Bath’s five-star Gainsborough Hotel has been named as the number one hotel in the UK outside of London, number two in Europe and number three in the world by readers of the upmarket Condé Nast USA Traveler magazine.
More than 300,000 people voted in the publication’s online poll, which ranks the best hotels, resorts, cities, islands, airlines, and cruise lines in the world. 
The longest running survey of its kind – it is now in its 30th year – its findings culminate in the Condé Nast USA Traveler Reader’s Choice Awards, which are among the most prestigious recognitions of excellence in the travel industry and are commonly known as ‘the best of the best of travel’.
The £35m, 99-room Gainsborough, where rooms start at £285 a night, opened two years ago and is unique in being the only hotel to offer its guests exclusive access to Bath’s natural thermal waters in its luxurious spa, pictured.
The winners of the Condé Nast USA Traveler Reader’s Choice Awards feature in this month’s Condé Nast USA Traveler magazine.
It says of the Gainsborough: “Hard to believe this hotel once housed a hospital. Refurbished with the help of Portuguese-American design star Alexandra Champalimaud in 2015, it was rechristened in honor of the British Old Master painter who once lived nearby.
“Its new interiors encourage you to look up, with soaring ceilings, extra-tall windows, and two-poster beds that come with the ultimate retro touch: an antimacassar with a countrified Gainsborough scene.
“The hotel’s standout asset, though, is the private water reserve drawn from the same spring that also fed the town’s ancient Roman baths. Book one of three Bath Spa Rooms where bathrooms come with an extra tap, pulling directly from the reserve.”
The best hotel in the world, according to Condé Nast USA Traveler readers, is La Réserve in Paris, with The Lodhi in New Delhi at number two.
The Gainsborough’s Condé Nast USA Traveler Reader’s Choice Award comes hot on the heels of its success in the 2017 AA Hospitality Awards, where it was named Hotel of the Year (England) and its restaurant, Dan Moon at the Gainsborough Restaurant, was commended with three AA rosettes.
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.
