Condé Nast Traveler’s current issue has a rundown of its annual World Saver Awards, recognizing those companies who “are dedicated to saving their communities and our world.”

As you would expect in the original home of eco-tourism, Latin America has a strong presence in every category. Several organizations show up in multiple categories and some international chains that were recognized are active in the region.

Scrappy Nature Air of Costa Rica beat out nearly all the world’s airlines, recognized in the Education category for donating part of its profits each year so 200 local students can study English and the environment. They were also called out in the Wildlife category for helping to reforest Corcovado National Park. And they beat out all but two of the other airlines around the world for the “Doing it All” category for air carriers. Probably factoring into that is something I mentioned in this previous post on Nature Air: they were the first airline to go totally carbon-neutral. See more about them at NatureAir.com.

The Haciendas hotel group in Mexico, operators of lovingly restored retreats such as Hacienda Temozon, was the overall winner in the Poverty category. They were lauded for hiring local people who were having trouble making a living from the infertile land in areas where they restored the old buildings and “helped others start businesses, including folk art and massage cooperatives.” They were also recognized in the Education category and were the top Good Guys Overall for the “small chains.” See our reviews of several Haciendas properties in our Merida and Campeche luxury hotels section and at the end of each review is a link to the company’s website.

Upscale Costa Rican eco-lodge Lapa Rios on the Osa Peninsula was recognized for its poverty-fighting efforts. This included one project we wish more plastic-water-bottle-pushing hotels would initiate: the building and staffing of a local recycling facility. They were also recognized in the Education category and were #2 overall in the “small resorts” grouping, along with the less upscale Costa Rican nature haven Pacuare Lodge. Grano de Oro in Costa Rica’s capital placed in two categories: for providing vocational training and placement for abused mothers and providing job training for disadvantaged city children.

Ecoventura cruise line, operating in the Galapagos, has been leading the way in trying to reduce tourism’s impact on the fragile ecosystem there and the awards called them out in almost every category. They were the first company to earn and maintain the ecological SmartVoyager certification, the first Galapagos cruise ship company to offset carbon emissions, and the first to install alternative energy sources. Their solar and wind-powered hybrid yacht got called out in the Preservation category. They were recognized for their scholarship program in marine conservation for Ecuadorian students and a micro-enterprise project for fishermen’s wives. In the Health area they built and equipped a sign language school and they pay the salaries of physical therapists on the inhabited islands. Naturally, they placed at the top in the “cruise lines” grouping. See more at Ecoventura.com.

One of the other winners was Aqua Expeditions, the most upscale Peruvian Amazon River excursion company, which we are planning to cover with a tour feature in the first half of 2010. Also getting a nod were the Ritz-Carlton chain (operating in Santiago, Cancun, and soon Mexico City), Costa Cruises (operating in part of South America), Fairmont Hotels (with multiple locations in Mexico)

See the full results in each category here.

The latest results of Travel & Leisure’s annual reader’s poll are out and incredibly, there are only three hotels on there not already reviewed in detail in Luxury Latin America. One is a mystery that must be a ballot-stuffing anomoly (Le Meridien Cancun), another is a business hotel that gets so-so ratings from our correspondents (Hyatt Santiago). The other is the Four Seasons in Mexico City, which we were slated to have a review of up six months ago until our correspondent there fell ill. She’s back in action and it’s coming soon–I mean it this time–along with a batch of other fine hotels in that city.

There have been some shifts in the rankings this year though and it looks like a lot more readers have had Mexico on their itinerary (12 of the 25 entries) and Belize got nudged out entirely this time. The Bristol Hotel in Panama snuck in at number 24 though, just ahead of the Fairmont Acapulco Princess.

The interesting move this year was the Tides Zihuatanejo (pictured here) popping into the top-5 soon after its makeover from the already nice Villa del Sol. Peru also made a nice showing this time. Inkaterra Machu Picchu Hotel, formerly known as Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, came out of nowhere into the top-10 and Miraflores Park Hotel popped in at 15. See our detailed reviews by following any of the links above, or see the full rundown here on the survey.

If you’ve traveled a lot in this region, give us your take on the results!

I’ve gotten some e-mail comments now and then that we seem to favor small and intimate hotels over the big and brash ones when it comes to which ones we cover in the Luxury Latin America hotel reviews. In a sense, this is a fair observation, because to us the main thing that differentiates a true luxury hotel from one that just claims to be is not how long the amenity list is, but how the staff and management goes about anticipating and meeting the needs of well-heeled, experienced travelers. The smaller hotels tend to focus intensely on service, while the largest ones focus on making it easy for business travelers and conventioneers to get work done.

There are plenty of exceptions, of course, which brings me to a hotel that has nothing to do with Latin America, the Fairmont Banff Springs in Alberta, Canada. I spent a night there recently and came away wishing it could have been three or four nights instead. The place is a maze that takes a day to figure out, but once you get beyond that they really do get almost everything right. Sure, it’s huge and there was a convention going on while I was there, but the staff did an impeccable job throughout my stay, the facilities are really well maintained despite the age, and it’s hard to beat this view out the window, which a majority of the rooms have.

I stayed at two other Fairmonts as well recently and while the others can’t match the Banff Springs one for the wow factor, the chain has a solid operation that’s a clear notch above the far and wide business hotel chains like Marriott and Sheraton. Back in Latin America, the company does have a few resorts in Mexico that we have reviewed:

Fairmont Acapulco Princess review

Fairmont Pierre Marques review

Fairmont Mayakoba review