Best Spas
The Crystal Awards Asia Pacific 2009
December 3, 2009 - The
Crystal Awards Asia Pacific is an annual event organized by G.R.A.S. to recognize
and salute the best of the spa and wellness industry in the Asia Pacific region.
Awarding brands and properties in various categories, The Crystal Awards Asia
Pacific 2009 sets to endorse, through a collective voice of leaders and experts
of the industry, the contribution that these brands and properties make that enhance
the industry, spearhead trends, change as well as exert an overall definition
for the future direction of the sector. The Crystal Awards were instituted with
the objective of honouring the places, people, companies and practices that deserve
recognition for uncompromised commitment, constantly evolving to make themselves
unique in terms of extending integrated offerings and world-class services.
This
being the sixth year in running, The Crystal Awards continue to be recognized
as the most prestigious endorsement of excellence for the industry. The winners
line-up for The Crystal Awards Asia Pacific 2009 are:
Best
In-Spa Education Programme: ESPA International
Best Spa Academy:
Chiva-Som International Academy
Best Spa Consultant/Company: ESPA International
Best
Wellness & Spa Group: Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
Best Petite
Day Spa: Jiva Spa, Taj Residency, Bangalore, India
Best Day Spa:
Jiva Grande Spa, Taj Wellington Mews, Mumbai, India
Best Boutique Hotel
Spa: Kayumanis Ubud Private Villa and Spa, Bali, Indonesia
Best Hotel
Spa: The Oriental Spa, The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong
Best
Resort Spa: The Barai, Hua Hin, Thailand
Best Destination Spa: Chiva-Som
Hua Hin, Thailand
Best Wellness Retreat: COMO Shambhala Estate in Bali,
Indonesia
Best Complementary & Alternative Medicine Wellness Centre:
Kamalaya Koh Samui, Thailand
Best Signature Experience: The Enchanted
Reef: A Journey to Serenity - Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa
Distinguished
Industry Leader: Julie Garrow
Organized
by
The Crystal Awards have enjoyed strong support from
the spa community and consumers in the Asia Pacific region. Since its inception,
it has adopted a quality-driven approach that is geared towards ensuring the industry's
growth through instituting benchmarks and standards that are progressively raised
in tandem with the growing sophistication and demands of the consumers. All entrants
of the awards are put through various stages of a judging methodology that ensures
they are evaluated based on merits and actual performance from a guest's perspective.
Michael
Loh, Chairman of The Crystal Awards said,
"The awards stands apart from
the rest for our impartiality in recognizing and honouring those who set the standards
across the industry. Winners will be celebrated and relished as standard bearers
for the industry as worthy models to follow. With so many established brands participating,
choosing the best among the best has been a laborious exercise as most nominees
are running in extremely close competition with each other. Worthy of our applause
also are the top three contenders that made it to the upper rungs of the final
rounds in six of the more popularly participated categories this year."
Honouring
the Best of the Best
As of October 2008, The Crystal Awards
progressed into a new chapter where it went under the management of G.R.A.S. (Global
Rating & Awards Solutions) that will see the Awards making inroads into new
regions including UK, Europe, USA, Arabia and Africa hence commanding the greater
audience on the international stage.
Through the years,
The Crystal Awards have gained the respect and recognition of brands, properties,
and industry peers alike because it constantly strives to raise the bar on standards
for the wellness and spa industry. Driven by a desire to bring excellence and
the highest quality, The Crystal Awards has been honouring excellence and raising
benchmarks within the wellness and spa industry in the Asia Pacific region. From
2009 onwards, it has expanded its horizons in order to reflect its objectives
and mission. Setting its sights higher and recognitions wider by bringing it onto
the global stage, The Crystal Awards has expanded itself into a wider portfolio
of continental awards. These continental awards recognize winners in their own
territory and celebrate both individual success and the achievements of the industry.
Standing uncontested since 2004 in impartially recognizing
and honouring those who set the standards across the industry, the globalization
of The Crystal Awards will become more important than ever before as the recipients
will be globally recognized and will act as beacons of hope for the rest of the
industry worldwide.
