CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS OF ITS 22nd ANNUAL READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS
An Unrivaled Stimulus Package for Travel

New York (October 16, 2009) – Condé Nast Traveler today announced the results of its 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards, ranking the best cities, islands, cruise lines, airlines, hotels, resorts, and car rental agencies worldwide. The awards appear in the November issue (on newsstands October 20) and are derived from the Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice survey.  This year, 25,008 readers voted on more than 10,000 properties and destinations.
 
“The big news is that, undaunted by tough times, our readers are still out there, discovering the coolest experiences and reaffirming an enduring passion for travel,” said Condé Nast Traveler Editor in Chief Klara Glowczewska.  “It’s clear that our readers are as devoted to the worldwide diversity of travel as ever.”  
 
The full list of winners is on cntraveler.com at: cntraveler.com/readerschoice
 
The results of the 2009 Readers Choice Awards reveal some surprising news:  

• The friendliest U.S. cities are Charleston, Savannah, and Honolulu, while the least friendly, by an uncomfortable margin is New York (54/100—ouch)
• Ubud, Bali,is the friendliest town of all
• Santa Fe, New Mexico, bumped New York City out of the #3 spot for best U.S. city to visit. San Francisco remained #1 and New York City slid to #4.
• San Francisco takes the Best U.S. Cities category for a whopping 17th year in a row, a feat never before accomplished by any destination or property.  One reason: its worldwide high restaurant score.   
• Ubud dethrones Bangkok as the Best Asian City. Bangkok held the top spot since the category debuted in 2004.
• Newcomer Virgin America was once again named the Best Domestic Airline, for the second year in a row, with JetBlue Airways at #2.
• Singapore Airlines is again the #1 International Route Airline, and has led this category for 21 of the past 22 years. (Only Swissair, in 1994, has taken the top spot from Singapore Airlines.)  
• The growing number of mega-ship cruise lines merit their own category for the first time, led by Celebrity.
• With so many superb hotels with fewer than 50 rooms, this year’s survey has three new categories: Small Hotels in Europe, Small Hotels in the United States, and Small Resorts in the United States with the Kenwood Inn and Spa taking first place.
• Fully one-third of the hotels and resorts on our Top 100 list began their journey on our Hot List of the world’s best new properties, published each May, confirming that Condé Nast Traveler readers are ahead of the curve and connoisseurs of the cutting edge.

Top Hotels Central America
1.    Lapa Rios Ecolodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
2.    Casa Santo Domingo, Antigua
3.    Villas Caletas, Costa Rica

 

To see the entire list click here

 

The Readers Choice Awards gala was held on Thursday, October 15th in New York City at the IAC Building and was hosted by Stanley Tucci and Mary Louise Parker. Select photos and video from the event are available upon request.

Methodology
Every year since 1988, a select sample of Condé Nast Traveler readers have taken the Readers’ Choice Survey.  In 2009, the questionnaire was available to all readers through a secure Web site.  The final tabulations of 25,008 responses were done by Mediamark Research, Inc., of New York City.   Poll categories (Cities, Hotels, etc.), and the criteria for each appear at the bottom of the first page in every category.  Questionnaires contained lists of candidates (individual cities, hotels, etc.), and write-ins were allowed.  Only candidates that received a required minimum number of responses were deemed eligible for an award.  Each candidate was rated, by various criterion, on a five-point scale: excellent, very good, good, fair, poor.  Criterion scores, which represent the percentage of respondents rating a candidate excellent or very good, were averaged to determine the final score—e.g., in the category of Islands, Maui’s 90.1 is the average of its scores for Activities, Atmosphere/Ambience, Beaches, Friendliness, Lodging, Restaurants, and Scenery.   

Media Contacts:
Sarina Sanandaji
sarina_sanandaji@condenast.com
 
Megan Montenaro
megan_montenaro@condenast.com