Bratislava New Travel Hotspot

Marrol's Boutique Hotel claims world's best hotel title, as Eastern Europe attracts more tourists

Slovakia officially boasts the world’s top hotel as Marrol’s Boutique Hotel, Bratislava, triumphs in top 650 rank and fends off stiff competition from Italian, Costa Rican, Scottish and American hotels, who all secured top tier places within this year’s 650 best hotels.

The annual global ranking from Expedia’s Insider Select revealed this year’s must-visit hotels following the consideration of 500,000 independent guest reviews across 150,000 hotels currently offered on Expedia websites. These reviews were then combined with a value rating[1] and the local expertise of hundreds of global Expedia employees on the ground, to determine the 650 hotels that are considered Expedia Insider Select 2012 winners.

The 2012 Insiders’ Select list reflects a cross-section of properties in different regions, representing various accommodation types and star ratings. The 650 hotels that make up this year’s list are found in 295 cities in 74 countries around the world. America claimed the highest overall percentage of finalists (28%), with Europe closing in the gap after securing a quarter (25%) of the world’s best hotels list.

Guests who journeyed to Marrol’s Boutique hotel pinpointed a number of hotel services that had made the hotel stand out from the crowd. Standard room benefits such as a free minibar with daily top-ups, a computer in every room and free Wi-Fi for guests that prefer to bring their own, all highlight that at Marrol’s the guest comes first. Despite the popularity of these free benefits, what guests commented on with particular enthusiasm was the hotels superior level of personal customer service and staff professionalism.

Robert Landsman of Marrol’s Hotel said “We recognize that the most important factor to our success is our team.  Stability, constant training and a healthy working atmosphere enable our staff to fully concentrate on delivering superb services to our valued guests. An integral part of our philosophy is to provide our guests with the fusion of luxury and an authentic local experience, supported by the use of local products. We are proud to be a Slovak owned hotel with a local management team. This award proves that our philosophy meets the guest’s demands.”

Of all bookings made to Marrol’s on Expedia, the majority (two fifths) came from the UK website. Richard from the West Midlands noted, “We were going out for our first walk and it had just started to drizzle, the doorman immediately offered us a hotel umbrella to take with us.”[2] Good service echoes throughout the reviews, as mentioned by John from St Albans; “it has a top-quality attitude to service that makes guests feel valued and welcome. Breakfasts are among the best we have experienced - complete with bubbly!”[3]

Rise of the East

Alongside the Slovakian victory, Eastern Europe enjoyed further success, with an additional seven hotels voted into the top 100. Long standing travel destinations Poland and the Czech Republic featured with lesser known geographical companions Bulgaria, Estonia and Latvia. The growing popularity of these emerging destinations within the Insider Select annual list was further exampled by Expedia booking data that noted a 30% increase on average in European bookings to these destinations in 2011 - confirming that Europe has certainly woken up to the travel offering from this region.

Andy Washington, Managing Director Expedia.co.uk said, “It’s great to see that the popularity of Eastern Europe hotels is on the rise, with eight of the world’s top hotels making the top 100 list. Marrol’s Boutique Hotel is clearly striking the right chord with holidaymakers – offering great benefits and a high level of customer service.

Washington continued “As more information and opinions become available online we are increasingly seeing that customers are looking for the inside track. Through the Insiders Select List, we are able to combine the opinions of hundreds of thousands of travellers around the world with the views of our experts – making sure people feel confident when booking with Expedia.co.uk”.

