Conde Nast Traveler Announces Winners Of The 2013 Readers' Choice Awards The "Best Of The Best" Of Travel

NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Conde Nast Traveler today announced the results of its 26^th annual Readers' Choice Awards, ranking the best cities, islands, cruise lines, airlines, hotels, and resorts in the world. This year, a record-breaking 79,268 readers participated in the survey, almost double the number of survey takers in 2012. These dedicated and discerning travelers cast 1.3 million votes for more than 16,000 properties around the world.

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The results? The most comprehensive "best of the best" travel awards ever. So many, in fact, that Conde Nast Traveler has introduced 15 new categories for popular destinations, including the Best Hotels in San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Charleston, and New Orleans, to name a few. In total, there are 1,351 winners of the 2013 Readers' Choice Awards. Some list highlights:

• Top 100 in the World: It's a tie for first place between La Residence in South Africa and Lodge at Kauri Cliffs in Maturi Bay, New Zealand, which both scored a near-perfect 99.2 on the Top 100.
• Top U.S. City: Charleston, South Carolina, is the No. 1 city in the U.S. for the third year in a row!
• Top U.S. Island: Maui is the top island in the U.S. for the 20^th year in a row!
• Top Hotel in Boston: XV Beacon.
• Top Hotel in New York City: The Peninsula.
• Top Hotel in Texas: Mokara Hotel & Spa.
• Top Hotel in Chicago: Waldorf Astoria.
• Top Hotel in Northern California: Auberge du Soleil.
• Top Hotel in San Francisco: St. Regis.
• Top Resort in Southern California: Resort at Pelican Hill.
• Top Resort in Hawaii: Four Seasons Hualalai at Historic Ka'upulehu.
• Top Resort in the Southwest: Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa.
• Top U.S.-Based Airline: Virgin America.
• Top Small-Ship Cruise Line: Seabourn.
• Top Midsize-Ship Cruise Line: Crystal Cruises.
• Top Large-Ship Line: Disney.
• Top River Cruise Line: Grand Circle Cruise Line.

Methodology: The Conde Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Survey, begun in 1988, is available through a secure Web site at condenasttraveler.com/vote. This year's tabulations of 79,268 responses were done by Equation Research. Organization: The questionnaire contains lists of candidates in various categories (Cities, Hotels, etc.). Candidates must receive a required minimum number of responses to be eligible for a Readers' Choice Award. Evaluation: Individual candidates are judged on a set of criteria relevant to their category, based on a standard five-point scale: excellent, very good, good, fair, and poor. The percentage of excellent and very good ratings determines the final score published here. For example, in Baja, the One&Only Palmilla's score of 97.2 represents the average of excellent and very good ratings it received from all respondents for all criteria relevant to resorts: Activities, Food/Dining, Location, Overall Design, Rooms, and Service.

The Readers' Choice Awards are announced in the November issue of Conde Nast Traveler, on newsstands and online October 15, 2013. For the complete list of 2013 Readers' Choice Awards, visit www.cntraveler.com/RCA

SOURCE Conde Nast Traveler