The “Five Star Regions Award”, which is in its seventh edition, consists of an evaluation system that analyses what influences consumers in their purchasing decisions based on five main variables – satisfaction through experimentation, price quality, brand trust, innovation, and purchase or recommendation intention.

As explained by Five Stars, “The high level of demand and rigor of the Five Star methodology highlights a restricted group of brands that stand out for their excellence and high level of global satisfaction among consumers, contributing to the promotion of the regions where they are located.” In this year’s edition, 454,000 consumers took part in the selection test.

Only 128 brands - eight of which are from the Algarve - were selected for this year's competition from a total of 1,036 examined brands. Car, Beauty, Home, Culture and Leisure, Gastronomy, Hospitality, Health, Services, Mall, Sites and Heritage, and Transport are the categories under which the brands can be categorized.

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In Faro’s district, the brands that were recognised were VidaMar Algarve Resort (Hospitality), the Forum Algarve (Mall), Cars and Cars stand (Car), the coworking space Colagos (Services), the Wotels Hotel (Hospitality), the depilation center Côrte Real Laser (Beauty), Fabio's Roadstop (Gastronomy) and lastly Condoarade the condominium administration (Services) was also awarded.

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The main heritage resources favoured by the Portuguese were also selected, with the Algarve distinguishing itself with five awards in this section. The regional sweet Doce Fino, the beach ‘Praia da Rocha’, the Silves Castle, and also the village of ‘Cacela Velha’ were awarded under the categories which can be, but are not limited to, monuments, beaches, villages, traditional food, and natural reserves.

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This initiative helps not only to showcase the best that each region in Portugal has to offer but also to give national acknowledgment to small businesses and brands that have pleased their customers in the five parameters mentioned above. Among other advantages, the winners have the possibility to get their brand linked to a renowned symbol - the Five Star - as well as the chance to use the “Portugal Five Star” images in any of the brand’s communication mediums for a period of 12 months.