The World’s Luxury Hotel Awards which is the pinnacle of achievement for luxury hotels worldwide selected one of Sri Lanka’s top business boutique hotels, Colombo Courtyard for the very first time a continent winner of the ‘Luxury Green Hotel’ award of the Indian Ocean in 2014. Awards are presented to luxury hotels in different categories on a country, continent and global basis.

The award is unique as it has to be voted in by tour operators, travel agents and hotel guests and then the final judges’ selection process takes form due to the entrenched competitiveness of the category. This makes the award very special for Sri Lanka expressed, Arun Thapar, owner of this urban boutique hotel, Colombo Courtyard.
Colombo Courtyard has taken necessary steps to be a carbon free hotel from day one of operations. Colombo Courtyard’s theme is built upon being an environmentally friendly hotel and with further initiatives of CarbonNeutral so that they would contribute to offsetting a small part of our Global warming challenges, in its own way. Colombo Courtyard has measured its Carbon Footprint for the period from January 2013 to December 2013 in accordance with the internationally recognised GHG protocol published by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
This independent assessment was conducted by the Carbon Consulting Company. The assessment quantified the hotel’s carbon footprint under three scopes. Scope one measured direct emissions released from sources that are owned or controlled by the company, including corporate car fleets, captive power generation facilities, or fuel combustion for heat which amounted to 18%.

Scope two measured indirect emissions associated from the generation of imported energy carriers such as electricity, heat and steam with a staggering 47.8%. Scope three measured all other indirect emission sources that are not released from sources mentioned under scope one and two which equates to 33.3% typically including business travel, waste disposal and outsourced activities.
All efforts that had been made by them to be recognised as a Sustainability Hotel, which has shown the way for them to achieve the accolade of being Asia’s first CarbonNeutral® City Hotel back in March 2014, which now has lead Colombo Courtyard to be the proud winner of the award, ‘Luxury Green Hotel’ stepping up to another level in their accomplishments thus far. Managing Director Arun Thapar went on to say that Colombo Courtyard was also the ‘First Luxury Business Hotel – Country Winner’ awarded by World Luxury Hotel Award in 2013.

Colombo Courtyard is centrally situated in the city which has easy access to all
the various attractions in the city like the Natural History Museum, the renowned architect Geoffrey Bawa’s former residence, and of course the latest shopping arcade in independence square which is a must see, along with numerous other handicraft shops in Colombo.
Colombo Courtyard though a small Luxury, Boutique hotel supports various outlets like the Cloud Cafe, which encapsulates dining up in the stars on a starry night which is quite popular and frequented by discerning visitors who love the ambience and the food. Then the industrially themed Loft Lounge Bar, which has earned a reputation of serving up of delicious, award winning cocktails to tantalise those taste buds. The Scarlet Room, which offers some authentic Italian and Mediterranean cuisine, where the Pappardelle Pasta and obviously all the original sauces are freshly prepared to tantalise your palate!
Amber spa at Colombo Courtyard being one of the last Spa’s to join the fray in the recent years, and has now gathered massive appeal as only few of them can boast of the Hot Stone Therapy carried out by our qualified Balinese therapist who administer more than just this, to a most relaxing aromatherapy session to unwind after a stressful day!

Most recently Sri Lankan Airlines has entered into a partnership with Colombo Courtyard, to offer its members a host of exciting offers and benefits. With this partnership, Fly Smiles members will now have the opportunity to earn miles for stays, Amber Spa treatments and dining at the Colombo Courtyard. The Colombo Courtyard Hotel is certainly leading the way to create new standards in the boutique hotel sector, which even other hoteliers are talking about.
The Awards account for over 50 categories in the luxury hotel industry and include amongst others Luxury Private Island Resorts, Casino Hotels, City Hotels, and Lodges. Award winners raised the bar of service delivery within the industry ever since as some of the world’s top hotels including brands such as Swissôtel, Inter Continental, Hilton, Kempinski, Anantara & Mövenpick Hotels compete annually to receive top honours. Over 1,000 hotels from 145 countries were nominated to participate in the world’s most prestigious Awards initiative for luxury hotels in 2014.
Winners are purely judged on service delivery and effective management voted for by International tour operators, travel agents and hotel guests who get the opportunity to cast their valuable votes annually, making the process fair and unbiased.
It is believed that World Luxury Hotel Awards category winners would serve as an inspiration to nominees and other luxury properties on the global front to raise their levels of service delivery in order to feel comfortable in competing on an international level and to set a benchmark for themselves.
Participation in the World Luxury hotel Awards encourages exclusivity and uniqueness, critical indicators that truly define a luxury hotel.
Achievements by Colombo Courtyard will go a long way to promote sustainable tourism in the country which was at one time looked down upon by the industry.