Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, the luxurious desert retreat owned by Emirates Hotels & Resorts, has collected yet another Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Travel Award. Jumping six places in its overall rating from last year, Al Maha was the only Dubai hotel to be listed in the prestigious top 20 list, for Overseas Leisure Hotels.

For the second year running, readers have placed Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa (http://www.al-maha.com/ ) within the top 20 overseas leisure hotels in the highly competitive Middle East, Africa and Indian Ocean region. The influential readers' survey of the world's best destinations is conducted annually by Condé Nast Traveller. Moving up six places from the 2007 ranking to number 14 in the 2008 survey, the overall rating of the property improved from 79.59% to 83.81%.

Condé Nast Traveller is one of the world's leading travel magazines, and has become a source of authority in the travel industry for sophisticated and discerning travellers, seeking the ultimate, unique holiday experience.

The prestigious Readers' Travel Awards, now in their tenth year, are highly acclaimed in the industry and have become a highlight of the travel trade calendar in terms of a benchmark against which to judge the best the travel world has to offer. Resorts and hotels are ranked according to a number of different criteria including service, standard of accommodation, environmental friendliness, leisure facilities and overall ambience.

The top 20 listing of overseas leisure hotels in the region boasts some stunning resorts, including Singita Private Game Reserve in South Africa, Cape Towns' Cape Grace Hotel, Soneva Gili in the Maldives, and North Island in the Seychelles. Once again Al Maha has the distinction of being the sole Dubai resort to be featured.

Tony Williams, Senior Vice President, Resorts & Projects at Emirates Hotels & Resorts (http://www.emirateshotelsresorts.com/group/en/ ), commented on the findings: "This is a great tribute to the staff of Al Maha, and we are obviously delighted to have received such a great accolade - in particular when it comes from the guests. Moving up in the ranking by six places this year highlights that year on year the resort and the experience at Al Maha remains not only consistent, but is improving against this world-class standard."

Mr Williams continued: "The criteria against which we have been judged are integral to our own product philosophy, and it is heartening to see that across the company Emirates is pushing the boundaries in product and service excellence alongside some of the other great resorts in the world."