held recently at Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld and presided over by Suraphon Svetasreni, Governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand. Darren Ng, managing director of TTG Asia Media, presented Thirayuth Chirathivat, chief executive officer of Centara Hotels & Resorts, with the award. “It is a great honour for us to be receiving this very prestigious award, and we are very proud indeed to have won the award for four years in succession,” said Mr Thirayuth. “Thailand’s MICE sector is becoming more successful each year, and we are in the privileged position of playing a significant role in presenting Thailand to the world.”

Mr Thirayuth added that Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld had been the proud recipient of several other awards this year, including the Trip Advisor 2013 Certificate of Excellence in the category of Hotel Standards, the Thailand Tatler Best Restaurant 2013 Award for Exceptional Cuisine and Service, which went to the hotel’s signature Fifty Five Restaurant, and the People’s Choice Traditional Thai Experience Award, won by Spa Cenvaree in the Thailand Spa & Well-Being Awards 2013. The hotel has also been awarded a Silver status for 2013 by EarthCheck, the international environmental and certification body for the travel and tourism industry.

“I believe the reason we consistently win these very prestigious awards is because of the superb team we have here,” says Robert Maurer-Loeffler, general manager of Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld. “We put genuine passion into everything we do, and our guests appreciate the warmth of our traditional Thai hospitality.”

Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld is the only fully integrated five-star hotel, convention centre and lifestyle complex within the heart of Bangkok. The convention centre can accommodate up to 7,000 delegates for reception, while the World Ballroom has a capacity of 1,000 persons seated theatre-style and is complemented by three Lotus Suites, a VIP room, a boardroom and two pre-function areas located on the same floor.

A recent addition is M23 on the 23rd floor of the hotel, a suite of four meeting rooms that feature plenty of natural daylight, an open show kitchen and bar for coffee breaks and even a putting green on the terrace.

TTG Asia has been delivering editorials and intelligence analysis on travel trade developments in the Asia Pacific since 1974. Renowned for its award-winning journalism, this leading industry business resource is widely acclaimed by travel trade professionals as their preferred read.

Centara Hotels & Resorts is Thailand’s leading operator of hotels, with 42 deluxe and first-class properties covering all the major tourist destinations in the Kingdom. A further 18 resorts in the Maldives, Vietnam, Shanghai, Bali Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Mauritius Indian Ocean, Ethiopia brings the present total to 60 properties. Brands and properties within Centara ensure that specific categories such as couples, families, individuals, and meetings and incentives groups will all find a hotel or resort that is appropriate to their needs. Centara operates 27 branches of Spa Cenvaree, one of Thailand’s most luxurious and innovative spa brands, together with its newly launched value brand Cense by Spa Cenvaree, which provides core spa services for busy travellers. The company’s Kids’ Club is available at all the family-friendly resorts to ensure that the youngsters and teens are taken care of. Centara Hotels & Resorts also operates three state-of-the-art convention centres in Bangkok, and two in northeastern Thailand, one being located in Udon Thani and the other in Khon Kaen. The latest Centara brand is named COSI Hotels, an economy brand designed for travellers who predominantly make their bookings via the internet and who want comfort and convenience at the most friendly prices available, which is under development with the first property due to open in 2015.