Mantis shines in travel industry’s spotlight

It was a momentous moment for hospitality’s marketing-and-public-relations champion, Adrian Gardiner and his Mantis Collection team when their efforts were rewarded with five world travel awards. These awards come at a very opportune time for the Mantis Group as they have recently set up a joint venture in India with the ICS Group called Ayana Hospitality. The venture is focused on providing design and development, management, marketing and conservation/wildlife related services to high-end boutique hotels and nature retreats.

Before a select, invited audience of the industry's leading luminaries and international media the Mantis Collection was presented with:

• World's Leading Luxury Boutique Hotels Collection: Mantis Collection
• World's Leading Boutique Cruise: Zambezi Queen
• World's Leading Polar Expedition Operator: White Desert, Antarctica
• World's Leading Ice Hotel: Ice Hotel, Sweden
• World's Leading Extreme Adventure: Bear Grylls Survival Academy

The Oberoi, Gurgaon in New Delhi, was the impressive venue for the red-carpet 2012 World Travel Awards’ grand final gala ceremony on December 12, 2012. It was hosted under the patronage of Incredible India and Mantis’ awards were accepted by Kunal Premnarayen and Akhil Behl from Ayana Hospitality.

Adrian Gardiner, the Founder of Mantis said, “This recognition will take us running into 2013,” says Gardiner. “All these tributes are a great honor and a testament to Mantis’ credibility. To have been awarded the World's Leading Luxury Boutique Hotels Collection title is an important accolade - and a first for Mantis.”

Accepting this award, Kunal Premnarayen, Promoter, Ayana said, “It is a pleasure to receive this award on behalf of Mantis.  They have an established an incredible track record in providing unique experiences to the boutique luxury clientele with a strong philosophy towards conservation and eco-friendly practices. We are very excited to have cemented a long-term relationship with them.”

Speaking more on the Joint Venture, Akhil Behl, CEO, Ayana said, “These awards represent our partner’s ability to deliver a once in a life time experience to their clientele. Our JV will bring the Mantis experience to India with a long-term strategy in place to address the greater opportunity in South East Asia.”

Embracing the experiential travel theme that has become popular among high net worth travelers, Mantis will launch its eXreme brand in 2013. Three of the five awards pave the way for this new venture that aims to fulfill adventurers’ bucket-list’s dreams and give them the right to say ‘I did it’!

“In terms of the boutique cruise market many small ships are being launched around the world,” adds Gardiner. “They are filling a particular niche within the cruise sector of the market and we’re honored to have the World’s Leading Boutique Cruise in our portfolio.”

World Travel Awards (WTA) was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry. Today, the brand is recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality. It has been referred to by the Wall Street Journal as the "travel industry's equivalent to the Oscar's”.