A study in the�Journal of Consumer Research has concluded that when consumers buy products themselves, they are more likely to judge quality by a product's attributes. As we all know the attributes of hospitality products are unique than other products. The industry is based on customer satisfaction and meeting the needs & desires of both individuals & families, typically more in a leisure capacity than a formal business one. The products are developed for people with disposable income & leisure time but not to meet the basic human needs. It delivers products to people having leisure time and additional cash to dispose of. Further, it is focused on delivering intangible products, which means it is selling experience or feeling that is desirable. So, whenever hospitality consumers are looking to make a purchase of their desired product then they will be making a certain perception of experience out of their purchase in the future with the cash they are going to spend.����
Quite often people look for third party endorsements before making a purchase of something new or are planning to switch to any other brand or type of product. It has now become crucial for any business to gain recognition for its products and services. There are many ways how businesses gain recognition for its products & services and one of them is "Winning an Award". Winning an award distinguishes product or company from competitors and ensures that as many potential customers' carry favorable perception towards your products & services. Hereby, it really does not mean that winning an award is the only utmost way for the recognition. Participating or competing in any award competition also has significant importance.
Hotels nominated for any awards are also endowed with certificate of recognition & that means hotel is considered relevance among the competition.� Entering any awards process proves the commitment of the hotel & employees to deliver the highest possible level of service and facilities to the guests. Participation in any such awards also gives hotel management and employees insight into guest experience, receive suggestion for improvement if is required.� It also generates a target to achieve an award winning level of service among employee. Award events promote hotel as one of the nominated and recommended hotels & showcase hotel to potential customers.
Hotels wining any one of awards are well recognized worldwide as the one which offer and deliver an award winning level of service and experience. It is the endorsement of the product & services of the hotel done by the third party for the prospected guests in future. Guests will have positive perception on the experience that would be felt during the consumption of product & use of the services in future.� Award winning hotels receive trophy/plate, plaque that can be displayed in premises, marketing tools to showcase the achievement of the hotel. Guests & prospected guests will know & be confident to receive award winning service, facilities during their stay.
Benefits of Winning an Award can be summarized in following five major points:
Differentiation: Each hotel strives to achieve stand out in an increasingly competitive market & award set the hotel apart from competitors and differentiates from them with the quality it offers.
Visibility: �Award makes hotel more visible to the world & attract new customers, competitive work force, good managers who would strive to enhance the service quality.
Validate:�Awards speak more about the hotel providing third party endorsement on the quality of services in the awarded segment there by bringing the hotel to the forefront of hotel segment and overall industry.
Testimonials: Competing for award or wining an award serves as testament to the hotel's work ethic, dedication and unique specialty. Awards attract current customers & prospected customers to reinforce the loyalty to the brand name.
�High Morale & Matter of Pride: The employees and the management work hard achieving their targets, treating every guests as VIP to ensure the maintenance of quality of the services delivered. Awards increased the morale of employees and increase the level of pride on what they do, thereby help the hotel to be better in delivering services in coming days.
Here are some of the awards & awards winning hotels of Nepal.
Travelers� Choice award By TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is increasingly influencing the hotel search and booking pattern across the hotel. Indeed it is also influencing how the hotels react to any customer's expectation and dealing with customers. Visibility with high positive review on TripAdvisor is becoming crucial to any hotel�s success. Earning an award is making a huge difference, as it earns property a coveted spot on one of TripAdvisor�s curated lists.
Established in 2002, the�Travelers� Choice�awards are the highest honor TripAdvisor can bestow. �These annual awards are based on millions of reviews and opinions from travelers around the world. They reflect �the best of the best� for service, quality, and customer satisfaction. The award is given according to category, from hotels and accommodations to destinations, attractions, brands, and products.
Every Year thousands of properties receive recognition in variety of categories � international,� regional, and include top hotels, small hotels, family, romance, luxury, B&Bs and inns.� The number of awardee may seem like a large number of properties, especially compared to the typical Top 100 or 500 lists published by many travel magazines. But actually, this generally represents less than 1% of the accommodations listed on TripAdvisor.
Recently, Tripadvisor published 2018 top 10 hotels of Nepal as follows:
Note:
Series is as per the list in tripadvisor's top 10 hotel � Nepal & other details as per the real time information as & when the article was prepared.
