Spa Executive_MARCH-2021-V3

TRENDS
FORBES TRAVEL GUIDE’S 2021
STAR AWARD
WINNERS
Forbes Travel Guide (FTG) has announced the
winners of its 63rd annual Star Awards.
The 2021 list of honorees features 283 Five-Star, 576 Four-Star
and 438 Recommended hotels; 73 Five-Star, 136 Four-Star and
77 Recommended restaurants; and 90 Five-Star and 200 Four-
Star spas worldwide. This year’s awards also include a number
of special accolades for individual workers and brands in the
hospitality industry.
EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR AWARDS
The second annual Employee of the
Year awards, sponsored by Frette,
honor the stand-out team members
who have gone the extra mile in
service of guests and co-workers.
The 2021 Hotel Employee of the
Year is Hisashi Sugimoto, master
bartender at The Tokyo Station
Hotel. Eighty-year-old Sugimoto has
been with the Tokyo Station Hotel
since 1958 and invented many of
the original cocktails at the hotel’s
Bar Oak. Colleagues say Sugimoto’s
passion for making guests happy
has kept them coming back for six
decades.
The 2021 Spa Employee of the Year
is Najla Ceman, therapist, The Spa
at Four Seasons Hotel New York
Downtown. Forbes reports that,
when the spa closed for nine months
due to COVID, the 20-year industry
veteran became certified in several
health-and-safety-related courses
to ensure she was prepared to meet
new demands upon reopening.
HOSPITALITY STARS OF THE YEAR
AWARDS
Forbes Travel Guide also introduced
the Hospitality Stars of the Year
awards, sponsored by Frette, in 2021.
These winners include:
Wellness Star of the Year
Hotel Esencia, Riviera Maya,
Mexico. Hotel
Esencia introduced a unique new
room category, Rooftop Wellness
suites, that come with a Mirror virtual
fitness trainer, a Peloton bicycle, a
Technogym weight set, yoga mats
and an aromatherapy steam shower.
The innovative accommodations
also embrace the jungle setting with
rooftop terraces, outdoor showers,
solariums and private pools.
Philanthropic Star of the Year award
The Berkeley, London
The Berkely took the opportunity to
provide drive-through meal service to
emergency services and vulnerable
members of the population during
the first COVID shutdown. Team
members volunteered their time to
participate. Five hundred meals were
served daily to emergency services,
and 250 meals a day were given to
the elderly and vulnerable people in
the community, in partnership with
Westminster Council. In total, more
than 50,000 meals were provided.
SOME
HIGHLIGHTS
Four new Five-Star hotels
were named in Tokyo for a
total of nine in the city: The
Capitol Hotel Tokyu; The Prince
Gallery Tokyo Kioicho, A Luxury
Collection Hotel; The Ritz-
Carlton, Tokyo; and Takanawa
Hanakohro.
Five cities got their first
Five-Star hotels: Hilton Head
(Montage Palmetto Bluff),
Houston (The Post Oak Hotel
at Uptown Houston), Montreal
(Four Seasons Hotel Montreal),
Philadelphia (Four Seasons
Hotel Philadelphia at Comcast
Center) and Seattle (Four
Seasons Hotel Seattle).
Three new Five-Star winners
were named in Los Cabos:
Esperanza, Auberge Resorts
Collection; Chileno Bay Resort
& Residences, Auberge Resorts
Collection; and Auberge Spa
Chileno Bay.
Scotland’s Balmoral, a Rocco
Forte Hotel is the country’s first
Five-Star hotel.
The cities around the world
with the largest number of
Five-Star hotels include London
(19), Macau (13), Paris (13),
New York (10) and Tokyo (9).
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