Both the Resort and the Spa Receive the Four-Star Rating

(Highlands, NC) Old Edwards Inn and Spa was honored with a 2010 Forbes Four Star Award by Forbes Travel Guide. These are the first awards announced since the brand transfer from Mobil to Forbes was announced this fall. This designation means that Old Edwards Inn and Spa retains its Four-Star, Four Diamond rating. The Forbes award was bestowed on the Resort itself as well as The Spa at Old Edwards Inn.

The list has defined the industry’s highest standard for excellence in hospitality for over 50 years. As the originators of the prestigious star rating system, Forbes Travel Guide provides one of the most comprehensive evaluation systems of hotels, restaurants and spas in the world. Old Edwards Inn and Spa’s review by Forbes Travel Guide’s incognito experts can be found online at www.forbestravelguide.com.

“We are delighted to have been recognized by Forbes Travel Guide for the second straight year as a Four-Star Award recipient at both our hotel and our spa,” says President and Managing Director Richard Delany. “It means a great deal to be in the same category of such an amazing group of hotels and resorts throughout the United States. Forbes Travel Guide’s standards are among the very highest in the industry and we appreciate their recognition for the continuing effort our team puts forth on a daily basis to try and be the very best.”

Forbes Travel Guide’s ratings process is based on more than 750 standardized criteria for hotels, making it the most rigorous and comprehensive in the industry. The process begins with a facility inspection that considers every aspect of the property, including its overall cleanliness, condition and location. To achieve Forbes Travel Guide Four and Five Star status, properties must meet or exceed the bar-setting service standards, which are determined through an unannounced, undercover service evaluation conducted by Forbes Travel Guide’s expert inspectors.

About Old Edwards Hospitality Group: (www.oldedwardsinn.com) The Old Edwards Hospitality Group encompasses The Old Edwards Inn and Spa in Highlands, NC, as well as The Old Edwards Club—a private club that features a professionally designed golf course, outdoor heated mineral pool, tennis courts, a fitness center, clubhouse and pro shop. Also introduced in 2009 was Satulah, Old Edwards Private Residences, which includes 14 luxury mountain homes just two blocks of Main Street, Highlands. The Mobil Four-Star, AAA Four-Diamond resort is located at 445 Main Street in Highlands, NC. Also included in the Old Edwards Experience are a Mobil Four-Star wellness spa, Madison’s Restaurant and Wine Garden, The Farm at Old Edwards special events and wedding facility, Acorn’s and Acorn’s Annex upscale retail shops, and The Rib Shack & Sports Corner. Madison’s Restaurant and Wine Garden has won the Wine Spectator “Award of Excellence” every year since 2005 and the “Best Of” award in 2008 and 2009.

About Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Travel Guide, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, originator of the prestigious Mobil Star ratings and certifications, has provided the most comprehensive ratings and reviews of hotels, restaurants and spas since 1958. In October 2009, Mobil Travel Guide announced a strategic partnership with Forbes Media LLC. This exclusive licensing agreement between two industry leaders with more than 140 years of combined experience transfers the hospitality industry’s premier star rating and travel guide brand from ExxonMobil to Forbes. Forbes Travel Guide has a team of expert inspectors who anonymously evaluate properties against rigorous and objective proprietary standards, providing consumers the insight to make better-informed travel and leisure decisions.