Winners Revealed in the Best of Malaysia Awards 2012

After 10 weeks of voting in 16 categories, with a total of more than 70,000 votes cast, the expatriate community of Malaysia have spoken and the results were unveiled tonight at the Official Ceremony for the Best of Malaysia Awards 2012.

This showpiece event, organised by Expatriate Lifestyle, Malaysia’s number one expatriate magazine, took place at The Stage in Avenue K, Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Around 250 of the top names from the Travel and Hospitality industry in Malaysia, including General Managers from the top Hotels, Resorts & Spas, joined the celebration, eager to find out whether their properties were among the successful few.

Best City Hotel – always a fiercely contested and highly revered accolade - was won by Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur, with Excellence Awards for Grand Millenium Kuala Lumpur, Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, One World Hotel, KL and The Westin Kuala Lumpur. The Excellence Awards are given for outlets who have achieved a significant proportion of the vote, only narrowly missed out on winning the category.

Other notable winners include Hilton Kuala Lumpur as Best Business Hotel, The Westin Langkawi Resort and Spa for Best Weekend Break, Four Seasons Resort Langkawi for Best Romantic Stay, Shangri-La’s Golden Sand Resort, Penang for Best Family Stay, and Carcosa Seri Negara as the Best Boutique Stay.

Sunway Lagoon won the Best Attraction Award, while Pavilion KL was voted The Best Shopping Experience and Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur was voted the Best in the Service With A Smile category proving that excellence in service and well trained staff really do go a long way.

There were more winners from outside of Kuala Lumpur than ever before in this year’s Best of Malaysia Awards, with five of the sixteen winners coming from Langkawi and Penang showing the growing hospitality and tourism industry in those stages

There were also a record number of awards given away, with 54 Excellence Awards across the sixteen categories. This reflects an extremely competitive voting process where the lead changed hands many times. In fact, in two of the categories the eventual winner achieved fewer than five votes more than the property in second place.

The Best of Malaysia Awards (#BOM2012 on Twitter) are the awards where the people’s vote on all things travel and leisure are counted, where the vox populi decides the Best of Malaysia! The awards take an overview of the Malaysian hospitality industry from hotels, beach resorts, attractions, spas and more, providing a 100 per cent public-driven award system, the only one of its kind in the country. This year’s awards took in a record high number of votes in the 7-year history of BoM with over 70,000 votes casted in support of the best experiences in travel & hospitality.

At the glittering award ceremony at newly renovated The Stage the host of the evening was Executive Editor of Expatriate Lifestyle Antoine Commare, with the awards presented by Chief Content Officer of Mongoose Publishing Matthew Bellotti. The two presented each of the delighted representatives with their certificates with iconic trophies for the winners.

Guests at the event at one of KL’s newest, coolest venues in the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, enjoyed refreshments courtesy of Carlsberg, McGuigan and Masi wines and delicious desserts courtesy of Humble Beginnings who also gave all the guests vouchers to redeem free cakes.

Bellotti, who launched the Best of Malaysia Awards with Expatriate Lifestyle seven years ago, was very excited about the showpiece event in the magazine’s calendar. He said, “These awards have a wonderful history and are the only accolade of their kind. The Best Of Malaysia is a celebration of tourism and hospitality experiences in Malaysia, which surely rank among the very best in the world. These awards have been voted for by expatriates in record numbers. They know they are spoiled by the amazing sights, scenes and travel opportunities in this country, reflected by the vast amount of them who cast their selections in our 16 categories. Personally, I think the field of winning properties this year is stronger than ever. I thank all of them for their outstanding work in providing expatriates, locals and tourists with sensational travel and hospitality experiences.”

