The Xara Palace Relais & Chateaux won the Best Leading Boutique Hotel in Malta Award by World Travel Awards, considered to be the Oscars of the travel industry.

During the ceremony in Greece, World Travel Awards president Graham Cooke explained that Europe is presently in the middle of a fast-paced recovery after a couple of tough years and the brands that have taken the awards were at the forefront of this.

“The voters have recognised these winners are the key industry players who will be leading the pack over the coming years and this is a springboard to their continued success,” he added.

The Xara Palace Relais & Chateaux general manager David Spiteri said: “Building a unique brand which elevates all of our hospitality offerings is reliant largely on our collective ability to communicate our promise with consistency. This means that every impression customers have of us – from the first to the 100th – must be of the highest quality, enhanced by our commitment towards excellence. The competitive advantage of The Xara Palace is founded on the ability of the service to produce a suitably positive emotion or memory for the guest or diner. This is a huge challenge. However, I am lucky to lead a determined team.”