85,000 Reviews, 750 Hotels: GuestRevu GREAT Awards Name 2026 Winners

More than 85,000 guest reviews across 750-plus properties in 60 countries decided the 2026 GuestRevu GREAT Awards, announced at a ceremony on 23 October at L'oscar in London. Unlike conventional hospitality accolades, the awards carry no judging panel: winners were determined entirely from verified guest feedback, analysed with the free version of GuestRevu's reputation management product, GuestRevu LITE.

The review base split across three platforms: Booking.com supplied 53.8% of analysed reviews, Google 31.9% and Tripadvisor 14.3%. Shortlisted properties posted a median guest review score above 89%. Dr Wouter Hensens, Executive Dean at Stenden South Africa, oversaw the data analysis.

Event partners included GuestRevu, Cendyn, Stayntouch, happyhotel, HOSPA, FEDHASA and Stenden University South Africa.

What does the data tell operators?

The analysis surfaced three findings with direct revenue-management implications:

• The same hotel can hold three different reputations at once: 71% of properties showed a gap of more than five points between their highest and lowest platform score.
• A strong numeric rating does not guarantee equally strong sentiment in review text.
• Monthly scores built on thin review volumes fluctuate far more sharply than those backed by larger volumes — a caution against over-reading month-to-month movements.

The ceremony's two panels pressed the same themes. Liutauras (LV) Vaitkevicius of Apex Alliance Hotel Management moderated a debate on the technology-versus-hospitality question with Eljesa Saciri (The Mandrake), Julian Tee (Compass Hotels Management) and Patricia Gail, who represented the tech-agnostic frequent guest. Jane Pendlebury of HOSPA then moderated a data panel featuring Hensens, Chris Alexandre of GuestRevu, Erich Schuster of Cendyn and John Halligan of Stayntouch, covering guest satisfaction trends, online reputation management and what data-driven insights mean for hoteliers' commercial realities.

Who won in Europe?

Winners by category:

• 100+ rooms: Qosmo Brasov Hotel (Romania); finalists Cafe Royal Hotel (UK), La Réserve Genève (Switzerland), Mollie's Manchester (UK), Athenaeum Hotel & Residences (UK)
• 50–99 rooms: MS Collection Arouca – Mosteiro de Arouca (Portugal); finalists Kronwell Brasov Hotel (Romania), Serbellas Boutique Hotel (Cyprus), School Lane Hotel (UK), Francis Hotel (UK)
• 20–49 rooms: L'oscar London (UK); finalists MS Collection Aveiro – Palacete de Valdemouro (Portugal), Arts Hotel Bodrum (Turkey), Voya Beach Resort (Bulgaria), The Cottage Hotel & Restaurant, Hope Cove (UK)
• Under 20 rooms: Brooklands Guest House (UK); finalists Greystoke House, The Mill House, The Auld Kirk B&B, Kings Head – Riverside, Ravenstonedale (all UK)
• Sentiment: Cafe Royal Hotel (UK); finalists Arts Hotel Bodrum (Turkey), Downham Hall (UK)
• Service: The Mill House (UK); finalists MS Collection Arouca, Qosmo Brasov Hotel
• Room quality: L'oscar London (UK); finalists Brooklands Guest House (UK), Serbellas Boutique Hotel (Cyprus)
• Cleanliness: Serbellas Boutique Hotel (Cyprus); finalists L'oscar London (UK), The Lodge Hotel Putney

Who won in America & APAC?

• Over 50 rooms: FUGO Hotel Samarinda (Indonesia); finalists Mandarin Nest Boracay (Philippines), LUX* South Ari Atoll (Maldives), Twinpalms Surin Beach Phuket (Thailand), Lub d Siem Reap (Cambodia)
• Under 50 rooms: ITH San Francisco Pacific Tradewinds Hostel (United States); finalists FUGO Hotel Banjarmasin (Indonesia), Superior Stay Hotel (US), Cocos Hotel (Antigua and Barbuda), Opal Sands Resort (US)

"With guest expectations higher than ever, delivering outstanding service and ensuring complete guest satisfaction is more challenging than before," Chris Alexandre, CEO and Founder of GuestRevu, said. "Congratulations to everyone for raising the bar and setting new benchmarks in guest experience."

The Africa GREAT Awards winners will be announced at a ceremony on 26 November in Cape Town.