Officials of some of the award winning hotels with QTA officials.

Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has announced the winners of its third Annual Hotel Awards, part of its efforts to continuously raise the standards of the hotel industry in the country.

The ceremony, held at Doha Exhibitions Centre, recognised Sealine Beach Resort, Wyndham Grand Regency Doha and Best Western Plus, in first, second and third places respectively, in the Qatar National Day 2014 Contest.

An independent third party, on QTA’s behalf, had carried out mystery audits on all hotels in Qatar. The 10 highest-scoring hotels were honoured at the ceremony.

The winning hotels in this category are: Marriott Marquis City Center Doha, Ramada Encore Doha, the Torch Doha, Amari Doha, Crown Plaza Business Park Doha, Doha Sharq Village and Spa, Hilton Hotel Doha, Four Seasons Doha, Grand Hyatt Doha, and Radisson Blu Hotel.

This year's awards also included a category to recognise hotels for their efforts to implement international standards of services for people with special needs. The selection process was based on hotels' compliance with a code drafted in a collaboration between QTA and the Shafallah Centre for Children with Special Needs.

The hotels with the highest standards of services for people with special needs were: Amari Doha, Radisson Blu Hotel, the Torch Doha and W Doha Hotel and Residence.

QTA’s director of Tourism Licensing, Mohamed al-Ansari, presented the awards to the winning hotels and tour operators in the three categories during the ceremony, which was attended by representatives from hotels and travel agencies in Qatar.

“These awards serve to express QTA’s appreciation for all the efforts made by our partners and service providers in the tourism sector, as they work to offer world class standards of service. They also reflect the developments and improvements that we have witnessed in the tourism sector to date, which is witnessing significant growth thanks to the productive relationships between QTA and our partners in the public and private sectors."

QTA also presented awards to the hotels, travel agencies and tour operators that supported its efforts to promote Qatar through The Bloggers Programme, which brought some of the region’s most popular social media personalities to Qatar. These establishments include Marsa Malaz Kempinski - The Pearl, Souq Waqif Boutique Hotels, Qatar International Adventurer, Regency Travel and Tours and Amlak.

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