Discovery Shores Boracay wins a grand slam

BY ROBBIE PANGILINAN

For the 16th year, Travel + Leisure’s definitive list of the top hotels, cruise lines, airlines, car-rental agencies, outfitters, cities and islands, as voted by readers, is an essential index of the places one wants to go to the best companies to take one there.

Discovery Shores Boracay, the country’s multi-awarded luxury resort which debuted on the World’s Best Awards earlier this year among the World’s Best Island Hotels for 2011 (ranking 16 among the best in the world), once again reigns supreme in the world’s best "It List" of world travel, according to the readers of the travel bible Travel + Leisure Magazine.

Each year, Travel + Leisure (T+L) asks readers to vote their favorite hotels around the globe, and this year, Discovery Shores brings honor to the country, winning the title of Top Hotel Spa in Asia, as the sole Philippine property in this most coveted category!

Discovery Shores is likewise honored to be hailed in the exclusive list of the World’s Best, debuting in the following categories: No. 7 among the Top 10 Hotel Spas Overall. Discovery Shores also ranks among the World’s Best as No. 55 among the Top 100 Hotels and No. 8 among the Top Resorts in Asia.

Boracay Island likewise debuted among the World’s Best as No. 4 among the Top Ten Islands Overall, and No. 2 among the Top Islands in Asia. The candidates for this category were rated based on natural attractions, activities/sights, restaurants/food, people, and value.

The top winners in each category were honored at an awards ceremony on July 14 hosted by T+L editor in chief Nancy Novogrod and VP/publisher Jean-Paul Kyrillos at the new Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel in Los Angeles, California. MSNBC’s Alex Witt emceed the awards program.

For 16 years, T+L readers have been casting their votes for the top hotels, destinations, airlines, cruises, outfitters, and transportation companies in the world. The grueling process starts with a questionnaire developed by the editors of Travel + Leisure, in association with ROI Research Inc., which was made available to T+L readers at TLWorldsBest.com from December 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011.

Readers were invited to participate through T+L magazine, online at TravelandLeisure.com, and on T+L iPad editions (T+L 500 and Romance). Respondents were screened by T+L and were asked to rate hotels, islands, destination spas, and rental-car agencies on rooms/facilities, location, service, restaurants/food, and value, as well as optional characteristics.

This year’s winners are listed on www.TravelandLeisure.com and are featured in the first-ever World’s Best Awards 2011 iPad edition, available via www.TravelandLeisure.com/iPad and on the iTunes App Store and are the cover story of the August issue of the magazine.

With an eye for the authentic, the innovative, and the irresistible, Travel + Leisure fuses expert reporting on culture, food, style, and design with stunning photography, transporting readers to the places – and the travel experiences – that matter. T+L, the monthly title from American Express Publishing and the long-standing authority in its field, has the largest audience of any travel magazine and is an indispensable guide for global nomads.