The winners of the 2015 HM Awards for Accommodation Excellence, presented by Sealy Posturepedic, have been named in front 600 attendees at Sydney Town Hall on 4 September.
Hosted by television personality Lisa Wilkinson, the HM Awards have, for the 13th time, recognised the accommodation industry’s finest staff, properties, brands and chains across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.
Mantra Group capped a huge day, taking home the Accommodation Chain of the Year honours just hours after being named in the ASX Top 200 Companies List.
Other major awards went to AccorHotels’ Michael Issenberg (Asia-Pacific Hotelier of the Year), IHG’s Karin Sheppard (Australasian Hotelier of the Year), Crown Towers Melbourne (Australasian Hotel of the Year), QT Hotels and Resorts (Brand of the Year), RACV Royal Pines Resort (Environmental Program), The Langham Sydney’s Sonia Lefevre (Australian General Manager), The Rees Hotel in Queenstown’s Mark Rose (New Zealand General Manager) and Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort’s Peter Hopgood (South Pacific General Manager).
This year’s Hall of Fame inductees were aviation and tourism industry legends Geoff Dixon and Brett Godfrey, while the inaugural Ashley Spencer Service to the Industry recipient was Guy Bentley from the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School.
On the night, a significant amount of money was raised for the Garvan Institute of Medical Research through the Connie Johnson Fellowship in Breast Cancer Research.
The Australian upscale property award recipients are as follows:
Upscale Hotel: Hotel Kurrajong Canberra, Canberra, ACT and Sails in the Desert Hotel, Ayers Rock Resort, Yulara, NT
Upper-Upscale Hotel: Crown Metropol, VIC and Grand Hyatt Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC
Luxury Hotel: Park Hyatt Sydney, NSW
Australian Lodge: qualia, Hamilton Island, QLD
Business Hotel: Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney, NSW
Resort: One&Only Hayman Island, QLD
Day Spa: Spa qualia, qualia, Hamilton Island, QLD
To see the full winners list, including People Awards, visit HM Awards.
