Founded | 1977 |
---|---|
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Headquarters location | 50 Addison Avenue, London |
Distribution | Littlehampton Book Services (UK) [1] Innovative Logistics (US) [2] |
Key people | Adam Raphael, Caroline Raphael |
Publication types | Hotel guides |
Official website | www.goodhotelguide.com |
The Good Hotel Guide is an annual book publication, founded in 1977, listing and describing what they profess to be the finest hotels in Great Britain and Ireland. It also publishes a Continental Europe edition and a combined Great Britain and Western Europe guide book. [3] [4] The company has its headquarters at 50 Addison Avenue, London. The Daily Telegraph in 2006 said of The Good Hotel Guide: 'The clear leader in recommending hotels of quality and character while not accepting payment for inclusion or free hospitality.' [5]
The hotels which are included within the book are recommended by readers, and are often supported by an anonymous professional inspection to affirm that the hotel meets the high standard that is claimed. [5]
The books are usually divided into England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and list the hotels which are included by place name in alphabetical order rather than hotel order. [6] The book shows a strong bias toward small country house hotels and old buildings which have a higher degree of eccentricity or originality and character rather than city skyscraper type hotels. [6]
The book also annually offers considerable voucher incentives to readers; [7] the 2011 edition contained £150 worth of discount vouchers for hotels included in the book. The most prolific editor of the book is Hilary Rubenstein who edited the books in the 1980s and 1990s. [8] Caroline Raphael has been the most prolific editor since the late 1990s, often with her husband, award-winning journalist Adam Raphael, although very recent editions (2010 and 2011) are edited by Adam not Caroline, with D. Balmer.
The Good Hotel Guide awards what it believes to be the top ten very best hotels in the country with a César Award which is described as "Oscars for the hotel industry". [9] [10] [11] The first awards were given in 1986. Hotels which are recipients of this award often display this award or mention it on their websites as a sign of top quality and approval. As of 2002 the awards given are as follows: [6]
Penally Abbey is an old rectory, now the Penally Abbey Country House Hotel and Restaurant overlooking Carmarthen Bay in the village of Penally, about 1.5 miles from Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was once owned by the Jameson family of Irish whiskey distillers.
Adam Eliot Geoffrey Raphael is an English journalist and author. In the British Press Awards of 1973, he was named Journalist of the Year for his work on labour conditions in South Africa, and he has also been a presenter of BBC Television's Newsnight. Since 2004, he has edited The Good Hotel Guide. He is not to be confused with a BBC producer of the same name, Adam Jocelyn Raphael (1937–1999).
Kapka Kassabova is a poet and writer of fiction and narrative non-fiction. She is a bilingual writer in English, which is her main literary language, and in Bulgarian which is her mother tongue. Her books have been translated into at least twenty languages.
Egerton House Hotel is an AA five star double-townhouse hotel located at 17-19 Egerton Terrace off Brompton Road in the Knightsbridge area of London. It is part of the Red Carnation Hotels group. The hotel consists of two adjoining Victorian townhouses constructed from red-brick, which were originally built in 1843. It is managed by Michelle Devlin and Annie McCrann. The hotel has 28 en-suite rooms and a number of suites. The hotel is consistently rated within the top 10 best reviewed hotels within London on Tripadvisor.com
Hazlitt's is a townhouse hotel located at 6 Frith Street, Soho, London, in very close proximity to Soho Theatre. The building is Georgian and dates back to 1718, four storeys, with typical long Georgian-bay windows painted in beige. Owned by Peter McKay and Douglas Blain, it is named after the essayist William Hazlitt who died in the house in 1830; he has a blue plaque on the wall to the left of the front door. Due to its heritage, the hotel is popular with writers, but also artists, leaders, actors and models. It was awarded the César Award for London Hotel of the Year by The Good Hotel Guide in 2002.
Llanwenarth House is a small country house, formerly a hotel, located off the B4246 road, west of Govilon and Llanfoist, just south of Abergavenny in the Usk valley of Monmouthshire, Wales. It was built in the late 16th century, although the drawing room and some of the furnishings are from the Georgian period.
