6th Mena Travel Awards to honour hospitality excellence at Al Bustan Rotana Dubai

The distinctive black tie event will start with the 7:30 PM reception, followed by dinner and awards ceremony at 9: 00 PM at the Grand Rashidiya Ballroom of the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel.

Dr. Sam Saker, President of CHA (Consultants of Hospitality Administrators) International and organizer of the event, commented:

"This is the sixth year that Mena Travel Awards is held at the Al Bustan Rotana and I have chosen the hotel once again despite receiving numerous discounted offers from other hotels to host this prestigious event. Over the years, I have received great feedback about the food, the setting, warmth and professional service of the Al Bustan Rotana hospitality, which for me are reasons why I cannot explore other options. This hotel is definitely the home of the annual Mena Travel Awards."

Thomas Touma, Resident Manager of the Al Bustan Rotana, commented back, "It is our pleasure to host the 6th Mena Travel Awards once again. It is indeed a great challenge for us to host our fellow hoteliers and top executives from the tourism industry, but it is an honor for us to showcase the trademark Al Bustan Rotana hospitality. This year, we plan to surpass the quality of service we presented for the previous years and make this year's awards night truly memorable to both our guests and the organizers."

Created to celebrate the skill, creativity, ingenuity and success of the Middle East and North Africa's growing travel and tourism industry, the Mena Travel Awards will showcase over 54 winners in the specially devised sixth annual awards program.

"It is very important to recognize real talent and superior service in our industry to stimulate even higher standards and to applaud the effort made by so many. That is why we have very carefully designed the Mena Travel Awards to follow very specific procedures to ensure they are first class and have real merit," said Dr. Saker.

As usual, key to the judging criteria is the (150) electronic voting card that each entrant submitted. These will be completed equally by the entrant's selected end users, guests, customers and trade professionals, who are requested to state their preference along preset criteria / categories and score them accordingly in a 75 days voting period.

Successful entrants in each of the categories will be acknowledged as finalists and therefore considered the best in their category / industry sector. Adjudicators will then reveal the top three outright winners, Platinum, Gold and Silver, for each of the 18 categories, at the special gala dinner. All entrants are carefully judged by their end users, and then the over all voting outcome was audited / diagnosed by to ensure integrity.

Entrants also have the right to inspect, at any time, the final results of selected finalists and award winners.

"What makes these awards so important is that they cover all key travel and hospitality industry sectors" explained Dr. Saker. "This also acknowledges the tremendous breadth the whole industry offers today and its continued aim for excellence."

Candidates for the 18 Award categories cover 5 and 4 star hotels, airlines, spas (separately located or within hotels), golf courses, car rental, duty free, conference & convention centers, fine dining restaurants and tourism projects. The entrants must have been operating for 12 months prior to the entry deadline. Hence hotel soft openings between January-July 2008 and tourism projects operating since June 2008 were eligible. It is also possible to enter more than one category as there will be several awards which are suited multifaceted businesses / candidates, such as Best 5-star business / corporate hotel, - Best conference / convention hotel, - Best price value hotel.... Etc.

Being a winner of the sixth annual Mena Travel Awards is even more prestigious as the ceremony will be conducted in front of an audience of 700 ++ top industry figures at a sumptuous gala dinner. The four-course menu event also will include top entertainment as well as a lavish reception, which will be held at 7:00 pm with dinner served from 9:00 alongside the awards ceremony.

The Mena Travel Awards also offer excellent opportunities, for industry vendors and supplying companies, through specific sponsorship packages, to sponsor the event, the awards, or as an exclusive strategic partner, or simply conduct event program advertising.

All industry professionals are encouraged to attend the unique event at Al Bustan Rotana, Dubai on May 7th starting at 7:30 PM, and be part of a highly prestigious Oscar like ceremony.