The Reefs hotel has scored as the fourth best overall hotel in the Caribbean and Bermuda region in the latest issue of the prestigious Travel and Leisure magazine.

The "T+L 500 2006" list is selected by readers of Travel + Leisure and are selected by regions ? such as Europe, Asia and the Caribbean, Bermuda and the Bahamas.

"It is great publicity for the Island and the hotel," executive assistant manager Debbie MacMillan gushed this week.

"It's wonderful for Bermuda whenever we get mentioned in the T+L 500 which lists the 500 best hotels in the world," she added. "It is wonderful for the staff who operate the Reefs and have a big contribution to that score."

Ms MacMillan said The Reefs had been named on the T+L 500 before and the hotel saw a direct increase in guest arrivals as a result.

"It is always a great accolade," she said. "It brings people to the hotel."

She added that being highly placed on the exclusive list would bring first-time visitors to Bermuda.

"If people are looking for somewhere different to go they can see it on the Travel + Leisure website and book it online," she said. "It gets Bermuda out there again and we all need that."

The Reefs' overall score was 86.4 out of 100 and there was a total of 25 hotels selected as the best hotels in the region.

It scored third overall in both the Service (91.23) and Value (78.51) categories and was fifth for Food (86.84).

However, it was the Location (92.11) and Rooms (83.33) categories which prevented The Reefs from getting further up the podium as it was ranked eleventh and twenty-third overall respectively.

"Yes, we need to work on that," Ms MacMillan admitted..

Travel + Leisure described The Reefs as a "tranquil hideaway of pink stucco cottages set along limestone cliffs above a private beach".

It said it had 65 rooms, three restaurants and two bars and its "competitive edge" was "a renowned troika of restaurants, which are now a little more relaxed ? jacket and tie are no longer required".

"Don't miss snorkeling in the colourful Church Bay reefs," it said, and doubles cost from $448.

The Reefs was the Bermuda property listed in the T+L 500 for 2006.

The hotel voted number one in the Caribbean by Travel + Leisure was The Four Seasons Resort at Pinney's Beach, St. Kitts and Nevis.