Photo of Sequoia by Serio
Gourmet Traveller, Australia’s premier magazine dedicated to luxury travel and lifestyle, has announced the launch of the Gourmet Traveller Hotel and Travel Awards. This prestigious new award ceremony aims to highlight and celebrate the finest hotel and travel experiences available across Australia. Winners of the awards will be announced in May 2025, with entries now open to leading Australian properties.
The Gourmet Traveller Hotel and Travel Awards will include several categories: Hotel of the Year, Boutique Hotel of the Year, Resort of the Year, Best New Hotel, Best Hotel Dining, and Cruise Line of the Year. These categories are designed to recognise outstanding achievements in various sectors of the Australian travel industry.
One notable award, the Hotel of the Year, is open to properties of any size across Australia. Entrants must provide a voucher for one night’s accommodation and a detailed supporting statement that showcases the property’s distinctive features, market positioning, and its philosophy on design and service.
For Boutique Hotel of the Year, contenders are limited to establishments with fewer than 50 rooms. This category focuses on smaller, more intimate hotel experiences that characterise their unique sense of place. The Resort of the Year award will acknowledge exceptional coastal and rural properties, including lodges situated in regional or remote locations.
Additional categories include Best New Hotel, which is open to properties that have opened after March 1, 2023. This award recognises the latest innovations and contemporary contributions to the Australian hotel scene. The Best Hotel Dining award will either go to a single standout restaurant within a hotel or an overall exceptional food and beverage offering across a hotel property. Nominees for this category must submit their current menus along with their supporting statements.
The awards will also acknowledge a Cruise Line of the Year, focusing on luxury operators that provide exceptional services in Australian waters. Like the hotel awards, entrants need to submit a supporting statement that details the cruise line’s offerings and highlights of its Australian itineraries.
Overseeing the judging panel is Gourmet Traveller’s editor, Joanna Hunkin. She spoke about the uniqueness of the Australian luxury travel market, saying, “Australia has its own style and perspective when it comes to luxury travel and we want to celebrate the properties that work so hard to capture that, delivering unique, singular experiences. The world is full of beautiful hotels that are indistinguishable from their international counterparts. That’s not what these awards are about. We are looking for the hotels that create a sense of place and share an Australian sensibility, whilst still delivering world class service.”
The Gourmet Traveller readers will also have a chance to participate in the People’s Choice Awards, voting for categories such as Airline of the Year, Best Loyalty Program, and Favourite Hotel Brand, starting in January, with winners announced alongside the main awards in June 2025.
The culmination of these awards will be featured in a special June edition of Gourmet Traveller magazine, which will be dedicated to celebrating “the Best of Australia”. Additionally, a comprehensive list of Australia’s top hotels will be hosted on gourmettraveller.com.au, featuring detailed reviews by the awards’ judging panel.
Gourmet Traveller, a leader in travel, dining, and luxury lifestyle advice, engages over 450,000 Australians monthly across its multimedia platforms. Since its inception in 1966, the magazine has been an influential guide for Australians on optimal dining and travel experiences, now venturing further to recognise excellence within these realms through its new award series.
Entries into the awards require a fee of $250, with submission details available on the Gourmet Traveller website.
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