The Good Hotel Guide has revealed its annual list of 12 César winners with Penally Abbey taking home the award for the ‘Best Hotel in Wales’.

The 12 Césars (named after famous Swiss hotelier César Ritz) are given to the hotels, inns and B&Bs considered outstanding in their particular category, resulting in a “must go” list of places to stay for those planning weekend breaks and holidays in Great Britain and Ireland.

The Good Hotel Guide, now in its 46th edition, is the only truly independent hotel guide in the United Kingdom as it does not accept payment for inclusion or free hospitality in return for coverage.

On announcing the award for Penally Abbey as ‘Best Hotel’ in Wales - the Guide states: “Owner and interior designer Melanie Boissevain has created stylish, relaxing rooms filled with antiques, French market finds, blowsy wallpapers and Persian rugs in this Strawberry Hill Gothic house on the coast a five-minute drive from Tenby”.

It’s a major boost for the premises after it was unable to open throughout the summer of 2020 (following the pandemic lockdown) after a fire broke out at the building that June.

Penally Abbey Hotel is run by husband and wife team Lucas and Melanie Boissevain who have been at the helm the 18th century property since 2014 with their family.

Established in 1978, the Good Hotel Guide is the only truly independent UK hotel guide – hotels cannot buy their entry into the print edition and neither the editors nor the inspectors accept free hospitality on their anonymous visits to hotels.

Now owned by Richard Fraiman, who has been CEO since 2014, the editorial team is headed up by the former travel editor and assistant travel editor of The Times, Jane Knight and Kate Quill, respectively.

The Good Hotel Guide features 650 hotels, inns, B&Bs and guesthouses, with 414 main entries and 44 new entries (these being a combination of new properties and new entries to the Guide).

Readers play a crucial role by reporting on existing entries as well as recommending new discoveries. Unlike reader-review websites, which are open to abuse from unscrupulous hoteliers and guests with a grudge, these reports are carefully filtered.

‘Word of mouth in print’ is a good way of describing how the Good Hotel Guide works. Whenever a review of a hotel or B&B is received, the author’s name, address and other details are carefully recorded.

This year, other award winners include a hotel run by aristocracy with a well-being focus, a former motorway service station on the M6, a Grade I listed townhouse where the in-room coffee maker can be found in a doll’s house, a revamped 11th-century Cotswold stone inn, a 1950s Scottish youth hostel with loch views that is now a stunning hotel, and Michelin-starred properties in the heart of the British countryside with bird-watching and red squirrel spotting opportunities on the door step.