agoda, one of Asias leading hotel booking sites and part of Nasdaq-listed Priceline Group (Nasdaq:PCLN), has announced the winners of its prestigious 2016 Gold Circle Awards, given to accommodation partners around the world that embody the best qualities of the online booking travel experience.

This Gold Circle Award marks the 8th year in recognizing accommodation partners who work closely with agoda to go above and beyond the standard internet offering. The selection criteria to determine award recipients include consistently glowing customer reviews; competitive pricing in the marketplace; diligent utilization of agodas custom-built YCS (Yield Control System); and a willingness to work with agoda to create faster, easier bookings worldwide.

Kaani Beach Hotel based in Maafushi under the umbrella of Kaani Hotels has made a revolution to the recently introduced guest house market in Maldives. With a current additional new product "Kaani Village and Spa" and 2 new properties coming up with 8 storey and 10 storey buildings right in front of beach makes the brand unique and able to cater to incentives abd hold groups from various destinations. Kaani was awarded Maldives Leading Guest House Brand at South Asian Travel Awards and among the Top Hundred Companies in Maldives at Gold 100 Gala recently. 

"I am delighted to announce the winners of the 2016 Gold Circle Awards, which honor excellence in the online hospitality industry. With a number of innovations at agoda, GCA winners demonstrated an outstanding commitment to ensuring the best online booking travel experience for their customers," said John Brown, Chief Operating Officer at agoda. "Indeed, as less than 1% of our 1 million+ properties this year qualified for the award, the GCAs stand as a solid indicator of the level of quality that must be met to be considered". On how the industry and modern travelers expectations have raised the bar on quality of cutting-edge technology and world class service, Errol Cooke, Vice President Global Partner Services at agoda added, "Each year the selection becomes more competitive as accommodation properties continue to enhance their customer offerings on agoda. We are very much looking forward to working even closer with our partners in 2017, to bring an even better online booking travel experience."

Moving forward, agoda is outlining various new initiatives to build closer, more productive relationships with accommodation partners globally to achieve better business results in 2017.

1208 accommodation partners of agoda.com worldwide has been honored the title including properties from Maldives.

For a full list of winners from Maldives : Please see below :

Angsana Ihuru

Bandos Maldives

Eriyadu Island Resort

Furaveri Island Resort & Spa

Kaani Beach Hotel at Maafushi

Hotel Ocean Grand at Hulhumale 

Meeru Island Resort & Spa

Velassaru Maldives 

Veligandu Island Resort & Spa

Vilamendhoo Island Resort & Spa