ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hard Rock International is celebrating two big award wins this season! The 2014 American Group Travel Awards named Hard Rock Cafe Best Group Dining Experience at the first annual award show in NYC. The award, created through a partnership between HotelPlanner.com and Landor Travel Publications, presented 23 awards to top organizations in various industries that deliver superior group travel experiences.

“Hard Rock is committed to offering all of our guests an exceptional dining experience at each of our 146 cafe locations around the world,” said Tara Hippensteel, regional sales manager for Hard Rock International. “We are honored to accept the Best Group Dining Experience award celebrating this achievement of our brand.”

Additionally, National Tour Association and Courier magazine presented Hard Rock International with a 2015 Bronze Distinguished Dozen award in the Favorite Group-friendly Restaurant category. The award was chosen as a result of a readers’ choice survey distributed in Courier, the official monthly magazine for National Tour Association members and National Tour Association Services Inc.

About HotelPlanner

HotelPlanner.com provides online services to the global group hotel market. The company’s service ensures the lowest rates by allowing customers to receive quotes online directly from hotel group sales managers. The company also provides mobile applications for booking group hotel reservations and owns and operates Meetings.com, a site that provides information and booking services for meeting and banquet venues around the world for corporate and association meeting planners. Founded in 2002, the company has offices in West Palm Beach, FL (USA Headquarters), Las Vegas, Nevada, London, England, (European Headquarters) and Hong Kong.

About Landor Travel Publications

Landor Travel Publications is the publisher of Group Travel Organiser magazine, the UK’s first and leading publication exclusively addressing the needs of group travel organisers. GTO was first published in 1988 and over the past 19 years has brought a wealth of news, information and ideas for group trips to organisers all over Great Britain. The magazine is published 10 times a year and mailed to 10,000 individuals, along with numerous supplements on particular countries, regions and subjects of interest to groups.

About National Tour Association (NTA)

NTA (National Tour Association) is the leading business-building association for professionals serving customers traveling to, from and within North America. Our 1,500 buyer members are tour operators who buy and package travel product domestically and around the world. Our seller members - 500 destinations and 1,100 tour suppliers - represent more travel product and have access to more business-to-business networking than in any other association in the industry. That includes customers and product in every U.S. state, Canadian province and more than 40 countries. Our members join to demonstrate their commitment to the profession, further their education, and collaborate and partner with the best the industry has to offer.

About Hard Rock International

With a total of 192 venues in 60 countries, including 146 cafes, 21 hotels and 10 casinos, Hard Rock International (HRI) is one of the most globally recognized companies. Beginning with an Eric Clapton guitar, Hard Rock owns the world's greatest collection of music memorabilia, which is displayed at its locations around the globe. Hard Rock is also known for its collectible fashion and music-related merchandise, Hard Rock Live performance venues and an award-winning website. HRI owns the global trademark for all Hard Rock brands. The company owns, operates and franchises Cafes in iconic cities including London, New York, San Francisco, Sydney and Dubai. HRI also owns, licenses and/or manages hotel/casino properties worldwide. Destinations include the company’s two most successful Hotel and Casino properties in Tampa and Hollywood, Fl., both owned and operated by HRI parent company The Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as other exciting locations including Bali, Biloxi, Chicago, Cancun, Ibiza, Las Vegas, Palm Springs and San Diego. Upcoming new Hard Rock Cafe locations include San Juan, Asuncion and Marseille. New Hard Rock Hotel projects include Daytona Beach, Dubai, Los Cabos, Dallas-Fort Worth, Abu Dhabi, and Shenzhen and Haikou in China. For more information on Hard Rock International, visit www.hardrock.com.