BillT

The Conde Naste 2005 Reader's Choice awards are out and for best Hotel/Resorts in the world- the top 100- the Penn in BKK grabs 9th place while the much vaunted Oriental falls all the way down to 28th (and tied at that with another property). Over the years the Penn and Oriental have duked it out for top ten honors. One year the Penn was voted #1, in other years the Orinetal beat out the Penn.
Well the Penn has the bragging rights for 2005 over the Oriental. No other BKK hotel made the top ten.
(Ok now the Oriental fans can weigh in with the trashing of the survey- but Gloria you have to concede this one to the Penn.)

glorialf

Bill- I am on record saying that I think all of these surveys are about pr and marketing. I mean Chiang Mai was listed as the 5th best city in the world. Now I love CM but I have to say it doesn't belong #5. Thus, I have never and will never pay attention to these rankings. Nor have I ever filled out those surveys.I know what I like and that's what I care about. From a marketing perspective I will certainly say that the Penn wins this one. But who cares? I hope it means the Penn will raise its prices so you (Bill) will finally stay at the Oriental and discover what a great hotel is really like.

Kathie

How may ballots did you send in, Bill? lol

BillT

Conde Naste sends out surveys to almost 300,000 of its readers. These results reflect what the Conde Naste readers feel are the best of the best.

BillT

Bite your tongue Kathie!!!!

glorialf

Based on where they have stayed. They can't rank someplace they have never been to and generally rank highly the place they stayed most recently. I just consider it all baloney -- and I said the same thing when the Oriental was on top. But then I don't read Conde Naste -- only travel magazine I have any use for is ITN.

mrwunrfl

WADR, there is something about saying that Penn is #1 or #9 or whatever that bothers me. Mostly because "Penn" is an ivy league university.

As far as the Pen goes, the Peninsula, the one in Bangkok, the mrwunrfl Choice awards ranks it #1, ichiban, right up there with the Oriental and the ROS and the Marriott R&S and Koemon and the Holiday Inn in Wilkinsburg.

Funny, but at cntraveler.com I see a blurb about the Choice awards: "More than 20,000 Condé Nast Traveler subscribers completed our 2004 Readers' Choice poll, naming the world's top hotels, resorts, and cruise lines." So this year each of them must have voted 15 times, on average.

mrwunrfl

Wait, I think I understand. There are 20,000 <i>subscribers</i> and 300,000 <i>readers</i> who reply. I suppose that the subscribers loaned out there mags to 14 other readers, on average. Something like that. In other words, 280,000 of the ballots came from people who didn't pop the $.$$ to actually pay for the magazine.

Funny things, statistics.

Kathie

The other hypothesis about the stats has to do with the question I asked Bill. lol

rhkkmk

i used to reply, but have stopped....it is an unbelievable form that goes on for ever...

i think gloria is right....not about the oriental, but about the methods...haha

glorialf

And, Bob-- I have no idea if the Oriental is the best hotel in the world or the 50th best because I have certainly not stayed at every hotel. I know it's is the best for me. But then my second best would be a tiny hotel in Amsterdam that has 7 rooms which I'm sure appears on no lists because so few people have ever stayed there. What is never on a top 10 list for me are large, modern deluxe hotels or resorts with lots of luxury but no soul or personality. But that doesn't mean those hotels aren't the preference of others. As I have said the only new hotel in Bangkok that interests me is Old bangkok Inn.

laurieco

I think Bill got his numbers mixed up. As a long time subscriber to CN Traveler, I've participated in many of their polls. They mail them out once a year and it's based on the number they get back. 300,000 seems way off base. The possibly send out that many but don't get that many back. The 20,000 is much closer to the actual number.

These polls are fun to read and when your favorite hotel is picked as number 1, it makes you happy, but Gloria is right. Polls aren't an indication of anything. If a new place opens and people flock to it, it's likely to get a higher rating, not because it's better but because more people have recently stayed there and want to sing it's praises. Hotel preference is very subjective. One good or bad experience can really color your perspective. Let's face it, the best hotel in the world is the one YOU like best. The only thing these polls serve is to keep this endless debate going!

simpsonc510

Laurie
Right you are!! I've answered a few of the polls myself, but have stopped participating a couple of years ago. I was pleased to see the Pen rated so highly, I'll admit! I like staying there. Do polls keep me from going someplace? No. Do polls sometimes get me to try something new? Yes.
Carol

BillT

Just to clarify the 300,000 I believe were the number of surveys sent out but only 20,000 or so returned. I sent in 5,000 for the Penn!

sandi

About 5 or 6 years back I answered one of these CN surveys and wrote-in a hotel in Provence, France (at this point don't recall which). Sent in the survey and that was that. Some weeks later received a call from CN inquiring about the specific hotel... seems they got quite a number of write-ins for this hotel... wanted more information.

During discussion, the CN rep readily admitted that many responders who may have seen a hotel from the outside, walked thru the lobby or had a meal at a restaurant here, claimed to have stayed at a particular hotel and fudge the answers.

So, the surveys are questionnable and intereting that CN and L&amp;T don't have the same hotels in the same order. It's from their individual subcriber lists... and, also most important... tour operators (the biggies) participate, so that definitely shades the results.

Sure, it's nice to see that a hotel or resort or restaurant that you have enjoyed is listed. But I'm sure, there are probably more folks who would rate 2-star then the 5-star establishments. I don't take these surveys too seriously.

Guenmai

Bill...I just dropped my already-read travel magazines off at my mom's yesterday and one happened to be the Conde Nast one you're talking about. As for the Oriental, it was not that far down the list if you look at the other hotels on the list that are in ASIA. When I read the lists, for fun, I look at the hotel ratings by regions of the world and not compared to the entire- world hotel rating. Happy Travels!