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Best of the best: discover the best business hotel chain worldwide
The World Travel Awards 2019 have rewarded the industry's crème de la crème. Discover why Barcelo have been named the best business hotel chain worldwide.
2019 has been a very big year for the Barceló Hotel Group, and the 28th of November was a very big night. The great and the good of the travel industry turned out for the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) World Travel Awards, which were, this year held at the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman.
Barceló was named the winner of the Best Hotel Management Company category, making it officially one of the best business hotel chains worldwide.
Read on to find out a bit more about the Oscars of travel and tourism, as they’re fondly known, and discover the other categories in which Barceló took gold.
A bit of background on the World Travel Awards
If you’ve never heard of the WTAs before, then you’ll be interested to know they’re the most prestigious awards in the whole international tourism industry.
This year was the 26th annual World Travel Awards, as they were first held way back in 1993, and keep going from strength to strength.
They’re all about recognising excellence in the global tourism sector, with prizes awarded in more than one hundred categories. The main focuses are destinations, hotels, airlines and travel agencies, but there are always new categories being introduced and new stars emerging. The winners are decided upon by an international jury made up of more than 200,000 professionals.
Ceremonies take place all over the world throughout the year to narrow down the finalists in the different regions, with this year’s European final held in Madeira. Then the whole world comes together at the finals to decide on the global winners, like the best business hotel chain worldwide.
Grand Final Gala Ceremony 2019: why Oman?
This year, the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman was selected as the venue where the World Travel Awards winners would be crowned.
Oman is an incredible country that’s increasingly popular amongst tourists and travellers. It’s the most diverse and accessible country on the Arabian Peninsula, and is famous for its incredible sand dunes, its mountains, its coast where thousands of turtles come to nest every October, its ancient cities and its unique shopping.
Anyone who’s been there will find it easy to understand why the WTTC selected the capital as the setting for this year’s awards ceremony.
And the winner is… the best business hotel chain worldwide
The Barceló Hotel Group was honoured this year by being named the Best Hotel Management Company in 2019.
This recognition as one of the world’s top hotel chains is a reflection of the incredible expansion it’s experienced this year, which has been the result of plenty of hard work and dedication. The group’s been focusing on standardising its processes and offering an excellent management service all over the world.
That approach to business has meant that Barceló has this year signed agreements to enter seven new exciting destinations. Hotels opened their doors in Hungary, Tunisia and Dubai this year, and in 2021 and 2022 more hotels will follow suit in amazing destinations like the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Poland and Slovenia.
The Barceló Hotel Group is one of the top hotel brands in the world, as the 2nd largest chain in Spain, where it originated, and the 29th in the world. As one of the best hotel chains, it boasts 251 hotels spread over 22 countries, divided up into four different brands, Royal Hideaway Luxury Hotels & Resorts, Barceló Hotels & Resorts, Occidental Hotels & Resorts and Allegro Hotels. That means there’s something for absolutely everyone.
Other Barceló winners at the World Travel Awards 2019
As well as the Barceló Hotel Group being named the best business hotel chain worldwide, 11 individual Barceló hotels walked away with awards on the 28th of November.
Fancy spending your next holiday at an award-winning hotel? Then head to one of these exceptional places to stay.
Prize-winning hotels in Spain
If you’re looking for the ultimate beach holiday and want luxury hotels in Spain on the beach, then Formentor, a Royal Hideaway Hotel on the Balearic Island of Mallorca took the crown for Spain’s Leading Beach Hotel. Further south, it was the Royal Hideaway Corales Beach, on Tenerife, that was named both Spain's Leading Luxury Hotel Villa and Spain's Leading Resort.
Back on the mainland, in the south of Spain, the Barceló Isla Canela, in Huelva, took the prize for Spain’s Leading All-Inclusive Resort, and Spain’s Leading Boutique Hotel was deemed to be La Bobdilla, a Royal Hideaway Hotel. Not far from the beautiful city of Granada, it’s well known to be one of the best boutique hotels in Spain.
Last but most definitely not least, if you’re travelling for business but don’t want to say goodbye to pleasure entirely you could do a lot worse than the Barceló Sevilla Renacimiento, in Seville, Spain’s Leading MICE Hotel.
Top hotel groups: winning hotels further afield
It wasn’t just in Spain that Barceló hotels picked up prizes. In Morocco, the Barceló Palmeraie was named as the country’s leading all-inclusive resort.
They also did well in Mexico, picking up the price for Mexico’s Leading Conference Hotel, for the Mexico Reforma, Mexico’s Leading Resort 2019 and Mexico’s Leading All-Inclusive Resort, for the Royal Hideaway Playacar, and Mexico & Central America’s Leading Conference Hotel for the Occidental at Xcaret Destination.
And, to round off, the Barceló San Salvador, in El Salvador was named the country’s leading hotel, and Costa Rica’s Leading Resort was named as the Barceló Tambor.
