For the eleventh consecutive year, Travel + Leisure, the world's leading travel magazine with a circulation of almost one million, has asked its readers to help define excellence in travel by rating airlines, hotels, travel destinations and more.

In the 2006 World’s Best Awards Reader’s Poll, Travel + Leisure readers ranked Thailand’s Chiva-Som International Health Resort the ‘World’s Best Destination Spa’ and Bangkok and Chiang Mai, the northern Thai capital, joined the ranks of the world’s ‘Best City-Asia’.

	"N/A" means that the property was not among the top-ranked in this category last year.
	Cites were rated on the following characteristics — Sights, culture/arts, restaurants/food, people, shopping, value

The results announced on 10 July 2006 highlight Travel + Leisure magazine readers’ favourite hotels, cities, islands, spas, cruise lines, airlines, tour outfitters, and car-rental agencies. Winners of the Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards 2006 were honoured at an awards ceremony at Top of the Rock in New York City on July 20.

The survey results, including the Top 100 Hotels Worldwide, are featured in the August issue of Travel + Leisure and online at: www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest.*

*Spa survey results will be featured in a special World's Best Spas report in Travel + Leisure's October issue and will be posted online at that time.

	Hotels were rated on the following characteristics: Rooms/facilities, location, service, restaurants/food, value. Optional: for business, for families

Four Seasons Resort, Chiang Mai was ranked 7th on the list of top 15 Small Hotels, and Thai Airways International was ranked 5th on the list of the world’s best airlines.

Travel + Leisure is published monthly by American Express Publishing Corporation.

METHODOLOGY
World's Best Awards 2006 Survey Methodology
A questionnaire developed by the editors of Travel + Leisure, in association with Harris Interactive, was made available to Travel + Leisure subscribers at www.tlworldsbest.com from January 16, 2006, to March 21, 2006.

In the February and March 2006 issues of Travel + Leisure, subscribers were invited to participate; a select group of subscribers also received an invitation via e-mail. Travel + Leisure subscribers were asked to enter their complete name (as it appears on the mailing label), as well as their five-digit ZIP code, at www.tlworldsbest.com before completing the survey. Only responses from subscribers whose personal information as entered at www.tlworldsbest.com exactly matched Travel + Leisure's subscriber file were counted in the final tally. Respondents were permitted to complete the survey only once.

To protect the integrity of the data, after March 21, 2006, respondents were screened by Travel + Leisure and responses from any identified travel-industry professionals who completed the survey were eliminated from the final tally of votes. The survey Web site, www.tlworldsbest.com, was maintained, monitored, and kept secure by Harris Interactive, which collected and tabulated the responses and kept them confidential.

The scores are indexed averages of responses concerning applicable characteristics. For each characteristic, respondents were asked to rate a candidate on a scale of 1 to 5, where "5" means excellent and "1" means poor.

Categories and Characteristics:

• For hotels:
  rooms/facilities, location, service, restaurants/food, value.
  Optional: for business, for families
• For destination spas:
  accommodations/ambience, treatments, service, food, value
• For hotel spas:
  ambience, treatments, service, value
• For cities:
  sights, culture/arts, restaurants/food, people, shopping, value
• For islands:
  natural attractions, activities/sights, restaurants/food, people, value
• For cruise lines:
  cabins, food, service, itineraries/destinations, activities, value
• For tour operators and safari outfitters:
  staff/guides, itineraries/destinations, activities, accommodations, food, value
• For airlines:
  cabin comfort, food, in-flight service, customer service, value

Required ratings were then averaged, creating an overall score. A minimum number of responses was necessary for a candidate to be eligible for inclusion in the World's Best Awards listings.

Respondents reported where they had travelled worldwide and how, and rated only the destinations, properties, and companies that were relevant to their recent travel experiences. The scores are indexed averages of responses concerning applicable characteristics.

ABOUT TRAVEL + LEISURE
Travel + Leisure, published monthly by American Express Publishing Corporation, is the world's leading travel magazine with a circulation of almost one million. Sophisticated, modern, and intelligent, Travel+Leisure reports on the places and the trends that are now defining modern global culture and delivers practical insights and crucial commentary on hotels and restaurants, shopping and the arts, politics, security, health, and the latest innovations, so readers are informed and inspired to take their next trip.

A global brand, Travel + Leisure currently publishes Travel + Leisure En Español, Travel + Leisure Russia, Travel + Leisure Turkey, Travel + Leisure China and Travel + Leisure Australia, and is launching Travel + Leisure South Asia in Fall 2006.

Source:
Information provided by Travel + Leisure magazine. Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.

Contact information:
Travel + Leisure magazine editors are available for interviews — please contact:
Liz Marsh at 212 382 5684