Two hotels in Madeira and two in the Algarve have featured on a list of ‘100 Best Hotels in the World’, compiled by German tour-operator TUI, which is widely regarded as Germany’s largest tour operator.

The RIU Palace and Albergaria Dias, on the Portuguese island of Madeira, and the Alísios and Casabela hotels in the Algarve were all acknowledged by the ‘100 TUI Holly 2010’ awards.

Described as a ‘tourism Oscar’, TUI’s annual Holly awards are hosted to distinguish the world’s top 100 hotels, as voted for by TUI customers. Hotels are assessed on various categories, including comfort and service.

More than 500,000 tourists participate in the voting system, which classifies some 15,000 hotels worldwide.

Subsequently, the top 100 hotels will be boiled down to ‘TUI Holly’s Top 10 Hotels’, which will be announced in September.

Located in Funchal, Madeira, the four-star Albergaria Dias, was, in 2008, voted ‘The Best Hotel in the World’ by TUI’s clients, within the Western Europe, Mediterranean and Canary Islands category, having competed alongside some 12,000 other hotels.

In 2006 nine Madeira hotels were nominated for TUI’s ‘Holly’ list; this year just two have been put forward. This, local hoteliers believe, is due to a drop in the number of German tourists to the island.