White House is a historic hotel in Herm, in the Channel Islands. Converted into a hotel from an old country house in 1949, the hotel contains 36 double rooms, 2 single rooms, 1 suite, and 21 rooms in 3 cottage annexes.
La Sablonnerie is a hotel and restaurant in Sark, in the Channel Islands. It is located in Little Sark, in an old 16th century farmhouse with gardens. Owned by Elizabeth Perree, the hotel contains 15 double rooms, 6 single rooms and one suite. The 2002 Good Hotel Guide describes the hotel as "Long, low and white-walled... a stylish, idiosyncratic little hotel, much admired." The restaurant is noted for its seafood dishes and cream teas.
La Grande Mare Hotel Golf & Country Club is a hotel and golf course in Vazon Bay, Castel, Guernsey. The house, set in 120 acres, contains 12 suites, 12 double rooms and 10 self-catering units.
La Fregate is a hotel in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, overlooking Cambridge Park, near Saint Peter Port Harbour. The hotel, located in a historic 18th century manor house, contains 9 double rooms and 4 single rooms. The AA two rosette restaurant as of 2011 is headed by Neil Maginnis, and is noted for its seafood. The Telegraph notes that the hotel's Orangery is a rendezvous point for businessmen. La Fregate has a 4 Star AA hotel rating as of 2019.
The Hotel du Vin & Bistro is a hotel in Crescent Road, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. It lies in between St Augustine's Catholic Church and Eynshym House. The hotel is part of the Hotel du Vin chain. It is located in a Grade II listed sandstone building dated to 1762 and overlooks Caverley Park. The building was extended in the 1830s by Decimus Burton and contains 36 bedrooms, a billiards room and a boules court as of 2011, although 32 rooms and 1 suite were reported in 2001. John Gielgud was a frequent visitor to the hotel.
Howtown Hotel is a hotel in Howtown, Cumbria, England, located near the southern shore of the Ullswater lake. Although it won the César Award for Best Hotel in 1991 by The Good Hotel Guide, Lonely Planet describes the hotel as "bewitchingly backwards" with early 20th century decor. As of 2001, the hotel contained 10 double rooms, 2 single rooms and 4 self-catering cottages. It has been run by four generations of the Baldry family since it opened in 1903.
Bishopstrow Hotel & Spa is a late-Georgian English country house standing near the B3414 in the parish of Bishopstrow, about a mile east of Warminster, in Wiltshire in southern England.
Durrants Hotel is located at 26-32 George Street, in the central London district of Marylebone, England. Established in 1789, the hotel has been owned by the Miller family since 1921 and is one of the last remaining privately owned hotels in London. The building has 92 rooms, and several houses have been incorporated into the building's structure. It is located opposite the Wallace Collection art galleries.
The Whitebrook, formerly known as The Crown at Whitebrook, is a restaurant with rooms in Whitebrook, 6 miles (9.7 km) south-south-east of Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales, near the River Wye and the border with England. The building is thought to date from the 17th century and by the 19th century it was used as a roadside inn. Its restaurant was run by Chef Patron James Sommerin until 2013; it gained a Michelin star in 2007. It contains eight double rooms and a 2-acre (0.81 ha) garden.
Cnapan, also known variously as Cnapan Country House or Cnapan Restaurant and Bed & Breakfast, is a Grade II listed hotel and restaurant in Newport, Pembrokeshire. It lies along the main road of the town, East Street, which is part of the A487 road, opposite The Golden Lion.
Adam Peter Ritchie Handling is a British chef and restaurateur. He is the owner of the Adam Handling Restaurant Group of four food and drink venues in London, England.
The Angel Hotel is an AA 4-star Grade II listed hotel and inn at 15 Cross Street, in Abergavenny, Wales. It lies on the corner with Lower Castle Street and the main commercial street, Cross Street.
Aynsome Manor is a country house hotel in Cartmel, Cumbria, northwestern England, in the Lake District. It is set in the Vale of Cartmel, with views of a Norman priory, meadows and woods to the south.
Rachael Boast is a British poet. She has published four poetry collections: Sidereal (2011), Pilgrim's Flower (2013), Void Studies (2016) and Hotel Raphael (2021).