The shortlist of those in the running for the annual TTG Luxury Travel Awards has been revealed, with some of the leading names in the sector set to be recognised and celebrated.
Now in its third year, the initiative was the first in the UK to focus specifically on the luxury travel trade, with awards designed to highlight suppliers and agents across the sector; more than 250 entries were received across eight supplier and five agency categories this year.
View the shortlist here.
A handpicked community of luxury agents were asked to rate the supplier entrants, and were drawn from across the UK. This year, the community of agents was refreshed to include entrants in the luxury category of TTG’s Top 50; all past TTG Luxury Travel Awards finalists; and previous Luxpo attendees.
Rating agencies included Baldwins Travel, Beaver Travel, Carrick Travel, Carrier Travel Boutique, Classic Travel, Destination Anywhere, Different Planet Travel, Eagle Travel, Eton Travel Agency, Exemplar Travel, Full Circle Travel, Gilchrist & Gray, Highgate Travel, Inspired Travel, More Travel, Never A Wasted Journey, Paper Plane Travel, Quintessentially Travel, Revells Travel, Select World Travel, Spear Travels, Swords Travel, Tailor Made Travel, The Personal Travel Agents at Co-operative Travel, Thorne Travel Group, Thornton’s Travel, Travel Bureau, Travel Club Elite, Travel Designers, Travel Stop, TravelTime World, Travelwise, Triangle Travel and Wendy Veal Luxury Travel.
“By going to our highly engaged community of agents who regularly sell luxury travel, we know we have opinions that count,” said April Hutchinson, editor of TTG Luxury. “We asked them to tell us the companies they feel really stand out – and they did just that.”
Agents in the spotlight
Meanwhile, agent categories included a new one this time around, to decide the Luxury Homeworking Business of the Year.
Agents going for all five categories had to fill in a comprehensive entry form. The agent entrants have first been shortlisted, and the final winners will be decided by a judging panel later this year.
All winners across the categories will be announced at the awards event on 28 February at Rosewood London, along with the recipient of the 2020 Contribution to Luxury award.
“The awards are now firmly established in the industry calendar, and we’re thrilled once again with the volume of companies who put themselves forward to be recognised across all 13 categories,” said Hutchinson.
“The awards give a host of luxury travel suppliers the chance to win recognition from the luxury agent community, while I’m thrilled to see so many agents put their achievements under the spotlight in a bid to win a coveted award, whether for themselves or their business.”
“Not only does our awards process allow excellence to shine across all categories, the event itself provides a much-needed chance to network following the busy peaks season,” she added.
The best new hotel?
As well as agents rating suppliers, a committee of luxury, lifestyle and travel editors and journalists was enlisted to rate more than 45 hotels opened in the past year to hone the shortlist for the Best New Luxury Hotel category.
Looking for criteria such as how impactful the hotel has been in the destination, the quality of its design, level of innovation, attention to sustainability and service proposition were Wallpaper’s travel editor Lauren Ho; Family Traveller’s editor Jane Anderson; Metro Escape’s editor Laura Millar; Cosmopolitan’s travel editor Amanda Statham; The Times LUXX’s deputy and travel editor, Lisa Grainger; The Sunday Times Travel Magazine’s deputy editor Nick Redman; and House & Garden’s travel editor Pamela Goodman.
Also casting votes in the hunt for Best New Luxury Hotel was a group of prolific and well-respected freelancers including Lee Cobaj, Ianthe Butt, Joe Mortimer, Mary Lussiana, Nigel Tisdall and Lysanne Currie.
Hotels must have opened between September 2018 and the end of September 2019.
For those wanting to see the winners announced live and be a part of this big day, tickets are now available for the event, which takes place on 28 February at Rosewood London.
