OVER 40,000 UK HOSPITALITY BUSINESSES AWARDED THE 2015 TRIPADVISOR CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE AWARD

Over 40,000 UK Hospitality Businesses Awarded The 2015 TripAdvisor Certificate Of Excellence Award

London home to more winning businesses than any other city in world

May 19, 2015 - TripAdvisor®, the world's largest travel site*, today announced the 2015 Certificate of Excellence award recipients. A total of 40,464 hospitality businesses in the UK have been awarded this year – up from 31,325 in 2014.

This year is particularly good news for London, with the UK capital home to more award-winning businesses than any other city in the world.

Now in its fifth year, the award celebrates excellence in hospitality and is given to around ten percent of businesses on listed on TripAdvisor that consistently achieve great traveller reviews on the site. Certificate of Excellence winners include accommodations, eateries and attractions located all over the world that have continually delivered a superior customer experience.

As 2015 marks the fifth anniversary of the Certificate of Excellence award, TripAdvisor is excited to induct five-time award winners into the Hall of Fame. This special designation will be awarded to businesses that have earned a Certificate of Excellence for five consecutive years. These winners consist of only two percent of businesses on TripAdvisor and they will receive a special Hall of Fame certificate and window sticker to promote their accomplishment.

There are a total of 29,042 Hall of fame winners worldwide, including 3,799 in the UK. To qualify as a Hall of Fame winner, a business must have won the award in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

With 344 five consecutive year winners, London features the highest number of Hall of Fame winners of any destination in the country. Edinburgh is home to the second highest number of Hall of Fame winners in the UK with 145, and York ranks third with 61.

When looking just at the number of the 2015 Certificate of Excellence winners, London and Edinburgh again claim the top two spots among UK destinations with 3,210 and 732 respectively, while Glasgow places third with 457.

"TripAdvisor is pleased to honour exceptional hospitality businesses that have received consistent praise and recognition by travellers on the site,” said Marc Charron President, TripAdvisor for Business. “By putting a spotlight on businesses that are focused on delivering great service to customers, TripAdvisor not only helps drive an improvement to hospitality standards around the world, it also gives businesses both large and small the ability to shine and stand out from the competition.”

Top 10 UK cities with the highest number of 2015 Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame winners:

Rank	Town/City	Accommodations	Places to Eat	Attractions	Total
1	London	165	131	48	344
2	Edinburgh	72	61	12	145
3	York	40	16	5	61
=4	Glasgow	13	36	4	53
=4	Bath	29	18	6	53
=4	Blackpool	45	8	0	53
7	Liverpool	18	17	7	42
8	Brighton	21	15	0	36
9	Windermere	28	7	0	35
10	Torquay	26	8	0	34

Top 10 UK cities with the highest number of 2015 Certificate of Excellence winners:

Rank	Town/City	Accommodations	Places to Eat	Attractions	Total
1	London	454	2198	558	3210
2	Edinburgh	177	425	130	732
3	Glasgow	38	343	76	457
4	Blackpool	249	76	26	351
5	Manchester	41	236	46	323
6	Liverpool	54	189	75	318
7	Bristol	33	213	49	295
8	York	83	154	54	291
9	Birmingham	46	187	44	277
10	Brighton	45	156	43	244

Among the Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame winners are the Milestone Hotel in London, Summer Lodge Country House in Dorset and The Duke of Richmond hotel in Guernsey, all of which belong to the Red Carnation Hotel group.

“Red Carnation Hotels are thrilled to have received 12 Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame awards. Winning this award year after year, together with the high rankings our hotels enjoy, has had a very positive impact on our business, helping us stand out from the competition in each of the locations we operate in,” saidJonathan Raggett, Managing Director, Red Carnation Hotels. “We are firm believers in the transparency of online guest reviews, which challenges us every day to deliver exceptional service and incredible guest experiences.”

When selecting Certificate of Excellence winners, TripAdvisor uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the honorees that takes into account the quality, quantity and recency of reviews and opinions submitted by travellers on TripAdvisor over a 12-month period as well as a business’s tenure and ranking on the Popularity Index on the site. To qualify for the award, a business must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five, have a minimum number of reviews and must have been listed on TripAdvisor for at least 12 months.

TripAdvisor provides businesses with a suite of free resources to help winning properties showcase their success. For example, all winners receive a Certificate of Excellence, which they can display at their establishment, an online badge for use on their website as well as guidelines and best practices on how to promote the achievement locally.

For more information on the Certificate of Excellence programme as well as access to promotional services and tips, please visit the TripAdvisor Management Centre.