AA Hospitality Awards: everything you need to know
The AA Hospitality Awards are the AA’s annual night of recognition for the UK hospitality industry, the evening on which the organisation names its hotels, restaurants, inns, B&Bs and individuals of the year and launches the new editions of its lifestyle guides, including the AA Restaurant Guide.
Held every September at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House on Park Lane in London, the ceremony brings together around 1,000 chefs, hoteliers, restaurateurs, suppliers and media for a champagne reception, a gourmet dinner cooked by a high profile chef and a run of awards covering almost every corner of the sector.
This year’s ceremony takes place on Monday, September 21, 2026, hosted by Fleur East.
What are the AA Hospitality Awards?
The awards are run by AA Media, the arm of the AA that operates its hotel and restaurant quality assessment schemes and publishes its guides. They sit alongside the AA rosette scheme for food quality and the AA star scheme for accommodation, and they are the point in the year at which the AA converts 12 months of inspection work into named winners.
Winners are selected in recognition of excellence and success within their award category, having shown significant improvement over the preceding 12 to 18 months and demonstrated a commitment to raising standards for both guests and diners.
Guests leave with a goody bag containing a copy of the new AA Restaurant Guide, which makes the evening the effective publication date for the guide each year.
When and where are the AA Hospitality Awards held?
The AA Hospitality Awards are held annually in September at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London.
A celebrity host fronts the ceremony each year. Recent hosts have been:
- 2026: Fleur East
- 2025: Vernon Kay
- 2024: Angellica Bell
- 2023: Claudia Winkleman
What makes the 2026 awards different?
The 2026 ceremony marks 70 years of the AA rosette scheme, and the anniversary is being built into the evening itself. For the first time, three chefs are collaborating on the awards dinner: Steve Smith, Tom Aikens and Hrishikesh Desai, with a menu curated to mark the milestone.
Simon Numphud, managing director at AA Media, said of this year’s finalists: “Congratulations to all finalists. They represent the passion, innovation and dedication that make the UK hospitality sector extraordinary.”
The AA also introduced a new Sommelier of the Year award in 2026, first presented at the spring rosette update to Cathryn Bell at Fernery at Grove of Narberth.
AA Hospitality Awards categories in full
The category list shifts slightly year to year as the AA adds and retires awards, but the core of the ceremony has been consistent. The current line up covers:
Chef and restaurant awards
- AA Chefs’ Chef of the Year
- AA Restaurant of the Year (England)
- AA Restaurant of the Year (London)
- AA Restaurant of the Year (Scotland)
- AA Restaurant of the Year (Wales)
- AA Restaurant with Rooms of the Year
- AA Restaurant Team Award, previously the AA Food Service Award
- AA Wine Award (England, Scotland and Wales, with an overall winner)
- AA Sommelier of the Year
- AA College Restaurant of the Year
Hotel and accommodation awards
- AA Hotel of the Year (England)
- AA Hotel of the Year (London)
- AA Hotel of the Year (Scotland)
- AA Hotel of the Year (Wales)
- AA Hotel of the Year (Northern Ireland)
- AA Hotel Group of the Year
- AA Small Hotel Group of the Year
- AA Spa Hotel of the Year
- AA Inn of the Year
- AA B&B of the Year
Individual and special awards
- AA Lifetime Achievement Award
- AA Outstanding Contribution Award
- AA Rising Star Award
- AA Housekeeper of the Year
- AA Sustainable Award
Northern Ireland is recognised in the hotel categories but does not currently have its own Restaurant of the Year.
How are the AA Hospitality Award winners chosen?
Most of the awards are decided by the AA’s inspectors rather than by public vote or open entry. Inspectors are recruited from the industry itself, from the ranks of head chefs, general managers and housekeepers among other roles, and go through an AA training programme that continues throughout their career.
Inspections are unannounced. Inspectors visit as paying customers and assess the whole experience, from the first course through to the last.
Three categories are open to nomination from the industry: AA Housekeeper of the Year, AA Rising Star and the AA Sustainable Award. For the 2026 awards, nominations closed at 8pm on Friday, July 31, 2026.
One award works entirely differently.
AA Chefs' Chef of the Year: the award decided by chefs
The AA Chefs’ Chef of the Year is the most coveted award of the night because it is the only one voted for by the industry itself. Only chefs whose restaurants hold AA Rosettes are eligible to vote, which makes it peer recognition rather than an inspector’s verdict.
First presented in 1996, it has become the closest thing British kitchens have to a chefs’ choice award.
Simon said: “The AA Chefs’ Chef Award is special because it is peer recognition at the highest level.”
The 2026 shortlist ran to 12 chefs:
- Kenny Atkinson, Solstice by Kenny Atkinson, Newcastle
- Adam Byatt, Trinity, London
- Hélène Darroze, Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, London
- Hrishikesh Desai, Cedar Tree by Hrishikesh Desai, Cumbria
- Mark Donald, The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant, Perthshire
- Brett Graham, The Ledbury, London
- Roberta Hall-McCarron, The Little Chartroom, Edinburgh
- Adam Handling, Frog by Adam Handling, London
- Angela Hartnett, Murano, London
- Lorna McNee, Cail Bruich, Glasgow
- Spencer Metzger, Row on 5, London
- Clare Smyth, Core by Clare Smyth, London
Notable past winners
The roll call of AA Chefs’ Chef of the Year winners reads like a directory of modern British cooking. Raymond Blanc, Heston Blumenthal, Tom Kerridge, Nathan Outlaw, Daniel Clifford and Jason Atherton have all taken it.
More recent winners include:
- 2025: Gareth Ward, Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms
- 2024: Tom Aikens, Muse, London
- 2023: Paul Ainsworth, Paul Ainsworth at No6, Padstow
- 2022: Mark Birchall, Moor Hall
Elsewhere on the night, the Lifetime Achievement and Outstanding Contribution awards have gone to some of the sector’s most familiar figures. John Williams MBE of The Ritz London took Lifetime Achievement in 2022. Angela Hartnett was recognised with Outstanding Contribution in 2023. In 2025 the Outstanding Contribution award went jointly to Alain Roux and Michel Roux Jr, with James Thomson OBE of Prestonfield taking Lifetime Achievement.
Restaurant of the Year winners in recent years have included Skof in Manchester, Joséphine in London, Gorse in Cardiff and The Little Chartroom in Edinburgh, all recognised in 2025.
AA Rosettes explained
The rosette scheme is the engine behind the restaurant side of the awards, and 2026 marks its 70th year.
The AA first awarded rosettes for the 1956 handbook, published in 1955, initially to hotels with catering. Restaurant ratings followed in January 1967. The scale originally topped out at three rosettes and was extended to five in 1992.
Rosettes are awarded to around the top 10% of restaurants in the UK and Ireland. More than 1,400 restaurants currently hold an award.
What each rosette level means
In the AA’s own wording:
- One rosette: food prepared with care, using good quality ingredients and solid technique. Enjoyable, confident and reliable.
- Two rosettes: restaurants that rise above the standard one rosette level, among the best in their region, with greater precision and consistency.
- Three rosettes: outstanding restaurants that are worth travelling for, where timing, seasoning and flavour combinations are consistently spot on.
- Four rosettes: destination restaurants among the very top in the UK and Ireland, where kitchens operate at an exceptional technical level.
- Five rosettes: rare territory, restaurants that draw attention well beyond these shores, led by chefs at the height of their craft.
How rosettes are awarded
Inspectors assess four things: balance of flavour, quality of ingredients, technical skill and consistency.
One and two rosettes are awarded at the time of inspection. Three, four and five rosettes are never awarded on the visit itself. They are revealed twice a year, in February and at the AA Hospitality Awards in September, which is part of what gives the September ceremony its weight: it is both an awards night and one of the two annual rosette announcements.
How many restaurants hold AA Rosettes?
At the time of writing, 18 restaurants in the UK hold five AA Rosettes, 49 hold four and 218 hold three.
The five rosette list includes The Fat Duck in Bray, L’Enclume in Cartmel, Midsummer House in Cambridge, Moor Hall in Ormskirk, Core by Clare Smyth and Sketch Lecture Room and Library in London, Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottingham, The Kitchin in Edinburgh and Woven by Adam Smith in Ascot.
AA Rosettes and Michelin stars: What is the difference?
The two schemes are separate and measure slightly different things. Michelin runs a three tier system assessing the cooking on the plate, announced at a single annual ceremony for Great Britain and Ireland. The AA runs a five tier rosette scheme, updated through the year, assessing the food across the whole meal, and it sits within a wider quality assessment framework that also covers accommodation, housekeeping and service.
Plenty of restaurants hold both. A five rosette restaurant will almost always hold Michelin recognition too, but the awards are made independently of one another, and neither guide takes the other into account.
Frequently asked questions
Who runs the AA Hospitality Awards? AA Media, the publishing and hospitality services arm of the AA, which also operates the AA Rosette and AA star rating schemes.
When are the AA Hospitality Awards 2026? Monday, September 21, 2026, at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London.
Who is hosting the AA Hospitality Awards 2026? Fleur East.
How do you win an AA Hospitality Award? Most categories are decided by AA inspectors on the basis of unannounced visits over the preceding 12 to 18 months. The Housekeeper of the Year, Rising Star and Sustainable awards are open to nomination. The Chefs’ Chef of the Year is voted for by AA Rosette holding chefs.
What is the most prestigious AA Hospitality Award? The AA Chefs’ Chef of the Year, because it is chosen by fellow chefs rather than by inspectors.
Can the public vote in the AA Hospitality Awards? No. Voting in the Chefs’ Chef category is restricted to chefs at AA Rosette holding restaurants, and the remaining categories are decided by AA inspectors or from industry nominations.
How many AA Rosettes can a restaurant hold? Five is the maximum. The scale ran to three rosettes until 1992.
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AA Hospitality Awards: everything you need to know
