A GUEST HOUSE in Amroth has won a prestigious award which recognises and rewards the excellence of small, independent accommodation businesses throughout the UK.

Mellieha Guest House has won the 'eviivo Gold Award for Wales'.

The 'eviivo Gold Award' and the 'eviivo Friendliest Award' are based on over 90,000 online reviews collected from genuine guests who have stayed in over 4,000 small independent hotels, B&Bs, guesthouses, farms, cottages, inns, pubs and restaurants with rooms during 2010.

The guest reviews were collected via eviivo frontdesk, the system which powers online booking through the accommodation's own website and other major travel websites.

The awards were made for the highest scoring properties in each UK region for 2010.

"We were pleased and delighted to hear that we had won the eviivo gold award," said Stuart and Julia Adams, owners of the Mellieha Guest House.

"We aim to offer our guests a high standard of service in a relaxing and tranquil environment.

"Having won the eviivo Gold Award based on guest reviews, we are grateful for the time that our guests take to provide their feedback and to eviivo for their continual support to independent businesses.

"Our award will take pride of place in our guest house, reminding us of all of the wonderful visitors that have passed through our doors during our time at Mellieha," they added.

Kathryn Glover, commercial director at eviivo and creator of the eviivo awards, said: "Nowadays, online guest reviews are a key factor on travel decisions and consumer purchasing behaviour and we are delighted to enable our partners, through our first-rate guest review programme, to benefit from this trend and as a result, enjoy higher booking conversion on their site.

"As champions of the small, independent accommodation sector in the UK, we launched the eviivo Gold and Friendliest Awards to further raise the profile of these truly unique properties, such as Mellieha Guest House, in the online marketplace and help them compete with the bigger hotels and chains," she added.