Luxury Hotels

LOVE HOTELS

TAJ LAKE PALACE in Udaipur, above, is the 2022 Best Wedding Venue Asia & Oceania – it was announced Thursday, 20 October 2022 at The Love Travel Awards in Cascais. Over 300 industry leaders gathered at Casino Estoril for a black-tie gala as culmination of Amour’s three-day romance travel world event for 110 properties to meet and do business with suitable travel advisor buyers.

Taj Lake Palace is not, as some think, floating – it sits in the middle of Lake Pichola (it was built 1743 as a pleasure palace for Maharana Jagat Sing II and it is still owned by the local Maharana). Girlahead stayed in #118, the Khush Mahal, one of 60 rooms: it had cusped interior arches, coloured glass window panels to diffuse hot summer light. An antique jhoola swing was suspended from the ceiling by brass chains. The myriad of happy memories included being met, on arrival via launch, by a moustachioed guy holding an embroidered scarlet umbrella, and, in the morning, a man outside on the ‘deck’ vainly trying to shoo away flies.

This is the venue that so suitably won this award. Other Best Wedding Venue winners were POST RANCH INN, Big Sur CA (North America & Caribbean), ALVEAR PALACE, Buenos Aires (South America), MOUNT JULIET Kilkenny (Europe), and BURJ AL ARAB, Dubai (Middle East, Africa & Indian Ocean).

There were awards too for The Most Romantic Hotel. Here the winners were CHEVAL BLANC, St-Barth (North America & Caribbean), THE VINES RESORT & SPA, Mendoza (South America), CASTEL MONASTERO, Tuscany (Italy), KASBAR TAMADOT, Marrakesh (Middle East, Africa & Indian Ocean) and QUALIA, Whitsundays, (Asia & Oceania).

Peter Gould, Chairman of Amour and the Love Travel Awards says Love Travel Awards were created to recognise the properties and brands who set the standards for romance travel – these are the ones to watch. Amour, by the way, is dedicated home of the romance travel market: it is part of Private Luxury Events, which includes Private Luxury and TFest.

Back to Taj. Hear its CEO here: