CARMEL, CA., November 14, 2005—The readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine have selected L’Auberge Carmel #42 among the top 75 hotels in the United States in the magazine’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards issue (November 2005). The poll, limited to paid subscribers of the magazine, asks readers to rank a number of criteria such as design, dining, rooms and service as excellent, very good, good, fair or poor. The responses are then tabulated into a numerical score. Only candidates that received a required minimum number of responses were deemed eligible for an award.

L’Auberge Carmel’s appearance on the poll is a first for the 14-month old property. "We are just thrilled," says founder and managing partner David Fink. "We aspire to deliver a perfect guest experience and it’s so gratifying that our guests have responded so positively."

L’Auberge Carmel features 20 luxuriously appointed guest rooms in a three story building. The Inn's European style architecture focuses around a classic brick courtyard and upper floor rooms offer a peek of Carmel Bay. A complete renovation of the historic Inn was completed in August 2004, making L’Auberge Carmel one of the village by the sea’s few full service inns offering guests valet parking, room service, a restaurant on premises, and highly personalized guest services. The hotel recently received an award from the Carmel Heritage Society for its "outstanding example of a completed restoration."

The 12-table restaurant, framed with large wooden windows, looks across Monte Verde Street onto the adjacent pine-boughed residential neighborhood, is elegant and intimate. Executive chef Walter Manzke prepares fresh from the garden and farm contemporary California cuisine with European influences, offering a dining experience akin to a Michelin starred restaurant. The restaurant features an underground wine cellar constructed beneath the inn’s courtyard to house the restaurant’s 4,500 bottle collection. The wine list features great wines from around the world but especially wines from Monterey County, California and France.

L’Auberge Carmel is located in the heart of Carmel-by-the-Sea, one block from Ocean Avenue on Monte Verde Street at Seventh and four blocks from world famous Carmel Beach. The quaint village has a population of 5,000 residents. Since its founding in 1906, Carmel has been recognized internationally as an artists' colony.

For reservations or further information telephone 831-624-8578.