Leading hotel consultants Horwath HTL today announced the nominees for the ANZPHIC Hotel Architecture, Design & Development Awards that will be announced at the Australia, New Zealand & Pacific Hotel Investment Conference (ANZPHIC 09) on 2nd and 3rd July 2009.

The Awards have been created to recognise the creative talent behind the best of the new and refurbished hotels, resorts and serviced apartments that opened in Australia during calendar year 2008. Five Awards will be announced at ANZPHIC 09, three of which will be decided by popular vote from the conference delegates, based on information provided to them prior to and during the event by the nominees. The other two Awards will be decided by an industry selection committee.

"The 17 nominees in the three individual property Award categories were chosen from a field of over 100 candidates, thereby highlighting the achievement in reaching the nomination stage and also the challenge involved in eventually being an Award winner", Horwath HTL Managing Director and ANZPHIC 09 chair Mr John Smith said.

"We are particularly delighted to see such a diverse spread of locations and brands represented amongst the individual property nominees, with not only eastern seaboard cities being represented, but also Adelaide and Canberra as well as the often overlooked resort markets of North Queensland, the Whitsundays and even Kangaroo Island", he added.

Amongst the brands represented, the InterContinental Hotel Group, Accor Asia Pacific and local newcomer Eight Hotels achieved the highest level of representation however the brands did not dominate the list, with 5 nominees being independent hotels.

In the Brand of the Year Award category, five of the seven nominees were hotel companies, whilst two were serviced apartment operators.

Awards will be given to both the creative teams behind the winning properties, as well as to the management and ownership companies responsible for the properties. "Our goal is to showcase the talents of the teams responsible for the remarkable hospitality accommodation achievements of the nominees - without them, the hotel options in Australia for guests and for employees alike would be less interesting and the industry here would be developing in a far less competitive way", Mr Smith said.  

The nominees in each Award category
(in alphabetical order and with location added) are:

BEST ARCHITECTURE AWARD (NEW BUILD)

> Clarion Hotel Soho (Adelaide)
> Crowne Plaza Torquay (Melbourne)
> Hotel Realm (Canberra)
> Ibis King Street Wharf (Sydney)
> Rydges Bell City (Melbourne)
> Southern Ocean Lodge (Kangaroo lsland)

BEST INTERIOR DESIGN AWARD (NEW OR REFURBISHED PROPERTY)

> Diamant Hotel (Canberra)
> InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto (Melbourne)
> Kirketon Hotel (Sydney)
> Pullman Sydney Olympic Park (Sydney)
> Qualia (Hamilton Island)
> The Limes Hotel (Brisbane)

BEST REFURBISHMENT AWARD

> Diamant Hotel (Canberra)
> InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto (Melbourne)
> North Sydney Harbour View Hotel (Sydney)
> Rendezvous Reef Resort (Port Douglas)
> The Sebel King George Square (Brisbane)

BRAND OF THE YEAR AWARD

> Diamant
> Mercure/Grand Mercure
> InterContinental
> Mantra
> Pullman
> Quest
> Sebel

HOTEL ARCHITECT OR DESIGNER OF THE YEAR AWARD

> Nominations to be advised at ANZPHIC 09