The Best of Malaysia's Hotels, Resorts & Attractions 2013 - Revealed!

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Nov. 15, 2013 - PRLog -- 29 October 2013, Kuala Lumpur:  After 14 weeks of voting in 17 categories, with more than 100,000 total votes cast, the expatriate community in Malaysia have chosen their favourite hotels, resorts, spas, experiences and attractions. The results of the internationally-revered Expatriate Lifestyle Best of Malaysia Awards were unveiled tonight at a prestigious Official Ceremony presented with Guinness Anchor Breweries and Infinity Financial Solutions.

The glittering awards ceremony, organised by Expatriate Lifestyle, Malaysia’s number one expatriate magazine, took place at Rootz KL, Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Around 400 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.

Winners were chosen from shortlists in 17 categories over a 14-week voting period until October 1, 2013 on www.expatriatelifestyle.com.

With such high voter numbers, competition was fierce. Each category had a shortlist of ten as selected by readers during initial nominations stage. Then votes were reset and an overall winner – plus four ‘Excellence Awards’ – were collated and awarded. In two categories, Best City Hotel and Best Beach Resort, voting was so popular that shortlists had to be expanded to 14 properties, with six Excellence Award winners.

Best City Hotel, always a fiercely contested and highly revered accolade, was won by The Majestic Kuala Lumpur in its first year of eligibility, with Excellence Awards for The E&O Penang, Grand Hyatt KL, Hilton KL, Mandarin Oriental KL, Shangri-La KL and Traders Hotel KL.

Hilton Kuala Lumpur retained their title as Best Business Hotel, Spa Village Kuala Lumpur landed Best City Spa, The Majestic Malacca achieved Best Boutique Stay and Cameron Highlands Resort took home the Best Weekend Break.

Legoland Malaysia Resort won the Best Tourism Experience  Award, while Pavilion Kuala Lumpur was voted The Best Shopping Experience for the fourth year running. Golden Sands Resort by Shangri-La, Penang was voted the Best in the Service With A Smile category, proving the importance of excellence in service and well trained staff to the expatriate audience.

There were more winners from outside of Kuala Lumpur than ever before in this year’s Best of Malaysia Awards, with nine of the seventeen winners coming from  Langkawi, Malacca, Johor and Penang showing the high-class, burgeoning hospitality and tourism industry right across the country.

There were also a record number of awards given away, with 72 Excellence Awards across the seventeen categories. This reflects an extremely competitive voting process as a result of extensive marketing campaigns from many of the outlets, eager to rally support behind their cause and take home these respected accolades. Demonstrating just how close the voting was, 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 (#BOM2013 on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) are the awards where the readership of Expatriate Lifestyle vote on all things travel and leisure. 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 8-year history of the awards with votes cast from more than seventeen thousand individuals in support of the best experiences in travel & hospitality.

The eighth edition of the Best of Malaysia Awards saw some changes that reflected the expatriate community and the ever-changing face of Malaysian hospitality industry. This year new categories were introduced for the Best Experience for Kids and The Best Tourism Experience, plus expanded fields for Best Nightlife Experience and Best Dining Experience.

At the glittering award ceremony at Rootz KL, hosted by the charismatic Rashid Salleh, awards were presented by Chief Content Officer of Mongoose Publishing Matthew Bellotti, Editor of Expatriate Lifestyle Ian Johnston, Marketing Director of GAB Bruce Dallas and representatives from A&L wines and Infinity Financial Solutions. The Excellence Award Winners were presented with a certificate and the winners received a bespoke trophy.

Guests at the event enjoyed refreshments courtesy of Heineken, Guinness and Tiger, A&L wines and Rootz KL.

Matt Bellotti, who launched the Best of Malaysia Awards with Expatriate Lifestyle eight years ago, was very excited to see how these Awards have grown. He said, “These awards are the only accolade of their kind and it’s very heartening to see how completely the industry has embraced the idea and the high regard they hold the Awards in.”

“The Best Of Malaysia is a celebration of tourism and hospitality experiences in Malaysia, which surely rank among the very best in the world. We expatriates know how spoiled we are in this country and these awards are our chance to say thank you and well done to the people who make it all happen – the brilliant hotels, resorts, spas, golf courses, restaurants, bars and attractions of Malaysia.”

“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 17 categories. Personally, I think the field of winning properties this year is stronger than ever. There are some new surprises and lots of old favourites, this shows that good service and quality never go out of style. 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 eight 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 greatest holiday destinations in the world.”