Scots On Top

Despite only four UK hotels making it into this year’s Insider Select top 100, Scotland proved to be the UK’s leading light with Aberdeen’s Hilton Garden Inn hotel securing fourth position. The small things made a big difference to guest Joanne from Dunipace, Falkirk who stated “[I] can't fault this hotel. Spotlessly clean. Friendly staff, great, comfortable rooms with king bed and extra comfort wool layers on top of the mattresses.”[4]

Aberdeen has emerged as one of the UK’s hidden gems with The Hilton Garden Inn hotel a stay-cation winner, with over three quarters (81%) of bookings made on Expedia made from the UK site. It’s growing popularity is further underlined by an increase in passenger traffic of almost 16% to Aberdeen airport.[5]

Further accolade for Scottish hoteliers and their attention to detail was given to The Knight Residence Hotel in Edinburgh, which ranked 41 in the global list. Guest Helen from Eastbourne commented “All aspects of the apartment were very impressive and the team had thought of everything to make this a real home from home. We were given advice and help about activities and were even able to purchase attraction tickets from reception.” [6]

Andy Washington said “congratulations are in order for the Hilton Garden Inn in Aberdeen. It’s brilliant to see a UK hotel rated so highly amongst what is a very diverse and global list this year. Consumers increasingly require hotels to meet a variety of needs – whether as part of a beach break with their family, business trip or city break to Aberdeen with friends – this year’s Insider Select list enables customers to access top hotels capable of meeting every need.”

London’s Calling

Whilst Scotland triumphed in the battle of the home nations, London emerged as the capital with the strongest hotel offering, securing 10 hotels within the 650 Insider Select list. The popular InterContinental on Park Lane topped London’s success, scoring 33 in the global rank, with the Hilton in Tower Bridge ranking 87th. It’s clear the personal touches count at the Hilton, with Anthony from Stockport commenting that whilst on a trip for his wife’s birthday “we were given a complementary room upgrade and there was birthday cake awaiting us in our room.[7]” With 10 London hotels making the global list, the capital looks well set to impress the anticipated deluge of tourists this summer.

The Euro Gaining Strength

Europe’s success continued, with a total of 26 European hotels making it into this year’s top 100. With its popular art and cultural scene and prominence as a European business destination, Berlin secured 12 hotels in the top 650, with two making the top 100 (Swissotel Berlin - 44 and Grand Hyatt Berlin - 51). Despite Berlin’s success, Hamburg came out top, securing Germany’s highest ranking hotel with The Madison Hotel achieving rank number six. Contributing to its success were certain home comforts, which Graham from Milton Keynes found to be “Excellent in every way - the room was large and very comfortable. It included a kitchenette with stove, refrigerator, kettle and beverages (unusual for continental Europe)”[8] .

Venetians dominated the Italian hotel offering, with four hotels making the global 100 rank and a total of 15 Venetian hotels featuring in the global list. Hotel Al Codega, with its impressive technological extras and modern features, as noted by hotel guest Philip from Leeds “the TV in the mirror still impresses me”, narrowly missed out on claiming world’s best hotel title, coming second in this year’s global Insiders’ Select list. Overall Italy had a brilliant year, with 42 hotels making the global grade – the highest number of hotels for one single country.

Around the World in 100 hotels

Some of the hotels that managed to outrank the UK came as a surprise this year, with a number of emerging markets producing hotel experiences that seem to be particularly well suited to their guests. India’s double offering from Mumbai - Taj Lands End Hotel and Trident Hotel - secured 9^th and 24^th place in the global list. The Taj Lands End Hotel is a particular favourite with Brits, with over a third (38%) of its bookings coming from Expedia’s UK site, Expedia.co.uk. With India’s culinary offering resonating amongst guests, as Nalin from London noted “the restaurant staff were excellent and the food was superb-compliments to the chefs”[9], sometimes it’s the peculiarities that make a hotel great - as an anonymous reviewer stated “the heated loo seats are great!”[10]

Another strong contender in the global list was Mexico and Central America, which managed to secure 10 hotels within the top 100, with the Hotel Royal Corin achieving third place overall. With an even spread across the entire top 100, Mexico and Central America is clearly hitting the right chord with its visitors, in comparison to some of its more developed competitors.

Ends

Top 100 Insider Select Hotel Rank

For further information and to view the full list visit http://inside.expedia.co.uk/travel-trends