The results of the coveted United States’ Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards have been announced today, with Baillie Lodges flagship property Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island coming in as first in Australia and 29th in the world in the Best Hotels in the World category and in second place in the Top 20 Resorts in Australia and the South Pacific category. The luxury lodge scored 98.63 from a possible 100 in the awards. 

The award sees the multi-award-winning lodge which reopened in December 2023 reclaim her position as readers’ favourite Australian hotel on the prestigious list. Southern Ocean Lodge had previously held the honour in 2019, just prior to the wildfires which had swept across Kangaroo Island in early 2020, razing the lodge and occasioning her four-year rebuild.

Across the globe, Southern Ocean Lodge has also featured on the United Kingdom’s Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Awards World’s Best Resorts list, coming in sixth place in the Australasia and the South Pacific category with a score of 92.61. Baillie Lodges sister properties Longitude 131° has come in fourth place in the same category with a score of 95.38, and Capella Lodge at number eighteen with a score of 94.37. Meanwhile Silky Oaks Lodge has come in fifth place in the awards’ Best Hotels in Australasia category with a score of 97.02 from a possible score of 100.

Southern Ocean Lodge’s triumphant return to the top ranks of the Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice lists comes just weeks after the lodge was named as best hotel in Oceania in The Telegraph’s inaugural Top 50 Hotel Awards 2024 in the United Kingdom.

This latest accolade also aligns with Baillie Lodges revealing ‘Sunshine Rising’, the documentary it commissioned from South Australian film producers 57 Films. The film charts the course of Southern Ocean Lodge’s rebuild and the very personal commitment to its enduring success on the parts of Founders James and Hayley Baillie. The 30-minute film is available to view here.  

Baillie Lodges Chief Operating Officer Craig Bradbery said each award win was an emotional event for both the team on the ground at Southern Ocean Lodge and the extended Baillie Lodges family.

“Seeing Southern Ocean Lodge return to the top of the Condé Nast Readers’ Choice list after the significant project of her rebuild is especially poignant,” Mr Bradbery said.

“We really set out to return the magic of the original Southern Ocean Lodge to the wildly beautiful clifftops of Kangaroos Island for our guests, and it’s on receiving accolades like the Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards that bring with it the endorsement of the world’s most dedicated travellers that we have the sense that we have been successful in our mission,” he said.

“It’s an ongoing commitment of course on behalf of the whole team. We’ve had an incredible chance to recreate Southern Ocean Lodge, ready for the next generation of traveller and a sustainable future,” he said.

Related readings

Capella Lodge Named Top Lodge in Australia and South Pacific in Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Awards 2022

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