Hotels, restaurants and hospitality businesses from the Bath area have dominated the region’s most prestigious tourism awards.
Lucknam Park Hotel and Spa in Colerne come away with five accolades in the Bristol, Bath and Somerset Tourism Awards while No.15 by GuestHouse, Bath, landed three.
They were the front runners among a strong field of contenders from Bath in the awards, which are now in their sixth year.
As well as rewarding excellence and resilience among tourism-related businesses, this year the awards also championed those businesses that have gone above and beyond in what has been another difficult 12 months for the sector.
Lucknam Park, a 42-bedroom luxury hotel, won its three Golds in the Spa & Wellbeing Experience of the Year, Wedding Venue of the Year and Casual Dining categories while its two silvers were for Dog Friendly Business and Large Hotel of the Year.
No.15 by GuestHouse, Bath, the 37-bedroom boutique townhouse hotel on Great Pulteney Street, won a Gold, Silver and Bronze in the Small Hotel, Spa & Wellbeing Experience and Restaurant of the Year respectively.
Lucknam Park and No.15 by GuestHouse were the only two contenders for the Spa & Wellbeing Experience title while The Small Visitor Attraction of the Year and Experience of the Year (Active or Learning) categories were also all-Bath affairs.
The Small Visitor Attraction Gold went to No.1 Royal Crescent, pictured, with the Herschel Museum of Astronomy gaining Silver. Both are run by Bath Preservation Trust.
Gold in the Experience (Active or Learning) category was won by Bath Insider Tours, which provides private tours with a local guide, with Mad Max Tours, which runs small-group visits to Stonehenge, Avebury and Cotswold villages, landing Silver.
Other Bath winners included the Royal Crescent Hotel, which struck Gold as the Large Hotel of the Year, and recently opened 166-bedroom boutique Hotel Indigo on South Parade, collected the Bronze award in the New Tourism Business category.
The 31-bedroom Homewood Hotel received Gold in the Dog Friendly Business category and was also commended in Small Hotel category.
The Scallop Shell fish and seafood restaurant on Monmouth Place collected Gold for Casual Dining while The Olive Tree Restaurant on Russel Street did the same in the Restaurant of the Year category.
The Bath businesses were among more than a hundred competing for the 60 awards.
Other categories championed accessible and inclusive tourism, ethical, responsible and sustainable tourism, and resilience and innovation.
Kathryn Davis, pictured, director of tourism at Visit West – the regional destination marketing organisation that runs Visit Bath – said: “Congratulations to all finalists and gold winners in the Bristol, Bath and Somerset Tourism Awards, and we are thrilled to see so many Visit West members featured.
“In what has been another exceptionally difficult year for the industry, our business community should be applauded for their resilience and innovation.”
Award sponsors included cider firm Thatchers, consultancy Quality in Tourism and Bristol Airport.
