READERS' TRAVEL AWARDS 2005

We asked you to nominate your favourite leisure hotels outside the UK in five geographical regions. In Europe, you put the Hotel Cipriani in Venice first, awarding it near-perfect scores for location (99.78), ambience (98.99) and standard/comfort of accommodation (97.65). In Sicily, the San Domenico Palace Hotel easily outclassed the competition for leisure facilities (94.17) and value for money (91.67), while the Hotel Arts Barcelona received marks over 85 in all of the nine criteria.

In The Americas and the Caribbean, Mandarin Oriental, Miami is this year's winner with top scores for standard/comfort of accommodation (94.56) and service/staff (95.33), while Sandy Lane on Barbados was voted best for location (97.04) and ambience (92.52), and Bellagio in Las Vegas was praised for its shopping (89.52) and leisure facilities (92.38).

Ngorogoro Crater Lodge in Tanzania is your favourite hotel in the Middle East, Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands, with the highest scores for location (98.77), service/ staff (96.88) and ambience/decor (98.64). Last years winner, Singita Private Game Reserve in South Africa, did exceptionally well in all criteria, and got top marks for food/restaurants (98) and environmental friendliness (99.98!), while One&Only Royal Mirage in Dubai was singled out for its leisure facilities (94.78) and North Island in Seychelles praised for its standard/comfort of accommodation (96.87).

Your preferred hotel in Asia and the Indian Subcontinent is The Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur, which received the highest scores for its desert location (98.77) and opulent ambience (96.65). The Datai in Malaysia impressed with its standard/comfort of accommodation (97.50), and Raffles Hotel in Singapore with its service/staff (93.85).

In Australasia and the South Pacific, you applauded Longitude 131° at Uluru in Australia for its environmental friendliness (95) and stunning location (97.50), The Observatory Hotel in Sydney for its standard/comfort of accommodation (96), and the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney for its service/staff (93.33). Blanket Bay (93.33) and Huka Lodge (90) in New Zealand offered the best value for money, and you showed a healthy appetite for the food at Hayman resort in Queensland (92.50).

You rave about the food and service at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons (95.43 and 97.53 respectively) in Oxfordshire, the standard/comfort of accommodation at Chewton Glen in the New Forest (97), the leisure facilities at golfers' paradise The Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire (96.70), and the scenic location of Cliveden in Buckinghamshire (94). But ultimately what you want is the best of all worlds, which is why London's Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park takes the top spot. It gets high scores across the board, including 88 for shopping facilities and 87.50 for family friendliness. One criterion for which you marked all the hotels down was value for money, although Whatley Manor in Wiltshire mustered a respectable 85 and Cowley Manor in Gloucestershire an 81.54.

You can't complain about the Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris: it attracted scores above 85 for all of the 10 different criteria by which we asked you to rate your nominated hotels, with top marks for standard/comfort of accommodation (96.80), food/restaurants (95.20) and location (96). You reckon the conference facilities at the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore are better than anywhere else (94.28) and the ambience at the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore is near perfect (96.67), but The Emirates Towers Hotel in Dubai wins on value for money (88.75) and the business services/systems at the Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur are just the ticket (89.33).

What's the big deal about London hotels? Well, you were won over by the Four Seasons Hotel London on Park Lane for its combination of unbeatable standard/comfort of accommodation (95.56) and service/staff (96.85), not to mention impressive business systems/services (91.11). Claridge's might have the edge when it comes to ambience (95.30) and food/restaurants (94.96), but for value for money, The Carlton Tower comes out on top (85). Elsewhere, The Balmoral in Edinburgh was voted best for location (91.22) and two Malmaison hotels scored highly on value for money (82.86 in Manchester and 81.33 in Newcastle).