Frequently Asked Questions
Travel Awards — Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about travel industry awards — what they are, who qualifies, how judging works, and how recognition transforms travel brands.
Section 1 of 3
About Travel Awards
Understanding what travel industry awards are, why they exist, and how they benefit the industry as a whole.
Travel industry awards are independent recognition programmes that evaluate and celebrate outstanding performance, innovation, and service quality across the travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors. They provide external validation of excellence, serving as credible quality signals for consumers, trade partners, investors, and talent. The most prestigious awards — including the International Travel Awards — use independent expert judging panels that assess nominated organisations against published, objective criteria. Award recognition tells the market: this organisation has been independently verified as delivering exceptional standards.
Travel awards provide measurable business benefits at multiple levels. Direct booking conversion increases when the award seal is displayed prominently on the property website, OTA listing, and social channels — studies show trust signals like awards increase conversion by 15-30%. Media coverage of award wins generates backlinks and organic search improvements. Staff recruitment is easier when a hotel or travel brand carries award recognition. Premium pricing is easier to justify when backed by independent expert validation. Award-winning brands consistently report significant uplift in enquiries, partnership proposals, and bookings in the months following announcement.
The International Travel Awards accepts nominations from the full breadth of the travel and hospitality industry. This includes hotels of all categories (luxury, boutique, budget, serviced apartments, heritage properties), airlines (international carriers, regional airlines, low-cost carriers), resorts, cruise lines, travel agencies, tour operators, DMCs, MICE operators, tourism boards, destination marketing organisations, travel technology companies, car rental firms, wellness retreats, safari operators, and individual hospitality leaders. If your organisation operates in any dimension of travel or hospitality, there is a relevant category for you.
The International Travel Awards uses independent expert judging panels rather than public voting. Our panel comprises over 200 independent travel and hospitality professionals — hotel executives, travel journalists, tourism board officials, airline industry veterans, and luxury travel consultants — who evaluate nominations based on documented evidence of excellence. This approach ensures award integrity and that the recognition reflects genuine achievement rather than the marketing capacity to mobilise a voting audience. Awards based purely on public voting can be gamed by large social media followings, which undermines their credibility as quality signals.
Award recognition provides several significant SEO and digital marketing benefits. Press releases distributed to international travel media generate authoritative backlinks. The award programme website links directly to winner profiles. Industry publications covering the winners provide natural editorial links. The winner seal on your website adds trust signals that improve OTA listing and Google Business Profile conversion. Award-related content — press releases, news articles, social announcements — creates a natural and sustainable link-building programme that is impossible to replicate through paid activity alone.
Section 2 of 3
Eligibility & Nomination
Who can nominate, what qualifies, and what you need to know before submitting your entry.
Absolutely. The International Travel Awards includes categories appropriate for businesses of all sizes. A boutique 12-room luxury villa in Bali competes in different categories from a global hotel chain — we ensure each category is structured so that businesses compete with like-sized peers. Many of our most celebrated winners are independent boutique properties, small specialist tour operators, and boutique travel agencies that deliver extraordinary quality without the marketing budget of global brands. Small businesses often have the most compelling stories to tell in their nominations.
Yes — organisations demonstrating excellence across multiple dimensions can enter and win in several categories simultaneously. A luxury hotel group might win Best Luxury Hotel, Best Spa, and Best Sustainable Initiative in the same year. An airline could win Best International Airline and Best Business Class. Each category is judged independently. Winning multiple awards amplifies the marketing and credibility benefits significantly and provides broader media story angles for PR campaigns.
Any organisation operating in the travel, tourism, or hospitality sector is potentially eligible for the International Travel Awards. There are no minimum size, revenue, age, or geographic requirements. What matters is demonstrating genuine excellence in your specific sector — outstanding service quality, meaningful innovation, compelling sustainability practices, or significant industry leadership. If you deliver exceptional travel or hospitality experiences, you are eligible. If you are unsure which category is most appropriate, contact awards@goldentreeawards.com and our team will advise.
Nomination fees apply for the International Travel Awards. These fees cover the cost of independent expert judging, trophy production, ceremony organisation, media distribution, and winner marketing support. Fees vary by category and entry level. The investment is typically recovered many times over through the business benefits of winning — media coverage, booking uplift, and brand value enhancement. Contact awards@goldentreeawards.com or call +971585862014 for current fee information.
Regional travel awards recognise excellence within specific geographic markets — Asia, Europe, Middle East, Americas, Africa, Oceania — with judging panels that have deep knowledge of those specific markets. Global awards represent best-in-class across all world regions. At the International Travel Awards, regional winners advance to global judging panels, meaning global winners truly represent the world's finest in each category. Winning at regional level is already a highly significant credential; winning at global level is the ultimate travel industry recognition.
Section 3 of 3
Process & Judging
How the judging process works, what winners receive, and everything about the gala ceremony.
The International Travel Awards follows a rigorous multi-stage evaluation process. Nominations pass through initial qualifying review to confirm eligibility and completeness, then enter expert panel scoring against published judging criteria. Scores are aggregated across the regional panel with weighting for category-specific expertise. Shortlists are announced publicly, followed by a final international panel review before winners are confirmed. The process is designed to ensure complete independence from the nomination and commercial functions of the awards programme.
The International Travel Awards evaluation criteria include: service excellence standards and documented quality evidence, innovation and industry leadership, guest or client satisfaction data (reviews, surveys, repeat booking rates), sustainability and environmental practices, brand reputation and international reach, staff training and development investment, financial performance and growth trajectory, and overall contribution to raising standards in the travel industry. Nominations that provide specific, measurable, documented evidence score significantly higher than those making general claims.
The International Travel Awards operates on an annual cycle. Nominations can be submitted year-round at goldentreeawards.com/award-nomination. The main intake period typically runs for several months, followed by an 8-12 week judging period, shortlist announcements, final judging, and the annual gala ceremony. The 2026 gala ceremony is at the Westin Marina Hotel, Dubai on 14 November 2026. Nominees receive status updates throughout the process via email from the awards team.
International Travel Award winners receive a premium crystal and gold trophy for in-property or office display, an official winner's certificate, the globally recognised digital winner seal licensed for use across all marketing channels (website, OTA listings, social media, printed collateral, email signatures), a press release distributed to international travel media through our media partner network, a dedicated winner profile page on the International Travel Awards website, social media announcements to our global audience, and an invitation to the gala ceremony in Dubai.
Attendance at the gala ceremony is not mandatory to receive your award — winners who cannot attend in person receive their trophy and certificate by courier. However, attending provides enormous value: live media coverage, professional photography with your award, peer networking with 400+ travel industry leaders, direct social media content creation, and the opportunity for business development conversations with industry partners who attend specifically to meet award-winning brands. The 2026 ceremony is at the Westin Marina Hotel, Dubai on 14 November 2026, 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM.