Yorkshire golf and spa resort Rudding Park trumps 5-star palaces as it is voted fourth best hotel in the world

The Harrogate-based establishment is the number one hotel in the UK and the second top hotel in Europe according to TripAdvisor

Yorkshire golf and spa resort Rudding Park (Rudding Park)

The glitzy five-star hotels of London, New York and Dubai might have their admirers. But they can’t match a golf and spa resort in Yorkshire which has been voted the fourth best hotel in the world.

Rudding Park in Harrogate was named the number one hotel in the UK, the second top hotel in Europe and came fourth in the top hotels of the world categories at the Travellers’ Choice Awards 2013, voted for by holiday-makers and run by tourism website, TripAdvisor.

Set among landscaped gardens, the four-star Rudding Park boasts an extensive range of spa treatments, an 18-hole golf course and “one of the finest restaurants in Harrogate”. A 14-seat private cinema is also available for guests.

It is the third time in the last four years that Rudding Park, currently advertising a £69 bed-and-breakfast deal, has been voted the top UK hotel by TripAdvisor’s often hard-to-please guest reviewers.

Peter Banks, managing director at Rudding Park said: “The fact we are also placed as a top hotel in Europe and The World is a wonderful accomplishment for the whole team.

“Travellers may use star ratings as a guide but it is TripAdvisor where genuine travellers express their opinions. Hotels are now judged on every guest’s experience on a daily basis so there is nowhere to hide.”

The hotel is rated “Excellent” by 90 per cent of reviewers on TripAdvisor. A recent guest wrote: “Rudding Park is really very special. The decor is exquisite, very sympathetic to the beautiful old hall's architecture but at the same time contemporary and funky and of the highest quality.”

Yorkshire hospitality receives further recognition with two of the county’s bed-and-breakfast establishments making it into the “world top 10 B&Bs” list – All Seasons Guest House, Filey, was voted sixth and St Michael’s Guest House, Scarborough, seventh.

When it comes to hotel service, Claridges, New York's Four Seasons and Dubai's seven-star Burj Al Arab have something to learn from a seaside guest house in North Wales where prices start at £35 a head.

The four-star Lauriston Court Hotel near the Llandudno pier was voted the world’s best for service. The budget hotel is run by ex-nurse Carol-Lynn Robbins and her husband Ian, a former kitchen fitter.

It’s the small details that make the difference, said Mrs Robbins. “We take car parking very seriously. We shift cars around to make space, down in West Shore if needs be and bring them back. We play musical cars.”