Seventeen Middle East hotels have been honored at this year’s Depa Middle East Hotel Awards, which took place at an Oscars-style gala ceremony at the Semiramis Inter-Continental Hotel in Cairo on April 18, attended by over 250 senior hotel industry professionals.
The awards, sponsored by international hotel interior contractors Depa Hotel Interiors, were presented in sixteen categories, with the accolade of Outstanding Hotel of the Year going to the Ritz-Carlton Dubai. The hotel also won awards in the best leisure hotel and best standard hotel room categories.
Other major awards went to Le Royal Meridien Bahrain for best design project, Emirates Towers Hotel Dubai for best business hotel and best executive floor, Ritz-Carlton Doha for best new hotel and best hotel employer, JW Marriott Dubai—best conference hotel, Le Meridien Dubai—best environmentally-friendly hotel and best PR campaign and the Hotel Inter-Continental Al-Ain for best restaurant innovation.
Regional winners included Six Continents Hotels for best advertising campaign and Ritz-Carlton for best group hotel employer, whilst Ricco De Blank, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Sharm Al-Sheikh, was named Hotelier of the Year. The award for best floating hotel went to the Nile cruiser M/S Grand Princess.
The Depa Middle East Hotel Awards were launched in 2001 in Dubai. The awards attracted over 110 individual entries from forty hotels across the Middle East, and were judged by an international panel of hoteliers, designers and consultants. PricewaterhouseCoopers acted as adjudicators. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
