Corinthia's hotel wins top architecture award

The five-star Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal in Budapest has won the prestigious Best Hotel Architecture in Europe award at the international Villegiature Awards 2004.

The awards are considered among the highest accolades in the global travel industry.

International Hotel Investments plc (IHI) said its hotel competed against 503 top European properties and was short-listed along with four other finalists, namely the Hotel Beau Rivage in Lausanne, the Hotel De Crillon in Paris, the Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens and the Plaza Athenee in Paris.

The award was presented to IHI chairman and chief executive Alfred Pisani in the presence of several dignitaries during a ceremony held at the Hotel Bristol, in Paris on Monday night. Among them were Malta's Ambassador to France, Salvino Busuttil, and Hungary's Ambassador to France, Andre Erdos. The winning hotel's general manager, Cornelia Kausch, also attended the presentation.

The annual awards are decided by a jury made up of directors from some of the most famous hotels in Europe as well as of key media representatives. The Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal is a complete renovation, following the demolition of the 19th century Hotel Royal building which first opened for Budapest's Millennium Celebration in 1896. The building has now been restored to its original splendour.

The hotel has 414 luxurious rooms and the largest state-of-the-art conference and exhibition centre in any five-star hotel in Hungary. It also has a spa under construction.

It is owned by IHI and managed by Corinthia Hotels International.