In the year 2017, the following top 10 hotels of Nepal received Travelers' Choice award:
Gold Circle Awards 2017 by agoda
agoda is one of the world�s fastest-growing online travel booking platforms. Established in 2005, the start-up quickly expanded in Asia and was acquired in 2007 by the Priceline Group � the world�s largest seller of rooms online. agoda is headquartered in Singapore, with 53 offices in major cities across over 30 countries and over 3,700 staff worldwide. It provides a network of over 1.8 million accommodation properties, including apartments, villas, homes, and hotels backed by over 15 million real traveler reviews. agoda announced the winners of its prestigious�2017 Gold Circle Awards, given to top-performing accommodation partners around the world that exemplify the best qualities of the online booking travel experience. Running for now the 9th�Year, the Gold Circle Awards recognizes properties that meet the following standards:
Standing amongst the top 1% of agoda�s properties
Consistently stellar customer reviews
Competitive pricing and availability
A commitment to delivering a fantastic customer experience
The number of properties available on agoda has grown to over 1.6 million worldwide by the year 2017 & it has significantly increased the competitiveness and standard across all properties. Total 1,552 accommodation received Gold Circle award in the year 2017 and the following Hotel in Nepal received this award.
Avataar Kathmandu Hotel
Aryatara Kathmandu Hotel
Royal Penguin Boutique Hotel & Spa
Hotel Shambala
Hotel Shanker
Ambassador Garden Home
Hyatt Regency Kathmandu
Hotel Yak & Yeti
World Travel Awards
World Travel Awards established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries is now recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence. Its annual program is renowned as the most prestigious and comprehensive in the global industry. Each year World Travel Awards covers the globe with its�Grand Tour�� a series of regional gala ceremonies to recognize excellence within each continent, culminating in a Grand Final at the end of the year.
World Travel Awards gala ceremonies are regarded as milestone events in the industry calendar, attended by the industry's key decision makers and figure heads, as well as key trade and consumer media. The program, its winners and its sponsors are represented globally on social media, with fresh daily content featured on six platforms and in 10 languages, including Mandarin, Russian, Spanish and Arabic.
In 2017, World Travel Awards Grand Tour featured regional gala ceremonies in the Asia & Australasia (Shanghai, China), Europe (St. Petersburg, Russia), Middle East (Dubai), Africa & the Indian Ocean (Rwanda), North America & the Caribbean (Turks & Caicos) and Latin America (Riviera Maya, Mexico). Regional winners then compete head to head in in the corresponding world categories. The winners were announced on the night of the World Travel Awards Grand Final in December 2017.
Each year, WTA runs and governs a comprehensive program across a range of awards developed to recognize the industry�s most vital sectors and product offerings & present awards across three tiers: country, regional and world awards. WTA have its own unique nomination methodology, voting criteria, weightage of votes to select the winners.
The following is the year 2017 WTA nominations & winner of WTA awards for Nepal
Nepal's Leading Hotel 2017 Category
Nominated Hotels were
Barahi Jungle Lodge, Chitwan
Crowne Plaza, Kathmandu � Soaltee
Gokaran Forest Resort, Kathmandu
Hotel Annapurna, Kathmandu
Shangrila Village, Pokhara
Yak & Yeti Hotel, Kathmandu
& the Winner of World Travel Awards in Nepal's Leading Hotel Category for 2017 was Hyatt Regency, Kathmandu.
World Luxury Hotel Awards
Established in 2006, World Luxury Hotel Awards is the pinnacle of achievement in the luxury hotel industry offering international recognition as voted by guests, travelers and industry players alike. Over 3,00,000 international travelers vote each year, during a four-week period to select the winners. Luxury hotels have the opportunity to participate in the World Luxury Hotel Awards by entering hotel categories that showcase their unique selling points and destinations.
The Awards Procedure
The World Luxury Hotel Awards are voted for by the public and are awarded to luxury hotels or hospitality groups across 99 different categories, presented on a regional, continental, global and country basis, with one hotel receiving the overall global accolade.
Nominations
Luxury hotels can self-nominate, be nominated by guests, travel agents or tour operators for consideration in the World Luxury Hotel Awards, which is made possible by the nomination facility on our website. Constant feedback from guests about their experience at a property allows us to evaluate the respective hotels to qualify them for participation. The successfully qualifying hotels are then formally invited (or accepted) to participate and register in the awards initiative. Official nominees will automatically be invited to register in the following year�s award season at a preferential rate.
Winning Levels
Participants compete on a country, regional, continent and global basis. Only properties competing in the same categories compete against each other.
Shangri-La Hotel, Kathmandu bagged three awards as Luxury Banquet / Event Hotel, Luxury City Hotel & Luxury Hotel & Conference Center for the year 2017 among the nominated hotels in Nepal. In the year 2015, 2016 Hotel Yak & Yeti was awarded Luxury Historical Hotel.
South Asian Travel Awards
The South Asian Travel Awards is the first ever regional Travel Awards endorsed by Multi National Associations providing the Tourism sector of the South Asian Region with recognition towards their facilities and service excellence. The South Asian Travel Awards aims to encourage and raise service standards within the regions of the Tourism industry.
The endorsement of organizations include Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka (FCCISL), Colombo Chamber of Commerce (CCC), Maldives Marketing & PR Corporation (MMPRC), Maldives Association of Travel Agents & Tour Operators (MATATO), Confederation of Associated Tour Operators (India), Association of Travel Agents (ATA) Maldives, Association of Travel and Tour Operators India (ATTOI), Association of Professionals in Tourism (APT, India), �Kerala Hotel General Managers Club (KHGMC), Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Live a board Association of Maldives (LAM).
The brand is the first of its kind with affiliations from regional associations ensuring the process within a smooth and transparent procedure. The judging panel will consist of high profile senior representatives selected from destinations with vast knowledge and background of the industry to assure an accurate and fair process.
Nepal's Hotel Annapurna, Jagatpur Lodge, Shangri-La Hotel, Shangri-La Village Resort, Barahi Jungle Hotel, Dahlia Boutique Hotel, Hotel Mulberry and Hotel Visit Nepal grabbed awards in different categories as follows
The prestigious South Asian Travel Awards (SATA) announced the winners of 2017 in a historic and eventful Gala held at Equator Village, located in the southernmost Addu City of Maldives.
On a night of glamours and celebration, the host country, Maldives received awards for Leading Honeymoon, Leading Diving and Leading Beach Award. While India bagged Leading Heritage, Leading MICE Destinations, and Sri Lanka surprised the delegates with Leading Surfing Designations. Nepal took the robust Leading Adventure Destination.
This Year�s Leading International Airline and Leading Airline class were both won by Sri Lankan Airline while the Leading New International Airline was won by Himalaya Airlines.
Spice Jet earned the Leading Low cost carrier award with a huge applause from the delegates. The Leading Airport lounge was won by Leeli Lounge, Velana International Airport, Maldives.
SATA announced the winners of over 40 categories from over 400 nominations. Gold Winners received the South Asia Awards while the Silver was given to the winners of the respective destination. The Year 2018 SATA award would be held in India.
Quite often people look for third party endorsements before making a purchase of something new or are planning to switch to any other brand or type of product. It has now become crucial for any business to gain recognition for its products and services. There are many ways how businesses gain recognition for its products & services and one of them is "Winning an Award". Winning an award distinguishes product or company from competitors and ensures that as many potential customers' carry favorable perception towards your products & services. Hereby, it really does not mean that winning an award is the only utmost way for the recognition. Participating or competing in any award competition also has significant importance.
Hotels nominated for any awards are also endowed with certificate of recognition & that means hotel is considered relevance among the competition.� Entering any awards process proves the commitment of the hotel & employees to deliver the highest possible level of service and facilities to the guests. Participation in any such awards also gives hotel management and employees insight into guest experience, receive suggestion for improvement if is required.� It also generates a target to achieve an award winning level of service among employee. Award events promote hotel as one of the nominated and recommended hotels & showcase hotel to potential customers.
