World renowned travel publications acknowledge Dubai-based hospitality group.

Jumeirah, the Dubai-based luxury hospitality group, swept the boards in its categories at the Business Traveller awards ceremonies in Hong Kong and London. Jumeirah was named ‘Best Business Hotel Chain in the Middle East' at the Business Traveller UK Awards ceremony that took place in London yesterday. In addition, two of Jumeirah's hotels in Dubai, Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Jumeirah Emirates Towers, received top accolades.

For the fifth consecutive year, the readers of Business Traveller UK voted Jumeirah Beach Hotel as ‘Best Resort Hotel in the World' and its sister property, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, received the award for ‘Best Business Hotel in the Middle East' for the third year running. The company uniquely held all three places in the Business Hotel category, with Burj al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel coming in second and third places.

Jumeirah was also named ‘Best Business Hotel Brand in the Middle East/Africa 2005' by the readers of Business Traveller Magazine Asia Pacific. The award was presented at the awards ceremony in Hong Kong on Friday of last week.

Gerald Lawless, Chief Executive Officer for Jumeirah, said: "We are pleased that readers of Business Traveller continue to recognise Jumeirah as a leading luxury hospitality group for both business and leisure travellers. We are proud to receive such important international accolades and the awards reflect Jumeirah's commitment to be a world class international hotel company that is committed to being the industry leader."

The awards follow Jumeirah's much publicised announcement of its acquisition of the management contract of New York's Essex House Hotel. The company will assume management of the New York landmark hotel in January 2006. In June of this year Jumeirah announced its intention to expand its portfolio to 40 hotels worldwide over the next five years, following a rebrand of its corporate and hotel identities.

Lawless added: "These awards, coming so soon after the announcement regarding Essex House, show that our company is on track to achieve the plans we unveiled just three months ago. We have many more projects under negotiation, and we look forward to making more important announcements soon."

Since its establishment in 1997, Jumeirah has won over 100 international travel & tourism awards. The awards have been received from around the world, highlighting Jumeirah's quality and excellence and Dubai as a truly international business and leisure destination.