Asia shines brightly when it comes to curating exceptional and unique hotels. The best boutique hotels in the world were recently honoured at a gala awards evening in London. The winners of the Boutique Hotel Awards 2019 were announced during a ceremony which brought together an array of boutique hotel owners, travel and lifestyle press and travel industry influencers from all four corners of the globe earlier this month.

What we like about this particular awards program is that the hotels and private villas are actually visited. It is the only independent awards organisation in hospitality where each and every property is visited personally by an experienced hotel judge, who specialises in each category, and where decisions on winners depend on true first-hand guest experience at the property.

The winners were selected from over 300 Nominees in over 80 countries. The organization then coordinates judge evaluation visits with each shortlisted nominee. The judges document all aspects of the guest experience covering six categories: dining and entertainment, design, facilities, location and, most importantly, staff service and overall emotional impact. Finally, these extensive hand-written evaluations are meticulously studied by our Awards Panel, which decides our regional and World’s Best Award.