Hotels wining any one of awards are well recognized worldwide as the one which offer and deliver an award winning level of service and experience. It is the endorsement of the product & services of the hotel done by the third party for the prospected guests in future. Guests will have positive perception on the experience that would be felt during the consumption of product & use of the services in future.� Award winning hotels receive trophy/plate, plaque that can be displayed in premises, marketing tools to showcase the achievement of the hotel. Guests & prospected guests will know & be confident to receive award winning service, facilities during their stay.
Benefits of Winning an Award can be summarized in following five major points:
Differentiation: Each hotel strives to achieve stand out in an increasingly competitive market & award set the hotel apart from competitors and differentiates from them with the quality it offers.
Visibility: �Award makes hotel more visible to the world & attract new customers, competitive work force, good managers who would strive to enhance the service quality.
Validate:�Awards speak more about the hotel providing third party endorsement on the quality of services in the awarded segment there by bringing the hotel to the forefront of hotel segment and overall industry.
Testimonials: Competing for award or wining an award serves as testament to the hotel's work ethic, dedication and unique specialty. Awards attract current customers & prospected customers to reinforce the loyalty to the brand name.
�High Morale & Matter of Pride: The employees and the management work hard achieving their targets, treating every guests as VIP to ensure the maintenance of quality of the services delivered. Awards increased the morale of employees and increase the level of pride on what they do, thereby help the hotel to be better in delivering services in coming days.
Here are some of the awards & awards winning hotels of Nepal.
Travelers� Choice award By TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is increasingly influencing the hotel search and booking pattern across the hotel. Indeed it is also influencing how the hotels react to any customer's expectation and dealing with customers. Visibility with high positive review on TripAdvisor is becoming crucial to any hotel�s success. Earning an award is making a huge difference, as it earns property a coveted spot on one of TripAdvisor�s curated lists.
Established in 2002, the�Travelers� Choice�awards are the highest honor TripAdvisor can bestow. �These annual awards are based on millions of reviews and opinions from travelers around the world. They reflect �the best of the best� for service, quality, and customer satisfaction. The award is given according to category, from hotels and accommodations to destinations, attractions, brands, and products.
Every Year thousands of properties receive recognition in variety of categories � international,� regional, and include top hotels, small hotels, family, romance, luxury, B&Bs and inns.� The number of awardee may seem like a large number of properties, especially compared to the typical Top 100 or 500 lists published by many travel magazines. But actually, this generally represents less than 1% of the accommodations listed on TripAdvisor.
Recently, Tripadvisor published 2018 top 10 hotels of Nepal as follows:
| SN | Name of the Property | Rating | Total Reviews | Excellent | Very Good | Average | Poor | Terrible |
| 1 | Dahlia Boutique Hotel, Pokhara | 5.0 | 232 | 83% | 14% | 2% | 1% | 0% |
| 2 | Dwarika's Hotel, Kathmandu | 4.5 | 1135 | 79% | 17% | 2% | 1% | 1% |
| 3 | Da Yatra Court Yard Hotel & Resort | 4.5 | 190 | 69% | 26% | 2% | 1% | 2% |
| 4 | Hotel Tibet International, Kathmandu | 4.5 | 633 | 72% | 24% | 2% | 1% | 1% |
| 5 | Hotel Moonlight, Kathmandu | 4.5 | 253 | 68% | 28% | 5% | 1% | 2% |
| 6 | Gokarna Forest Resort, Kathmandu | 4.5 | 902 | 62% | 31% | 4% | 1% | 2% |
| 7 | Hotel Pokhara Grande, Pokhara | 4.0 | 344 | 51% | 31% | 13% | 2% | 3% |
| 8 | Hotel Shambhala, Kathmandu | 4.5 | 433 | 62% | 32% | 4% | 1% | 1% |
| 9 | Atithi Resort & Spa, Pokhara | 4.5 | 327 | 55% | 33% | 7% | 3% | 2% |
| 10 | Mount Kailash Resort, Pokhara | 4.0 | 295 | 39% | 47% | 10% | 2% | 2% |
| SN | Name of the Property |
| 1 | Dwarika's Hotel, Kathmandu |
| 2 | Hotel Tibet International, Kathmandu |
| 3 | Hotel Shambhala, Kathmandu |
| 4 | Atithi Resort & Spa, Pokhara |
| 5 | Hotel Pokhara Grande, Pokhara |
| 6 | Park Village Hotel & Resort, Kathmandu |
