THE Pompano Beach Club has been ranked the number one luxury hotel in the Caribbean region by a top travel web site.

The Southampton resort, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, was rated best in the region for 2005 in the tripadvisor.com Travellers' Choice Award.

The award was based on visitors' reviews sent to the web site by thousands of tourists.

Pompano, which has been run by the Lamb family since 1956, was the only Bermuda hotel listed in the top ten Caribbean establishments.

TripAdvisor's Josh Silverstein says on the web site: "TripAdvisor's Travellers' Choice awards are unique in that the winners are 'selected' by the millions of travellers from around the world who provide their real and unbiased reviews and opinions about hotels on tripadvisor.com and on other sites across the web every day."

Pompano was also ranked number seven in the world in TripAdvisor's luxury hotel category and was the only Bermuda resort to be ranked in the top 100.

The resort is closed for renovation projects and is scheduled to reopen on February 27. A new oceanfront restaurant is being constructed, along with a new spa and game room complex and 16 additional ocean-front guestrooms.

The Cedar Room restaurant has been completely remodelled, along with the Coral Reef Caf?, pool bar and pool deck. Three new outdoor jacuzzis have been built and enhancements have been made to the lobby areas.