FAQ

What is the Villegiature Awards concept ?

The main concept of the Villegiature Awards is to reward through prominent journalists contributing to leading media all over the world the very best hotels in the whole world.  It means Villegiature Awards  enable hotels managers to have a direct contact with 22 key journalists contributing to those major powerful medias and at a very reasonable annual cost. This makes the Villegiature Awards unique in the world and powerful.

While in 2020 COVID-19 heavily penalizes hotel activity worldwide, what is the reaction of the Prix Villégiature Awards?

Since many hotels were facing administrative closures that prevented their normal operations until last summer 2021, the 2020 edition became the 2020-2021 edition. Hoteliers already registered since late 2019 and early 2020 had the opportunity to meet and communicate with journalists until June 2021. The announcement of the results of this exceptional period 2020-2021 and the presentation of the trophies were held, in the heart of Paris, in a magnificent mansion facing the Eiffel Tower, last Monday, October 18, 2021.

Which country are the Villegiature Awards from ?

Our headquarters are located in Paris in France (near Eiffel Tower). Meanwhile, the great majority of the journalists jury members are not French. We have American, Brasilian, Chinese, Japanese, English, German, Arabian, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Australian, Russian and of course French journalists : all are clearly identified (see our website : “jury”).

Indeed, nearly all powerful international magazines, TV, radios and media in general have an office with some correspondents and/or representatives in Paris.

Paris is located in the very heart of Europe and Charles de Gaulle airport has easy direct links with all capitals in the world. So for us it is easy to gather all the journalists of the jury regularly in our Paris offices for meetings and discussions about the registered hotels.

When did Villegiature Awards start ?

It started in 2003 , more than 19 years ago, at start with only 12 journalists, and at that time the Villegiature Awards covered only European hotels. Then we gradually opened to hotels in Africa, in the Middle-East and in Asia. Today Villegiature Awards counts 22 journalists covering all important media all over the world. 2022 Villegiature Awards edition is our 20^th edition and we now cover hotels all over the world.

How does the jury vote ?

It is only the journalists jury members who vote by secret ballot during jury meetings at our European offices, and they all scrutinize the votes cast in total independence. Nobody else vote.
Organizers do not vote.
In most other hospitality or travel awards, voters are very often undefined hotels clients, magazine readers pressed by hotels managers or pressed by magazine editors or managers to vote for hotels they short-list, it also happens often that Internet web visitors can vote – in fact as many times as they want – for their favorite candidates, sometimes under different names : those results are by then easy to manipulate.

At Villegiature Awards, it is totally different : each participating hotel manager or communication manager is put in direct contact with all the journalists jury members and we help the hotels managers to contact them. Those prominent journalists and opinion leaders have to be convinced.

Why do I have to pay a fee to participate to the Villegiature Awards ?

The Villegiature Awards are not simply an award in itself, to display at front door or on a chimney, but a real communication tool to help the hotels and their communication office to be in contact all year long with prominent journalists from all over the world who would not have the opportunity to know their hotel and reciprocally.
The award in itself is not a target. But getting several articles and press presence in major magazines and media participating to Villegiature Awards is the real target of most participating hotels managers. For one reason : it brings them back real business and new clients sometimes coming from very far away countries. The fee asked at Villegiature Awards is corresponding to all those communication services and to our organisation costs.

Most of the other hospitality awards require several fees : one for resgistration, one for displaying their logo, one for participating to the Award ceremony and dinner, some even ask an additional fee for having several seats at a table. Even some require to the hotels an annual significant fee for having the right to use their logo on their hotel website or on their Hotel e-mail signatures. When totalizing all the fees paid, it is largely superior to the Villegiature Awards one.
At Villegiature Awards, we only require an annual fee at the beginning of the edition, at registration time, and there is no other fee to pay afterwards : when the hotel is nominated, we send our logo without asking any additional fee, when the hotel managers participate to the Villegiature Awards ceremony, their presence at ceremony event and dinner cocktail is free of charge (2 to 5 people per hotel attend the event )
See our website : “PHOTOS 2020-2021“).

Is it possible to get preferential conditions when registering for several years ?

As of 2020 a new formula is launched : it is  the « VM » formula, it stands for « Villegiature Member »  and it enables any hotel in development, under refurbishment, renovation and/or pre-opening process to suscribe the “VM” allowing to participate in the Awards for 2 successive years in 3 categories with a very reduction of more than -30%. By suscribing to the VM formula each participant is assured that all its creations, novelties and other developments are regularly transmitted to journalists members of the jury of the current year.

How could I increase the visibility of my hotel with the jury ? How are processed the journalists visits?

In order to increase its visibility among the jury and to be nominated, the hotel is advised to include in its annual budgeted press trips 2 or 3 journalists jury members.
Some jury members can visit the hotels though their pre-scheduled visits with their media, some others call us to organize an announced visit and some visit in blind without announcing themselves as jury members.