| 7 | Hyatt Regency, Kathmandu |
| 8 | Club Himalaya, Nagarkot |
| 9 | Hotel Shanker, Kathmandu |
| 10 | Crowne Plaza Kathmandu- Soaltee |
agoda is one of the world�s fastest-growing online travel booking platforms. Established in 2005, the start-up quickly expanded in Asia and was acquired in 2007 by the Priceline Group � the world�s largest seller of rooms online. agoda is headquartered in Singapore, with 53 offices in major cities across over 30 countries and over 3,700 staff worldwide. It provides a network of over 1.8 million accommodation properties, including apartments, villas, homes, and hotels backed by over 15 million real traveler reviews. agoda announced the winners of its prestigious�2017 Gold Circle Awards, given to top-performing accommodation partners around the world that exemplify the best qualities of the online booking travel experience. Running for now the 9th�Year, the Gold Circle Awards recognizes properties that meet the following standards:
Standing amongst the top 1% of agoda�s properties
Consistently stellar customer reviews
Competitive pricing and availability
A commitment to delivering a fantastic customer experience
The number of properties available on agoda has grown to over 1.6 million worldwide by the year 2017 & it has significantly increased the competitiveness and standard across all properties. Total 1,552 accommodation received Gold Circle award in the year 2017 and the following Hotel in Nepal received this award.
Avataar Kathmandu Hotel
Aryatara Kathmandu Hotel
Royal Penguin Boutique Hotel & Spa
Hotel Shambala
Hotel Shanker
Ambassador Garden Home
Hyatt Regency Kathmandu
Hotel Yak & Yeti
World Travel Awards
World Travel Awards established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries is now recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence. Its annual program is renowned as the most prestigious and comprehensive in the global industry. Each year World Travel Awards covers the globe with its�Grand Tour�� a series of regional gala ceremonies to recognize excellence within each continent, culminating in a Grand Final at the end of the year.
World Travel Awards gala ceremonies are regarded as milestone events in the industry calendar, attended by the industry's key decision makers and figure heads, as well as key trade and consumer media. The program, its winners and its sponsors are represented globally on social media, with fresh daily content featured on six platforms and in 10 languages, including Mandarin, Russian, Spanish and Arabic.
In 2017, World Travel Awards Grand Tour featured regional gala ceremonies in the Asia & Australasia (Shanghai, China), Europe (St. Petersburg, Russia), Middle East (Dubai), Africa & the Indian Ocean (Rwanda), North America & the Caribbean (Turks & Caicos) and Latin America (Riviera Maya, Mexico). Regional winners then compete head to head in in the corresponding world categories. The winners were announced on the night of the World Travel Awards Grand Final in December 2017.
Each year, WTA runs and governs a comprehensive program across a range of awards developed to recognize the industry�s most vital sectors and product offerings & present awards across three tiers: country, regional and world awards. WTA have its own unique nomination methodology, voting criteria, weightage of votes to select the winners.
The following is the year 2017 WTA nominations & winner of WTA awards for Nepal
Nepal's Leading Hotel 2017 Category
Nominated Hotels were
Barahi Jungle Lodge, Chitwan
Crowne Plaza, Kathmandu � Soaltee
Gokaran Forest Resort, Kathmandu
Hotel Annapurna, Kathmandu
Shangrila Village, Pokhara
Yak & Yeti Hotel, Kathmandu
& the Winner of World Travel Awards in Nepal's Leading Hotel Category for 2017 was Hyatt Regency, Kathmandu.
World Luxury Hotel Awards
Established in 2006, World Luxury Hotel Awards is the pinnacle of achievement in the luxury hotel industry offering international recognition as voted by guests, travelers and industry players alike. Over 3,00,000 international travelers vote each year, during a four-week period to select the winners. Luxury hotels have the opportunity to participate in the World Luxury Hotel Awards by entering hotel categories that showcase their unique selling points and destinations.
The Awards Procedure
The World Luxury Hotel Awards are voted for by the public and are awarded to luxury hotels or hospitality groups across 99 different categories, presented on a regional, continental, global and country basis, with one hotel receiving the overall global accolade.