Bellotti continued, “I have watched these awards grow over the past seven years, during which time the landscape of the tourism industry in Malaysia has developed remarkably. New hotels, resorts, spas and attractions are opening all the time, making the country more enticing to overseas visitors and it is hugely satisfying to be able to acknowledge the hard work of the individuals and properties responsible for presenting the best of Malaysia to the world. These awards are not just about giving away a few trophies, but celebrating excellence across the industry and promoting the excellence in hospitality that makes Malaysia one of the preferred holiday destinations in the world.”

Winner’s List
BEST CITY SPA
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Mandara Spa, Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa
Spa Village, The Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur
Swasana Spa, Impiana KLCC Hotel
WINNER:
The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur

BEST SPA RESORT
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Four Seasons Resort Langkawi
Pangkor Laut Resort
The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa
WINNER:
The Banjaran Hotsprings Retreat

BEST SERVICE RESIDENCE
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Fraser Place
The Ascott KL
The Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur
WINNER:
The Westin Hotel and Residences Kuala Lumpur

BEST HOTEL BAR
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Arthur’s Bar & Grill, Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
G Spot, G Hotel Penang
Luna Bar, Pacific Regency Hotel Suites
WINNER:
SkyBar, Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur

BEST HOTEL RESTAURANT
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Lafite, Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Makan Kitchen, Doubletree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur
PRIME Steak Restaurant, Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur
WINNER:
Prego, The Westin Kuala Lumpur

BEST WEEKEND BREAK
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Casa del Rio, Melaka
Hard Rock Hotel Penang
The Smokehouse Hotel Cameron Highlands
WINNER:
The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa

BEST ROMANTIC STAY
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Pangkor Laut Resort
Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa, Penang
The Datai Langkawi
WINNER:
Four Seasons Resort Langkawi

BEST FAMILY STAY
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Avillion Port Dickson
Club Med Cherating Beach
Holiday Inn Resort Penang
Pangkor Island Beach Resort
WINNER:
Golden Sands Resort, Penang

BEST BOUTIQUE STAY
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Bon Ton Restaurant and Resort
Lone Pine Hotel, Penang
The Majestic Malacca
WINNER:
Carcosa Seri Negara Kuala Lumpur

BEST BEACH RESORT
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Four Seasons Resort Langkawi
Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa, Penang
The Andaman A Luxury Collection Resort Langkawi
WINNER:
Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa, Kota Kinabalu

BEST SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Bangsar Shopping Centre
The Gardens, Mid Valley City
Suria KLCC
WINNER:
Pavilion KL

BEST GOLF EXPERIENCE
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Glenmarie Golf & Country Club
Nexus Resort & Spa Karambunai
The Royal Selangor Golf Club
WINNER:
Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club

BEST ATTRACTION
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Aquaria KLCC
Petronas Twin Towers
Tropical Spice Garden
WINNER:
Sunway Lagoon

SERVICE WITH A SMILE
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Four Seasons Resort Langkawi
Hard Rock Hotel Penang
Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur
WINNER:
Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur

BEST BUSINESS HOTEL
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur
Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur
Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
The Westin Kuala Lumpur
Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur
WINNER:
Hilton Kuala Lumpur

BEST CITY HOTEL
EXCELLENCE AWARDS:
Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur
Hilton Kuala Lumpur
Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur
One World Hotel
The Westin Kuala Lumpur
WINNER:
Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

Mongoose specialise in providing high quality consumer publications (publisher of Time Out Singapore, Esquire Malaysia, Esquire Singapore,Time Out Kuala Lumpur, Time Out Malaysia Guides, Expatriate Lifestyle, Golf Vacations, and The Circular), web solutions, contract advertising sales, contract publishing, creative marketing solutions, event management and PR. With a guiding principle of ‘Communicating with Integrity’, Mongoose utilises its international experience spanning three decades and four continents to successfully bring editorial, design, marketing, PR, communications and web-based best practice to Southeast Asia.

Mongoose Publishing
Level 36 Menara AmBank
8 Jalan Yap Kwan Seng
50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

+60321666650

www.mongooseasia.com

This release was published on openPR.