Cost is one of the first questions any business asks before entering a hospitality award — and it's a fair one, since pricing across the industry varies wildly, from free public-vote polls with no real credibility to five-figure "premium" packages of questionable value. This guide breaks down exactly what hospitality awards cost within the Hospitality Awards family, what each fee actually pays for, and how to budget sensibly whether you're entering one category or several.
There are two entirely separate costs to understand: the nomination fee, paid to enter and be evaluated, and the optional Winner Package fee, paid only after a result is confirmed. Neither fee buys a better outcome — every result across International Travel Awards, International Spa Awards, International Restaurant Awards and World GM Awards is decided purely by independent jury scoring.
Nomination Fees: The Five Packages
Nomination packages scale by how many categories and programmes you want to enter, not by any perceived likelihood of winning:
| Package | Price | Programmes | Categories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver | USD 299 | 1 | 1 |
| Gold | USD 670 | 1 | 2 |
| Diamond | USD 980 | 2 | 2 |
| Platinum ★ | USD 1,380 | 2 | 3 per programme |
| Titanium ★★ | USD 1,750 | 3 | 3 per programme |
Full feature-by-feature comparison, including support level and profile page eligibility, is on our Fee & Cost page.
What the Nomination Fee Actually Covers
Nomination fees fund the practical mechanics of running a credible, independently judged programme: access to the official nomination portal, administrative verification of every entry, and compensation for the independent jury's evaluation time. It's worth being explicit about what this fee does not buy — it does not buy a win, and it does not influence how your entry is scored relative to any other nominee.
Winner Package Pricing
Winner Packages are entirely optional and only relevant once you've been confirmed as a winner. Pricing ranges from a Digital package at USD 820 up to a Royal package at USD 3,860, with Classic, Deluxe and Super Deluxe tiers in between. Each tier builds on the one before it, adding gala passes, physical trophies, plaques, media features and promotional placement. Full pricing and inclusions are on our Fee & Cost page under Winner Package Price.
What's Included in Each Winner Package
- Digital (USD 820): award title, logo and name rights, digital certificate and badge, winners' listing.
- Classic (USD 1,640): everything in Digital, plus 2 gala passes, a physical trophy and home-page highlight.
- Deluxe (USD 2,200): everything in Digital, plus 4 gala passes, plaque, trophy, medal and social media posts.
- Super Deluxe (USD 2,740): everything in Digital, plus 6 gala passes, gold plaque, winner's speech video and home-page branding.
- Royal (USD 3,860): everything in Digital, plus 10 gala passes, full social coverage and stage/photowall branding.
How to Budget Sensibly
For most businesses entering for the first time, a Silver or Gold package targeting one well-matched category is the sensible starting point — it keeps cost predictable while still delivering full jury evaluation and, if you win, eligibility for any Winner Package tier. Larger organisations planning to enter multiple properties, brands or programmes in the same year typically find Diamond, Platinum or Titanium more cost-efficient per entry, since the per-category cost drops meaningfully at higher tiers. Whatever tier you choose, budget the nomination fee as a fixed cost regardless of outcome, and treat the Winner Package as a separate, optional decision to make only once a result is confirmed.
Hidden Costs to Watch For
Within Hospitality Awards, pricing is fully transparent and published — but when evaluating any award programme, it's worth checking for a few common hidden costs elsewhere in the market: mandatory "media package" upsells bundled into the base entry fee, shipping charges for physical trophies not disclosed until after payment, and renewal or "listing maintenance" fees charged annually regardless of re-entry. None of these apply within our fee structure, but they're worth checking for when comparing programmes.
How Hospitality Awards Pricing Compares to the Wider Market
Pricing across the broader hospitality-award market varies enormously, from free public-vote polls with essentially no evaluation behind them, to premium "editorial" placements that can run into five figures with little transparency about what's actually included. Within that range, Hospitality Awards' entry-level pricing sits toward the accessible end — a Silver nomination at USD 299 is a modest line item for most established hospitality businesses — while still funding a genuinely independent jury process rather than a rubber-stamped listing. The clearest way to sanity-check any programme's pricing is to ask what specifically the fee funds: portal access and jury evaluation is a legitimate cost centre; an unexplained flat fee with no visible process behind it is a warning sign regardless of price point.
Is It Worth the Cost?
For most businesses, the return on a well-matched hospitality award entry is straightforward to justify: a single credible win typically generates marketing value (a genuine third-party trust signal), commercial value (a talking point in B2B and corporate negotiations) and internal value (a morale boost for teams) well in excess of a Silver or Gold-tier nomination fee. The clearest way to think about it is as a fixed-cost marketing and validation investment, not a lottery ticket — the fee buys evaluation and consideration, not a guaranteed outcome. Even businesses that don't win in a given cycle often report that the process of preparing a nomination was valuable on its own, since it forces a structured, evidence-based review of service standards, guest data and sustainability practice that many operators otherwise rarely conduct in a formal way.
Comparing Cost Per Category
Looking purely at headline price can be misleading — the more useful comparison is cost per category entered. A Silver package at USD 299 covers one category in one programme, working out to USD 299 per entry. A Titanium package at USD 1,750 can cover up to nine category entries across three programmes (three categories in each), working out to under USD 200 per entry — a lower per-category cost despite the higher headline price. Organisations planning to enter several properties, brands or leadership categories in the same year should run this per-category calculation before assuming the cheapest headline package is actually the most cost-effective choice.
When to Choose Which Package
As a general guide: a single independent property or restaurant entering for the first time typically starts with Silver or Gold to test the process at low cost. A multi-property group or a business wanting presence across two related programmes — for example a resort with an award-worthy spa — tends to find Diamond the natural fit. Larger groups, or businesses wanting country, regional and world-level competition simultaneously, get the most value from Platinum or Titanium, particularly given the complimentary Digital Winner Package included at those tiers for one winning nomination, which effectively offsets part of the higher upfront cost.
How to Nominate
- Choose your programme on Our Awards.
- Review categories on our Award Categories page.
- Select a package on the Fee & Cost page.
- Complete the official Award Nomination form.
Nominate today to put your organisation forward for consideration.
Planning Cost Into Your Annual Marketing Budget
Businesses that get the most consistent value from hospitality awards tend to treat the nomination fee as a recurring, planned line item within the annual marketing budget rather than an ad-hoc decision each year. Building in a modest allocation — even just a Silver or Gold-tier entry for a single flagship property or category — means the business always has current, credible third-party recognition to point to, rather than gaps in its award history that can look inconsistent to guests or partners researching the brand. For multi-property groups, staggering entries across properties over a few years can also spread cost while still building a comprehensive recognition portfolio over time.