Aitken Spence Hotel’s Heritance Aarah resort in the Maldives has added to its accolades recently, with a prestigious recognition at The Tea Masters Sketch Contest.

The resort’s R&B Manageress Panchali Mandakini, who represented the Maldives, received the Audience Awards and was placed third in the overall competition.

Held to commemorate International Tea Day in May, the competition was organised by The Tea Master’s Cup with Ceylon Tea. The competition comprised of a freestyle tea service where Ceylon Tea was incorporated into the mix, to be presented with a snack and a narrative.

With global participation including previous winners of the National Tea Master title from 22 countries, Mandakini’s achievement was praised by the panel of judges for its innovative nature. Manadakini was the 2018 Sri Lankan winner and she got selected to participate the world championship.

The underlying objective of the Tea Masters Sketch competition was to focus on finding new formats and solutions wherein to help the promotion and growth of online tea promotion and creating a new community of tea ambassadors from around the world.

The ambassadors will work on online and offline platforms to disseminate the message of the significance of tea consumption across the world.

Mandakini has been part of the Heritance Aarah family since 2019, following a stint at Heritance Kandalama Sri Lanka from 2014.

With a bubbly personality and curiosity to learn new techniques and increase her culinary prowess, she is among the rising stars at Heritance Aarah.

Heritance Aarah is part of Heritance Hotels and Resorts brand of the Aitken Spence Hotels, the hospitality arm of Sri Lankan blue-chip conglomerate Aitken Spence PLC, which operates 23 hotels and resorts across Sri Lanka, Maldives, Oman and India.

The company’s owned hotels are reflected under the Heritance, Adaaran and Turyaa brands, popular around the world for exceptional service, undisputed product and curated lifestyle experiences.

The company’s Sri Lankan porttolio includes 11 resorts spread across the island, while the Maldives resorts totals to seven, four in Oman and one in India.