Mobil Travel Guide unveiled its annual winners for the coveted Mobil Travel Guide Four- and Five-Star Awards yesterday, a list that has defined the industry’s highest standard for excellence in hospitality for over 50 years. This year, two destinations made history by achieving the most Mobil Five-Stars ever awarded to one destination. Sea Island Resorts was awarded the Mobil Five-Star award for its hotels The Cloister (Sea Island, GA) and the Lodge at Sea Island Golf Club (St. Simons Island GA), the Georgian Room restaurant and the Cloister Spa.
Hospitality mogul Steve Wynn also earned the triple Mobil Five-Star distinction with his Tower Suites Las Vegas, Alex restaurant and the Spa at Wynn winning Mobil Five-Star awards in 2009.
“It is in these difficult times that consumers recognize even more the importance of great service and hospitality,” said Shane O’Flaherty, president and CEO of Mobil Travel Guide. “Now more than ever, consumers rely on our expertise to help them make informed travel decisions and spend their dollars wisely.”
New to the Mobil Travel Guide Five-Star hotel list are four very different properties situated in travel destinations that range from bustling, metropolitan cities such as New York and Las Vegas to suburban locations like Cary, North Carolina as well as the resort destination of Sea Island, Georgia, bringing the total number of North American Mobil Five-Star hotels to 44.
New Mobil Five-Star Hotels include: Trump International Hotel and Tower New York (New York, NY), The Umstead Hotel and Spa (Cary, NC), The Cloister (Sea Island, GA), and Skylofts at the MGM Grand (Las Vegas, NV). With the addition of the Trump International Hotel and Tower New York, New York City maintains the title of leading Mobil Five-Star hotel city in the United States and Canada, with a total of five Mobil Five-Star hotels.
Four new restaurants have been added to the Mobil Travel Guide Five-Star restaurant list, bringing the total number of Mobil Five-Star restaurants in the U.S. and Canada to 20. New Mobil Five-Star restaurants include: Kai Restaurant (Chandler, AZ), Lautrec (Farmington, PA), Studio (Laguna Beach, CA) and Addison (San Diego, CA).
This year’s announcement features a significant expansion to the Mobil Travel Guide Five-Star spa list, increasing the number of Award winners from three to eight in all of the U.S. and Canada. New Mobil Five-Star spas include: Spa Gaucin at St. Regis Monarch Beach (Dana Point, CA), The Spa at Wynn Las Vegas, The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Miami, The Cloister Spa, and The Mayflower Spa at The Mayflower Inn (Washington, CT).
This past year, Mobil Travel Guide introduced the famous Mobil Star rating system to properties abroad, a first step in creating a cohesive, global Star rating system that travelers everywhere can recognize and rely on. Beijing and Hong Kong/Macau were the first two international regions to undergo ratings, and London will follow in 2009.
The complete list of Mobil Travel Guide Star award winners and updated
comprehensive reviews written by Mobil Travel Guide’s experts are
available at www.mobiltravelguide.com.