A LUXURY hotel and spa in Gloucestershire has won two major awards in the world travel "Oscars"

The World Travel Awards 2011’s ‘UK Leading Country House Hotel’ and the ‘UK’s Leading Spa Hotel’ awards have both gone to Ellenborough Park in Southam near Cheltenham.

The hotel, which officially opened in March this year, beat several of the UK’s more established hotels to the top prize, including Calcot Manor in Gloucestershire, Babington House in Somerset, and Chewton Glen in Hampshire.

A spokesman for the hotel said it was a major achievement for the team at Ellenborough Park, who have only been together since the start of the year following a three year multi-million pound restoration.

The World Travel Awards is labelled by The Wall Street Journal as the ‘Oscars’ of the travel and tourism industry. In its 17th consecutive year, the awards saw hundreds of thousands industry professionals participating in the voting process this year alone.

Graham Vass, Ellenborough Park’s general manager, said: “Winning two awards is an incredible testimony to the quality of the team and the vision of the architects and owners of Ellenborough Park. We are honoured to be praised by our peers from around the globe. This recognition will make us even more determined to continue to provide a high level of quality and remain as Gloucestershire’s first choice luxury hotel and spa.”

Graham Cooke, The World Travel Awards’ chairman and founder, said: “There are many awards throughout the world but only one World Travel Award. This year, a phenomenal 213,000 industry professionals participated in the voting process, which is scrupulously monitored and independently audited. The awards are extremely prestigious and are proven to substantially heighten a travel and tourism industry professional’s international profile.”

Recently, Ellenborough Park was also awarded a Wine Spectator ‘Award of Excellence’ for its 420 variety-strong wine list.

Ellenborough Park is part of the Mantis Group which own, manage or operate a private collection of award-winning properties worldwide.

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