Three prestigious luxury travel awards made for a memorable night for Minor Hotels, as founder William E Heinecke received a lifetime honour and Anantara celebrated a remarkable double triumph.
There are worse places to collect a hat-trick of hospitality honours than the Tower of London. The Crown Jewels were already spoken for, of course, but Minor Hotels still left with three glittering prizes of its own.
At the 2026 Ultimate Luxury Travel Related Awards (ULTRAs), held on 1 October, Minor International founder and chairman William E Heinecke received the Lifetime Achievement Award. His group’s Anantara Hotels & Resorts was named Luxury Brand of the Year, while Anantara Koh Yao Yai Resort & Villas in Thailand took the Best New Hotel in the World title.
For Minor Hotels, it was more than a pleasant evening with famous faces and exceptional table settings. The results recognised its founder, its luxury brand, and a single resort, as the hotel group pushes further into international markets.
From one Pattaya hotel to a global business
Heinecke’s story didn’t begin with marble lobbies or a vast international portfolio. He founded his first business in Thailand at just 17 and entered hospitality in 1978 with the Royal Garden Resort in Pattaya. That hotel is now known as Avani Pattaya Resort.
Almost five decades later, Minor Hotels says its portfolio exceeds 640 properties across 67 countries. Importantly, that figure includes hotels, resorts and branded residences both operating and committed for future development. It does not count 640-plus hotels already welcoming guests.
The group’s 12 brands range from Anantara and Avani to NH Collection, Tivoli and Oaks, giving it a presence across luxury, lifestyle and more accessible accommodation. The business also spans dining, travel experiences and wellness. Not bad for an enterprise whose beginnings hardly suggested a future need for such a large corporate directory.
The trophy has a commercial story behind it, too. Minor Hotels announced in January that it signed 40 hotel contracts and master agreements in 2025 and was sharpening its focus on expansion, brand diversity, and capital-efficient growth. The lifetime award therefore arrives as the founder’s business looks ahead, not in the rearview mirror.
Pictured (Left to Right): Christopher Hartley, CEO, Global Hotel Alliance; Nick Perry, Chairman & Founder, Ultratravel; William E Heinecke, Chairman & Founder, Minor International; Nick Wood, Founder and Creative Director, Nick Wood Music
Anantara celebrates 25 years in the spotlight
Anantara’s brand honour comes at an especially neat time. It is 25 years since the first Anantara opened in Hua Hin, Thailand, in 2001. What began as a single Thai resort has become an international luxury collection of more than 50 hotels and resorts, carrying a distinctly Thai approach to hospitality into Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian Ocean and elsewhere in Asia.
Heinecke described the Anantara philosophy as “unhurried, rooted in place and generous in spirit”. It is a short description, but it says more about the brand’s ambition than another brochure photograph of a bath overlooking the sea.
That emphasis on place is important. Affluent travellers may expect polished service and beautiful rooms, but they increasingly want a convincing connection with the destination outside the front door. For travel advisers, that gives Anantara a selling proposition beyond thread counts, private pools and the customary promise of unforgettable sunsets.
Minor Hotels has also flagged Australia and the Americas as future markets for Anantara. No opening dates were announced with these awards, so view those ambitions as expansion plans rather than confirmed, imminent launches.
A Phang Nga Bay resort takes the world title
The third prize went to Anantara Koh Yao Yai Resort & Villas, set on Koh Yao Yai in southern Thailand’s Phang Nga Bay, between Phuket and Krabi.
The resort has 148 accommodation units, which Anantara describes as suites, including beachfront pool villas and sea-view penthouses. Its location offers a different rhythm from Phuket’s busier resort strips, with limestone island scenery, generous room sizes and a decidedly relaxed sense of arrival.
There is some useful practical detail for agents. Anantara says the resort is about a 35-minute boat ride from Laem Sai Pier in Phuket, after a transfer from the airport. Travellers arriving via Krabi can take a connecting boat from Thalane Pier.
Although the resort won the Best New Hotel in the World award in 2026, it opened in August 2023. The award is a current accolade, not evidence of a brand-new opening this year. That distinction matters before someone starts selling it as the island’s newest hotel.
For Australian travellers combining Phuket with a quieter coastal stay, the property offers a useful two-part itinerary: lively restaurants and sightseeing first, followed by an island escape that does not require abandoning the comforts of a luxury resort.
Why this hat-trick matters to the travel trade
The ULTRAs cover 18 categories and draw on votes from Ultratravel readers and GHA DISCOVERY loyalty programme members. GHA reports a membership base of 38 million; that is the programme’s size, not a verified total of votes cast in the awards.
These honours therefore indicate traveller preferences, rather than an independent technical inspection of every luxury hotel on earth. That does not make them meaningless. Recognition can strengthen brand awareness, support travel-adviser recommendations and help properties stand out in a competitive luxury market.
An Australian success story at the same event: Capella Sydney won Ultratravel Collection Hotel of the Year. It reminded everyone that the global luxury spotlight wasn’t reserved entirely for Thailand.
For Heinecke, however, the evening offered a particularly satisfying symmetry. The man who entered the hotel business in Pattaya in 1978 was honoured for a lifetime of work, while the luxury brand he launched in Thailand 25 years ago brought home two more prizes.
Some hotel groups collect properties. Minor Hotels also collected the silverware on this occasion.
By: Maysa Punchanit – © 2026.
Read Time: 5 minutes.
Author Bio:
Maysa Punchanit has never waited for life to become easy. She’s far too practical for that. Instead, she’s built her path the way many strong women do, step by step, job by job, learning something useful everywhere she’s been.
Her working life has taken her through hospitality, sales, beauty therapy and the fast-moving world of social media, where she partnered with some of Thailand’s best-known companies. Along the way, she discovered a steady voice for blogging, warm, direct and grounded in real experience rather than marketing spin.
Being a single mother sharpened her resolve rather than slowing her stride. If anything, it gave her purpose.
Now with DTN News and Stephen’s EGT Media, Maysa arrives not as a newcomer, but as someone quietly battle-tested, resilient, capable and ready for the next chapter.
