Hot on the heels of the Choice Hotels Asia-Pac 2022 Hotel of the Year and special awards announcements, the group is delighted announce the Quality Hotel Wangaratta Gateway has been awarded the International Best of Choice Award for 2022.
This International Award recognises the Wangaratta hotel as a stand-out Quality branded property and places it among the best in the Choice Hotels International network of over 2000 Quality hotels globally.
Formerly the International Hotel of the Year Awards, the Best of Choice Awards recognise outstanding operators across each of the group’s brands: Ascend Hotel Collection, Clarion, Quality, and Comfort.
Choice Hotels Asia-Pac CEO Trent Fraser said he was extremely proud to celebrate Quality Hotel Wangaratta Gateway’s success on a global level.
“Owners Wendy and Peter Lester have been part of the Choice Hotels group for many years and they set the benchmark in customer service excellence and their commitment to continuous improvement.
“I am delighted to see this exceptional hotel recognised at an international level as one of the Best of Choice properties,” he said.
This award follows a successful year for the Hotel, which was recognised in the Choice Hotels Asia-Pac Gold Awards and won the Quality brand category in the group’s Hotel of the Year Awards for 2022. The hotel also won the 2022 Victoria Tourism Awards 4 – 4.5 Star Deluxe Accommodation Category.
Quality Hotel Wangaratta Gateway owner Wendy Lester said it meant a great deal to the team to receive recognition for their hard work over the last year.
“We’re all very excited; it was totally out of the blue this year,” she said.
Ms Lester said recognition was appreciated following the tough conditions of the past three years and she was proud to have managed to keep the team together during those times and to see the business flourishing in the “new normal”.
“It has certainly been busier in some areas this year, and we are now nearly at the end of a major refurbishment of the hotel. All our rooms were completed last year, and we also refurbished our Atrium Restaurant and completed the beautification of our pool area,” she said.
The hotel has recently re-opened its accessibility rooms with a very high-end finish and new bathrooms and introduced Electric Bikes for guests to hire as part of a broader sustainability program.
“Improving our sustainability initiatives is the next big project which will begin in the coming months,” Ms Lester said.
The Best of Choice award winners were formally recognised and celebrated at the Choice Hotels International “Unstoppable” Convention in Las Vegas at the end of April.
