NEW YORK, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ — Conde Nast Traveler today announced the results of its 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards, ranking the best cities, islands, cruise lines, airlines, hotels, resorts, and car rental agencies worldwide. The awards appear in the November issue (on newsstands October 20) and are derived from the Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice survey. This year, 25,008 readers voted on more than 10,000 properties and destinations.
“The big news is that, undaunted by tough times, our readers are still out there, discovering the coolest experiences and reaffirming an enduring passion for travel,” said Conde Nast Traveler Editor in Chief Klara Glowczewska. “It’s clear that our readers are as devoted to the worldwide diversity of travel as ever.”
The full list of winners is on cntraveler.com at: cntraveler.com/readerschoice
The results of the 2009 Readers Choice Awards reveal some surprising news:
– The friendliest U.S. cities are Charleston, Savannah, and Honolulu, while the least friendly, by an uncomfortable margin is New York (54/100–ouch)
– Ubud, Bali, is the friendliest town of all
– Santa Fe, New Mexico, bumped New York City out of the #3 spot for best
U.S. city to visit. San Francisco remained #1 and New York City slid to #4.
– San Francisco takes the Best U.S. Cities category for a whopping 17th year in a row, a feat never before accomplished by any destination or property. One reason: its worldwide high restaurant score.
– Ubud dethrones Bangkok as the Best Asian City. Bangkok held the top spot since the category debuted in 2004.
– Newcomer Virgin America was once again named the Best Domestic Airline, for the second year in a row, with JetBlue Airways at #2.
– Singapore Airlines is again the #1 International Route Airline, and has led this category for 21 of the past 22 years. (Only Swissair, in 1994, has taken the top spot from Singapore Airlines.)
– The growing number of mega-ship cruise lines merit their own category for the first time, led by Celebrity.
– With so many superb hotels with fewer than 50 rooms, this year’s survey has three new categories: Small Hotels in Europe, Small Hotels in the United States, and Small Resorts in the United States with the Kenwood Inn and Spa taking first place.
– Fully one-third of the hotels and resorts on our Top 100 list began their journey on our Hot List of the world’s best new properties, published each May, confirming that Conde Nast Traveler readers are ahead of the curve and connoisseurs of the cutting edge.
Below are results for the top three winners in each category.
Top Cities United States
1. San Francisco
2. Charleston, SC
3. Santa Fe