Elephant Reach Hotel, Yala, earned top honours as Lonely Planet Magazine, India’s ‘Best Wildlife Resort (International)’, 2015. 

Adding to the honour of winning such a prestigious award, Elephant Reach also became the first Sri Lankan hotel to be recognised by an international travel forum. 

Although the hotel has always catered to the whims of even the most discerning traveller with its world-class service levels, this award came as a pleasant surprise, as all the winners were kept in the dark about the awards throughout.

Lonely Planet Magazine India Editor Vardhan Kondvikar said, “The LPMI Travel Awards has been firmly established as the industry-best measure of what travellers love. We began with a strong list of nominees selected by industry-wide travel experts from premier travel facilitators, which were then voted on by Lonely Planet Magazine’s army of well-informed readers.”

The selection criteria set forth by Lonely Planet is thorough and the judging panel spared no expense or effort in ensuring that the most stringent quality standards were adhered to by the winners. As a result of the thorough and discreet nature of the judging process, none of the nominees knew of the competition until the winners were officially announced. Feedback from travellers and guests at the hotels played a pivotal role in the decision-making process.
Elephant Reach Hotel Managing Director Malinga Fernando was emphatic about the win. He stated, “We have always been confident of our service levels thanks to our continued focus on training and motivating our team and also the feedback we obtain from our guests. Our repeat clients bear testament to what is to be expected from Elephant Reach. We’re especially proud of the fact that we are the first Sri Lankan hotel to be bestowed with such an honour.”
 
Lonely Planet Magazine, headquartered in India, has cemented its place as a truly international authority on travel. The LPMI Awards has been held by Lonely Planet Magazine for the fourth successful year where travellers themselves vote for their favourite destinations and hotels. The winners were selected from the nominations by a panel of travel experts and professionals. This panel comprised of Lonely Planet Magazine Editor Vardhan Kondvikar, Veena World Managing Director Veena Patil, Windmill Holidays Director Manu Kashyap, Travellers-palm.com Founders Sucheta Potnis and Hans Tuinman, Thomas Cook India Ltd Managing Director Madhavan Menon and Makemytrip.com CEO Deep Kalra.

The award ceremony, powered by Flight Shop, was held at the JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai Sahar to felicitate 32 favourite travel experiences.

Elephant Reach Hotel, Yala, extends its sincerest gratitude to all clients who made the hotel part of their travel experience. This is only the beginning and the Elephant Reach team will continue to raise the bar in world-class accommodation and service.