Yorkshire hotels make themselves at home in TripAdvisor rankings
Harrogate’s Rudding Park hotel has been welcomed into TripAdvisor’s first World Hall of Fame after being named in the UK’s Travellers’ Choice Hotels awards every year for a decade.
The Hall of Fame recognises properties worldwide who have won a Travellers’ Choice for Hotels award for ten years running, from 2008 through to 2017.
The hotel – which is the only UK hotel to feature on the list of elite hotels – features alongside iconic hotels such as The Oberoi Amarvilas in Agra India, Four Seasons in Buenos Aires and Nukubati Private Island in Fiji.
Managing director of Rudding Park, Peter Banks said: “All of your city boys with all of their cash, they’re getting £700-£800 a night, and I’m getting an average rate of £120 – a sixth of the money and for all that cash and swagger and all of the rest of it, a little hotel in North Yorkshire has beaten them to the punch.
“We’ve only been going 20 years, we don’t have the century of excellence that Glen Eagles has got, or the two centuries Savoy’s has, so we’re delighted. And it’s because we care, and because we care consistently and honestly for our guests that 25% of our guests are return guests.”
The hotel runs a system called guest gossip, which uses a box of notes created by the staff about each guest, allowing Rudding Park to create profiles on their loyal customers.
Peter said: “Say Mr and Mrs Cornish say they support Norwich city, that member of staff will write that on a piece of paper and so when they come again we can say oh unlucky at the weekend or oh do you think you’ll get promoted?”
The hotel, which this year came 8th out of 25 UK hotels, has received thousands of excellent TripAdvisor including one that describes it as “a luxurious hotel in beautiful grounds.”
“Harrogate’s a beautiful part of the world, so it’s an awful lot easier to keep guests happy in a beautiful spot. South of France and Greece – it’s no wonder the vast majority of the hotels are in stunning places! I think that being in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and close to the Yorkshire Dales, really helps,” Peter added.
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A bed and breakfast in Bridlington has been named among the top ten best guest houses in the world, according to TripAdvisor’s 2017 Traveller’s Choice awards – which was largely dominated by English properties.
The humble English guest house triumphed over its international counterparts, claiming five of the world’s best ten B&Bs, of which South Lodge Guest house was one.
Rated above popular B&Bs in Ohio, Italy and Belgium, the Bridlington-based bed and breakfast ranked 3rd in the world, having received an abundance of positive TripAdvisor reviews, even being described as “the Ritz of Bridlington”.
Visit England said: “It is fantastic news that five of England’s B&Bs are rated by travellers in the top 10 globally, including the top spot.
“This continues the upward trend we’ve seen in recent years demonstrating that our tourism, accommodation and service is not only exceeding customer expectations but up there competing with the world’s very best.”
