The best new hotels in the Middle East and Africa take ownership of their unique contexts, say the judges of this year's AHEAD Middle East and Africa (MEA) awards, in this video produced by Dezeen for the awards programme.

The AHEAD MEA awards, which had its ceremony earlier this month at Caesars Bluewater in Dubai, celebrated the best in hotel and resort design from across the two regions.

Omar Ghafour, founder of Dubai-based practice Light Space Design and AHEAD MEA judge, observed trends towards authenticity among the winning projects.

"This year's entries were designed in a way that gives the guest a very specific experience, but without making you feel like you were in an amusement park," he said in the video interview, which Dezeen shot on the judging day of the AHEAD MEA awards.

The Gorgeous George hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, took home a host of awards including Hotel of the Year.

The project, a 32-suite boutique hotel that is housed within two Victorian heritage buildings, also won the Visual Identity, Suite, and Renovation, Restoration & Conversion categories.

Husain Roomi, co-founder of multidisciplinary creative studio H2R Design and member of the judging panel, praised the hotel's balance of historical and contemporary features.

Read more on Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/?p=1441164

WATCH NEXT: AHEAD Europe awards 2019 winners - https://youtu.be/7qP_mG9hQqY

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