Nominations
Luxury hotels can self-nominate, be nominated by guests, travel agents or tour operators for consideration in the World Luxury Hotel Awards, which is made possible by the nomination facility on our website. Constant feedback from guests about their experience at a property allows us to evaluate the respective hotels to qualify them for participation. The successfully qualifying hotels are then formally invited (or accepted) to participate and register in the awards initiative. Official nominees will automatically be invited to register in the following year�s award season at a preferential rate.
Winning Levels
Participants compete on a country, regional, continent and global basis. Only properties competing in the same categories compete against each other.
Shangri-La Hotel, Kathmandu bagged three awards as Luxury Banquet / Event Hotel, Luxury City Hotel & Luxury Hotel & Conference Center for the year 2017 among the nominated hotels in Nepal. In the year 2015, 2016 Hotel Yak & Yeti was awarded Luxury Historical Hotel.
South Asian Travel Awards
The South Asian Travel Awards is the first ever regional Travel Awards endorsed by Multi National Associations providing the Tourism sector of the South Asian Region with recognition towards their facilities and service excellence. The South Asian Travel Awards aims to encourage and raise service standards within the regions of the Tourism industry.
The endorsement of organizations include Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka (FCCISL), Colombo Chamber of Commerce (CCC), Maldives Marketing & PR Corporation (MMPRC), Maldives Association of Travel Agents & Tour Operators (MATATO), Confederation of Associated Tour Operators (India), Association of Travel Agents (ATA) Maldives, Association of Travel and Tour Operators India (ATTOI), Association of Professionals in Tourism (APT, India), �Kerala Hotel General Managers Club (KHGMC), Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Live a board Association of Maldives (LAM).
The brand is the first of its kind with affiliations from regional associations ensuring the process within a smooth and transparent procedure. The judging panel will consist of high profile senior representatives selected from destinations with vast knowledge and background of the industry to assure an accurate and fair process.
Nepal's Hotel Annapurna, Jagatpur Lodge, Shangri-La Hotel, Shangri-La Village Resort, Barahi Jungle Hotel, Dahlia Boutique Hotel, Hotel Mulberry and Hotel Visit Nepal grabbed awards in different categories as follows
| SN | Name of the Property | Awarded Category |
| 1 | Hotel Annapurna | Leading Business Hotel, Nepal |
| 2 | Hotel Annapurna | Leading Heritage Hotel / Palace, Nepal |
| 3 | Barahi Jungle Lodge | South Asia's Leading Wild Life Hotel� & Leading Wild Life Hotel / Resort,� Nepal |
| 4 | Jagatpur Lodge by Annapurna | Leading Adventure Hotel / Resort, Nepal |
| 5 | Shangri-La Hotel | Leading Meeting & Conference Hotel / Resort, Nepal |
| 6 | Shangri-La Village Resort, Pokhara | Leading Wellness & Spa Hotel / Resort, Nepal |
| 7 | Barahi Jungle Lodge | Leading Eco Hotel / Resort, Nepal |
| 8 | Hotel Mulberry | Leading City Hotel, Nepal & Leading Boutique Hotel / Resort, Nepal |
| 9 | Hotel Visit Nepal | Leading guest House / Tourist Inn |
| 10 | Dahlia Boutique Hotel, Pokhara | Leading Family Hotel / Resort, Nepal |
| 11 | Barahi Jungle Lodge | Leading Luxury Hotel / Resort, Nepal |
On a night of glamours and celebration, the host country, Maldives received awards for Leading Honeymoon, Leading Diving and Leading Beach Award. While India bagged Leading Heritage, Leading MICE Destinations, and Sri Lanka surprised the delegates with Leading Surfing Designations. Nepal took the robust Leading Adventure Destination.
This Year�s Leading International Airline and Leading Airline class were both won by Sri Lankan Airline while the Leading New International Airline was won by Himalaya Airlines.
Spice Jet earned the Leading Low cost carrier award with a huge applause from the delegates. The Leading Airport lounge was won by Leeli Lounge, Velana International Airport, Maldives.
SATA announced the winners of over 40 categories from over 400 nominations. Gold Winners received the South Asia Awards while the Silver was given to the winners of the respective destination. The Year 2018 SATA award would be held in India.
