Ritz Carlton Shanghai Pudong -The best hotel in the world 2011

Ritz Carlton Shanghai Pudong outer view

Influential magazine Condé Nast Traveler has named the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong as the best hotel in the world in its annual Readers’ Choice survey.
The publication, announcing the results ahead of the November issue, revealed the Shanghai hotel’s victory ahead of Peninsula House in the Dominican Republic, which won second place, October 11.
The Four Seasons Sharm El Sheikh won third place, while the Safari Lodges at Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa came in fourth.

Ritz Carlton Shanghai Pudong interiors

The Readers’ Choice Awards are among the most comprehensive in the travel calendar, recognizing over 1,200 winners across various categories as voted for by over 28,000 respondants.
Another much-watched category is that of best city, which is awarded by country or continent.

This year’s US winner was Charleston, South Carolina, while Quebec City took the top gong in Canada and San Miguel de Allende won in Mexico.
Sydney took the prize for Oceania, Buenos Aires won in Central and South America, Kyoto won in Asia, Cape Town in Africa and Florence, Italy, took the award in Europe.

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BestHotels/Hotel de EDGE, Hong Kong(Photos)

With sleek style and stunning views, the new Hotel de EDGE by Rhombus sits perched above Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour and Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park. And since it's situated right in the thick of downtown, you don't need a junk to sail you to amazing Hong Kong food and festival experiences.

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Special Hotels/ Bella Sky Comwell Hotel(10 photos)

The Bella Sky Comwell Hotel in Copenhagen has opened its doors. The 250 feet (76.5 m) tall, 814 room hotel is among of the largest in Scandinavia, but its not the size of the design from architecture firm 3XN that's striking - it's the shape. The building's tilting twin towers lean apart from each other at an impressive 15 degrees, an angle that provides guests with a better view of the surrounding parkland.

The hotel features 23 floors, 814 designer rooms with 200 different room types, 30 meeting and conference rooms, three restaurants, two bars and a wellness center. Natural design elements of earth colors, wood and grass throughout the hotel create a warm atmosphere and highlight the Scandinavian connection to the environment.

The entrance boasts a stunning light installation and furniture is designed to reflecting the structure of the building's facade, which is notable for its pattern of blue and white triangle shaped glass.

"The challenge was to build two towers with a single origin, so a common foyer was possible," said Kim Herforth Nielsen, founder of 3XN and Creative Director. "Designing a sustainable building was also vital to us. This includes insulating the building from solar heat and heat loss, which meant that the facade could not be comprised of more than 50% glass. The facade's pattern provides this insulating effect. And the pattern, which is formed by diagonal and vertical lines, enhances the building's look by following the turning of the towers."

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Travel/Jumeirah Beach Hotel – the World’s Best Hotel Rooftop View

The view from the top of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel has been ranked the best hotel rooftop view in the world by users of price comparison website Trivago.

Two roof terraces offer guests stunning vistas: From the 360-Bar on the roof of the Marina-Restaurant, guests overlook the coast of the Persian Gulf while enjoying a Shisha and light lounge music. A similarly spectacular sight awaits the guests visiting the elegant Uptown Bar on the 24th floor of the hotel, where the twinkling lights of the city and the soaring heights of the Burj Al Arab hotel can be seen.

The Jumeirah Beach Hotel is a luxurious Lifestyle- and beach hotel in Dubai. This massive building houses 617 rooms, a water park, and twenty restaurants.

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Royal Mansour Hotel – The Most Opulent and Extravagant Hotel in the World

Royal Mansour, built on 3.5 hectares within the walls of the old city of Marrakech, was created to authentically represent the classic forms of the traditional medina – an elegant composition of Riads, restaurants and a spa, arranged around the reception area,with its lobby, dining, bar, lounges and library. It was handmade by 1,200 artisans using the best stones, marbles, tiles, silks, satins, beads, feathers and cedar. For this magnificent place there was no budget, only the royal edict to make it the most beautiful example of Moroccan architecture in the world.

The hotel doesn’t plan to advertise and it is not cheap. Prices run from $1,928 a night for a one-bedroom riad (a traditional, three-story, Moroccan style house), to $5,397 for a two-bedroom, or $38,552 for the almost 20,000-square-foot Riad d’Honneur.

The hotel is designed like an old Moroccan city with winding paths lined with lily ponds and fountains that open suddenly into sunny squares of palm trees, brilliant bougainvillea and aromatic olive and lemon trees. The public spaces—lounges, bars, library, and restaurants—are built, as are the 53 accommodations, as riads with all rooms on all levels opening inwardly onto a courtyard and upwardly to an array of carved arches.

The hotel is designed like an old Moroccan city with winding paths lined with lily ponds and fountains that open suddenly into sunny squares of palm trees, brilliant bougainvillea and aromatic olive and lemon trees. The public spaces—lounges, bars, library, and restaurants—are built, as are the 53 accommodations, as riads with all rooms on all levels opening inwardly onto a courtyard and upwardly to an array of carved arches.

The Royal Mansour hotel has three restaurants all overseen by Yannick Alleno, the chef of Paris’s Le Meurice hotel, where he earned, and has retained, three Michelin stars in 2007. The stars are much in evidence in the setting, service and food at two dinner restaurants, one French and one Moroccan. The ‘Pigeon in Crispy Pastille’ in the Moroccan restaurant is a delicate patty of tender shredded pigeon in crispy layers of millefeuille, an edible work of art, while the ‘Orange Salad’ dessert offers magical orbs of orange ambrosia that burst in your mouth like citrus caviar.

The 26,900 sq.-ft. spa is located in its own glazed pavilion surrounded by a moat and features a fitness center, spa treatment rooms, and an indoor pool.

In the Royal Mansour hotel, Scheherazade would have found enough cozy corners in which to tell a different tale on a different divan every night.

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Singita Grumeti Reserves won the INFLUENTIAL MAGAZINE's World Best Hotel Awards 2011

 Singita Grumeti Reserves, Tanzania

Singita Grumeti Reserves in Tanzania has been declared as the world’s best hotel by influential magazine Travel + Leisure in its Annual World’s Best Awards 2011. Offering the greatest luxury in the thick of the wild, Singita Grumeti Reserves consists of the Sasakwa Lodge, Sabora Tented camp and the Faru Faru Lodge. It was one of six African properties to place within the world’s top ten hotels this year.

Nancy Novogrod, Travel + Leisure‘s editor, said it was a return to the top for authentic destinations. It’s clear that remote and exotic destinations—places that convey a sense of authenticity and adventure—are ruling the day once again in Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards. The top ten hotels overall are African camps and lodges; resorts in India; a property in Chiang Mai; and a luxury lodge in Montana, she said.

Although Singita  is really far away, its guests are treated to five-star service and accommodations. Rooms in the tents and villas start at around $1,095 per person per night; rates include daily game drives, food, and drink. It’s not expensive, considering that it is a world’s best hotel!

Hotel Interiors of Singita Grumeti Reserves

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