Jaunted - Tag: Awards

Virgin America, Singapore Airlines Take Tops In Condé Nast Traveler Awards

JetSetCD — 2009-10-16T09:50:58-05:00

Last night in New York (the unfriendliest city in the nation, according to results), Cond� Nast Traveler held the awards reception for their 2009 Readers Choice Awards, hosted by Stanley Tucci and Mary Louise Parker and seeing big wigs like Richard Branson and David Cush (of Virgin America) in attendance.

This year, 25,000 of CN Traveler's readers voted for their favorites in such categories as best cruise line, best Asian city, and even top car rental agencies. While with some winners, we wonder how they even got on the ballot (Capri is one of the best European islands? Maybe 20 years ago), we absolutely saw no competition for some of the winners (Singapore Airlines took tops in international airlines again}.

While reading the winners after the jump, keep in mind that Traveler's demographic skews a bit older and affluent, so seeing the Hotel du Palais in Biarritz take Top European Resort even though it feels like no one's been there in eighty years is not so surprising, as is the fact that the Four Seasons positively cleaned up in some hotel categories.

Chicago: 2009 Travelzoo Awards Give Top Honors to American Airlines

JetSetCD — 2009-04-03T13:30:46-05:00

A photo from the 2008 Tzoos

Have you ever had a fantasy where several skimpily-clad flight attendants try to get you drunk on cocktails named "Zoo-tinis" and then hand you a giant letter "Z" as a reward for being awesome? If you were lucky enough to be British Airways or Royal Caribbean Cruises on Wednesday night, then it wouldn't have been a fantasy at all.

At the Travelzoo Awards 2009 at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, the "Top 20" email travel alerts newsletter reached into its bag of deal providers and picked the best of the best to bestow with a "Tzoo" award.

Looking at the list of winners, we can't help but wonder "WTF" for some, and utter a "hip-hip-hooray" for others. We've listed the most interesting of the awards for you below, and we're sure you'll recognize some of the major deal players who grace more than just Travelzoo with their low, low prices (we're talking about you, Megabus and Qantas).

Get Your City on the RTW Monopoly Board

amandak — 2008-02-07T09:15:01-05:00

We love a good voting contest, and the nastier and more competitive it is the better. Which is why we were happy to find out about the upcoming edition of our favorite board game, Monopoly. The "Here and Now: World Edition" is coming soon. Picking just 22 cities for the game is gonna get ugly.

Before the factories can start churning out the new Monopoly board, it's up to the general public to decide which world cities go on the board and where. The top 20 cities as voted on the website will be allocated to spots on the board according to their ranking on February 28. The final favorite city will get the most expensive spot. (After that, there are two wild-card spots available.)

So if you have a niche kind of city that's your favorite, head to the website and do a write-in vote for it. From February 29, there'll be one more voting stage to see which two write-in cities will win the cheapest spots on the board. And then we'll be able to throw the dice and head to jail all while we're doing a round-the-world trip.

Related Stories:
· World Cities Vie for Monopoly's Boardwalk [Intelligent Travel]
· Monopoly World Edition [Official Site]

[Photo: Lion's Mane]

Sydney: Number One City: Sydney is Friendly

amandak — 2007-10-17T09:15:01-05:00

A bunch of Sydney-siders (as they like to call themselves) are giving themselves a good pat on the back this month after their fair city was voted numero uno on the Condé Nast Traveler list of top cities.

With a score of 87.7, Sydney's nearest competitor was Florence, with an 86.8. Magazine readers who voted said Sydney had "ambiance and friendliness", proving that having the tallest buildings in the world or the biggest range of souvenir key chains aren't actually the key focus of travelers.

Whether or not the win actually translates into more business for Sydney isn't clear: After all, most of the votes came from North America, and that's pretty far from Down Under. But the Aussies don't care and have splashed the news everywhere, hoping that anyone would listen--in a friendly way, of course.

Related Stories:
· Sydney Top in Tourist Poll [SMH]
· Travel Stories in Sydney [Jaunted]
· Sydney Hotel Reviews [HotelChatter]

[Photo: Str1ke]

Budgies Name Best LCCs of 2007

amandak — 2007-09-24T09:30:01-05:00

With its impressive-sounding name, the World Low Cost Airlines Congress wound up in London last week, and ended with the awarding of the not-so-impressive sounding Budgie$. Ryanair came home with the prize for best low cost carrier.

The awards, despite sounding like those tiny tweeting birds, are in fact industry awards given to the best low cost carriers. Reps from 130 different airlines waited to hear if they'd got a gong, but only 11 major awards were given out, so plenty went home empty-handed.

So who were the winners on the night? Well, the award for the Best Newcomer is one we agree with, going to Spanish LCC ClickAir, and the best LCC website went to the niche airline Iceland Express (the site sure does have some pretty pictures).

And as we mentioned, the big award for Best Low Cost Carrier went to Ryanair, despite its inclination to charge passengers for virtually anything. There's no accounting for taste.

Related Stories:
· The Budgie$ [Official Site]
· Budgie Awards Results [ClickPress]
· Iceland Express [Official Site]
· LCCs Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: aromano]

Pimp Your Air NZ Plane

amandak — 2007-05-16T09:29:20-05:00

We can't believe we missed our chance to be on Air New Zealand's special MTV flight last month, but the good news is you can still have a go at their online Pimp My Plane promotion. The ad just won an award for the best online ad campaign in the People's Choice NetGuide Web Awards.

If you want to pimp a plane you can click on a range of paint jobs, wings, rims and tints and "bling" to make the Air NZ plane look, well, completely unrecognizable, but pretty cool. If only you could pimp it and then actually ride on it too.

[Photo: captain doodle]

Related Stories:
· Web Awards Winners [NetGuide NZ]
· Pimp My Plane [Official Site]

Giddy for Gold Logies, But No One Goes Yarra

ced138 — 2007-05-07T17:37:47-05:00

Last night, in Melbourne, Australia, the self proclaimed sporting capital of the world, pop culture rag TV Week hosted its Gold Logies, Australia's version of the Emmys.

Kate Ritchie, the Susan Lucci of Aussie soaps, took home the award for Most Popular Personality on TV. Ritchie grew up playing Sally Fletcher for the last 19 years on Home and Away. The show, naturally, follows the lives and loves of residents in a suburban small town.

The ceremony also honored the late Crocodile Hunter for his contributions to documentary film. Terri Irwin and her franchise, er, daughter Bindi accepted the award on Steve's behalf.

Few Hollywood stars showed up for the event. Jessica Alba came to support two of her Fantastic Four nominees, Michael Chiklis and Ioan Gruffudd. Alba blazed down the runway faster than The Human Torch, reports The West Australian.

Sadly, no one took a plunge in Melbourne's famous upside down river.