20 rebate from HotelClub upon registration.

Australia & New Zealand’s Best Hotels and Resorts guide can be purchased online at www.hotelclub.com/anzguidebook for S$39.90 and is available in most major bookstores from today.