Washington, DC – October 2, 2017, Historic Hotels of America® and Historic Hotels Worldwide® are pleased to announce the winners of the 2017 Awards of Excellence. Recipients were honored at a special ceremony and gala at The Omni Homestead Resort (1766) in Hot Springs, Virginia on Thursday, September 28. Awards were presented before an audience of more than 200 invited media, industry leaders, owners, senior management, and representatives of the finest historic hotels from across America and from around the world. Honors were given in multiple categories ranging from Hotelier of the Year and Hotel Historian of the Year to Best Historic Resort, Historic Hotelier of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, and others.
Each year, these Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence honor, encourage, and recognize the most exemplary historic hotels, hoteliers, and leadership practices. The Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence are presented to historic hotels and hoteliers demonstrating innovative leadership, stewardship, and contribution to furthering the recognition, preservation, and celebration of these preeminent historic hotels and their histories.
From more than 200 nominees, the following Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide hotels and hoteliers were honored with these prestigious annual awards for 2017:
Historic Hotels of America New Member of the Year · The Georges (1789) Lexington, Virginia
Best Social Media of a Historic Hotel · The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa (1876) Riverside, California
Sustainability Champion · Inn at the Presidio (1903) San Francisco, California
Best Small Historic Inn/Hotel (Under 75 Guestrooms) · The Dunhill Hotel (1929) Charlotte, North Carolina
Best Historic Hotel (76-200 Guestrooms) · Mayflower Park Hotel (1927) Seattle, Washington
Best Historic Hotel (201-400 Guestrooms) · West Baden Springs Hotel (1902) West Baden Springs, Indiana
Best Historic Hotel (Over 400 Guestrooms) · Amway Grand Plaza (1913) Grand Rapids, Michigan
Best City Center Historic Hotel · Marriott Syracuse Downtown (1924) Syracuse, New York
Best Historic Resort · The Broadmoor (1918) Colorado Springs, Colorado
Best Historic Restaurant in Conjunction with a Historic Hotel · Penrose Room at The Broadmoor (1918) Colorado Springs, Colorado
Hotel Historian of the Year · Jim Hewes at The Willard InterContinental, Washington DC (1847) Washington, DC
Ambassador of the Year (Quarter Century of Service) · Woodrow “Woody” Pettus at The Omni Homestead Resort (1766) Hot Springs, Virginia
Best Historic Hotels Worldwide hotel in Europe · Hotel Waldhaus Sils (1908) Sils Maria, Switzerland
Best Historic Hotels Worldwide hotel in Asia/Pacific · Alsisar Haveli (1892) Jaipur, India
Best Historic Hotels Worldwide hotel in the Americas · Fairmont Le Château Frontenac (1893) Québec City, Canada
Historian of the Year · Chef Walter Staib, author, twelve time Emmy Award winning TV host of A Taste of History©, and chef and proprietor of City Tavern Restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Stewards of History and Historic Preservation Award · R.D. (Dan) Musser III at Grand Hotel (1887) Mackinac Island, Michigan
Legendary Family Historic Hoteliers of the Year · The Smiley Family at Mohonk Mountain House (1869) New Paltz, New York
Historic Hotelier of the Year · Philip Wood at The Jefferson, Washington, DC (1923) Washington, DC
Lifetime Achievement Award · Duane and Kelly Roberts at The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa (1876) Riverside, California
“The winners of the 2017 Historic Hotels Awards of Excellence represent more than 231 years of history and include the finest iconic and legendary historic hotels from across the United States of America and from around the world,” said Lawrence Horwitz, Executive Director of Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide. “We applaud these magnificent historic hotels and their hoteliers for their dedication, passion, stewardship and success in preserving these treasures and their stories for future generations of travelers.”
Award recipients are selected from nominees received from historic hotels, historic preservation supporters, prior award recipients, and leadership from Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide. As official programs of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide provide the recognition to travelers, civic leaders, and the global cultural, heritage, and historic travel market that member hotels are among the finest historic hotels across
America and around the world. The Historic Hotels Annual Awards of Excellence program recognizes the pinnacle of this distinct group of nominees in a range of categories.
