Bath’s five-star Gainsborough hotel has won the UK hospitality industry’s top award while its restaurant has been confirmed as among the best in England.
The £35m, 99-room hotel – which opened two years ago – was named Hotel of the Year (England) at the 2017 AA Hospitality Awards, staged earlier this week at the Grosvenor House on London’s Park Lane. 
The prestigious awards recognise and celebrate excellence in the British travel industry. The accolade was presented to the hotel at a ceremony attended by world-renowned chefs, prominent hoteliers and restaurateurs, hospitality gurus, and media.
The Gainsborough’s restaurant, Dan Moon at the Gainsborough Restaurant, pictured, was also commended with three AA rosettes.
The AA Hotel of the Year Award was introduced in 1992 and is the motoring organisation’s ultimate accolade for hotels in the UK. It is awarded to hotels that are recognised as being outstanding examples in their particular market. Previous winners have included Cliveden, two years ago, and Lucknam Park, near Bath, in 2010.
The Gainsborough is the only hotel spa to have direct access to Bath’s historic thermal waters. Its spa suites and interiors were designed by award-winning Champalimaud Design from New York. Nightly rates at the hotel start from £285 on a room-only basis. 
The hotel’s restaurant – renamed recently as Dan Moon at the Gainsborough Restaurant as a result of head chef Dan Moon’s ever-growing profile – gained three rosettes in the awards. The AA said the honour distinguishes the consistent excellence of Dan Moon’s cuisine, along with the restaurant’s dedicated, intuitive service and superb wine list.
The Gainsborough is the first UK hotel to be opened by YTL Hotels, part of the giant Malaysian YTL conglomerate that also owns Bath-based Wessex Water. It is also the first hotel in the city to be part of the Leading Hotels of the World collection.
YTL vice president Andrew Jordan said: “I am hugely proud of the whole team at The Gainsborough as this award proves that their consistent hard work to make our hotel the absolute best of the best has paid off.
“The Gainsborough has always held significance as YTL Hotels’ first property in the UK, and this award has come at a time when we are preparing for further expansion, so this recognition feels all the more relevant for the exciting projects ahead.”
The Gainsborough has also received outstanding praise in the Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards 2017, announced earlier this month. The Gainsborough Bath Spa was placed 10th in the UK’s Best Holiday Hotels and third in the Top UK Spa Hotels, while it triumphed with inclusion in the world’s top 100 hotels, coming in 66th place.
Voted for by Conde Nast Traveller UK readers themselves, these awards confirm the continuous excellence of the guest experience at The Gainsborough as experienced by travelers first-hand.
