RAFFLES WINS MORE AWARDS

Siem Reap’s Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor is shaping up to be one of the most awarded hotels in the Kingdom. Last month it continued its prize-winning streak by securing a listing in the World’s Best Awards 2011, published in the influential American Express-owned magazine, Travel+Leisure. The hotel was ranked 10th in the

“Top 10 Hotel Spas in Asia” category. An ebullient Sirima (Burd) Rojprasitporn, the hotel’s director of sales, pointed out: “One of our signature spa treatments is called Angkor Escape and it’s available only at Raffles Siem Reap, not even in Raffles Phnom Penh.”

This month the hotel also received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence, which honours top-rated lodging businesses, restaurants and attractions, as reviewed by travellers. To qualify, these businesses must maintain an average rating of four or higher out of a possible five.

Christine Petersen, president of TripAdvisor for business, explained: “The TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence program gives exceptional businesses in a variety of different industries around the world the recognition they deserve ... We want to applaud all these businesses for offering TripAdvisor travellers a great customer experience – and especially Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor.”

AN UNEXPECTED GOLF COURSE HAZARD

Golfing green fees are steep enough these days, without a $7,500 water hazard add-on. Last weekend an unfortunate French golfer who works at the Siem Reap Airport got a nasty surprise while playing 18 holes at the Korean-owned Siem Reap Lake Golf Club.

His kids took off by themselves, clambered into an unsupervised electric cart, took it for a spin, and ended up in the lake near the 18th hole.

Luckily the kids survived the ordeal, but the cart ended up almost completely submerged.

The hapless father then received a further unwanted surprise – the golf club management hit him with a bill for $7,500 for damage to the cart, which is believed to be worth about $12,000 new. Some fairly rugged negotiations are now apparently underway.

PHOTO FESTIVAL UPDATE

More news from the organisers of the Angkor Photo Festival, to be held in Siem Reap from November 19-26. Each year the festival dedicates two evenings of slideshows as a “carte blanche” to two well-known figures in the world of photography.

But this year there will be three luminaries involved.

One show will be curated by Wang Xi from China. His work on the Sichuan Earthquake and the Beijing Olympics has been widely used in the international media. He is a lecturer for the Yang Xiaoguang multimedia workshop in China and is a PhD candidate in photography at Bolton University in the UK.

Two high-profile personalities will combine to host the second night. They are Sylvie Grumbach, director of the international press relations agency 2e Bureau in France, and much-loved Siem Reap identity Jean-Yves Navel, founding member and director of the festival.