Top Sri Lankan hotel groups vie for honours at Maldives travel awards
View(s):Sri Lanka’s top hotel chains – John Keells Holdings (JKH) and Aitken Spence Hotels (ASH) – are vying for top honours at a key travel awards event in the Maldives, where both operators have resorts.
ASH has three nominees from its Adaaran brand in the running while JKH has two properties in its Chaaya brand. Both companies have shad a long-standing foothold in the Maldives leisure sector with profitable resorts, which during the war crisis years in the late 1980s to mid-2000, largely brought in the profits for their hotel operations in both the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
At the briefing.
These properties are among more than 100 resorts, airlines and liveaboards (safari vessels) that are aiming to garner awards at the third edition of the MATATO Maldives Travel Awards to be held on November 21 at the Kurumba Maldives resort. The other competitors include top brands like Sheraton, Park Hyatt, Taj, W. Retreat & Spa and Niyama, looking for wins in a total of 23 categories. Last year’s top winners were Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Maldives (Leading Wellness & Spa Resort), Constance Halaveli (Leading Luxury Resort), Gili Lankanfushi (Most Romantic Resort), Niyama Maldives (Leading Designer Resort), Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa (Leading Dive Resort), Traders Hotel (Leading Business Hotel) and SriLankan Airlines (Leading International Airline)
The event presented by the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) will have an online public vote (from June 15 to September 30) and a judging process. The event, the only one of its kind in the Maldives, will also see another first in Asia, an audit of the judging process by Maldivian-based audit and accounting firm AH & Associates LLP, an associate of Crowe Horwath Business
Alliance.
Speaking to reporters at a briefing on the awards at the Traders Hotel in Male, Managing Partner of AH & Associates Mohamed Hassan underlined the importance of eliminating bias from the awards. He said they would take a stringent approach when devising the judging framework and made a long term commitment to continuous improvement of the awards.
Ismail Hameed, Director of Highrise, the event organiser, highlighted the significance of employing a reputable auditor and hoped it would set a precedence for other similar awards. MATATO President Abdulla said the appointment of an auditor added that the appointment demonstrated the growth of the MATATO Maldives Travel Awards since its inception three years ago and expected this latest initiative to bring about even greater participation from the industry.