STAFF at Dorset County Museum are celebrating after receiving a certificate of excellence award for the third year in a row.

The award, issued by TripAdvisor, recognises the museum’s consistency in achieving great reviews and delivering a superior customer experience.

TripAdvisor is one of the world’s biggest travel websites, providing travel-related content and reviews of attractions, destinations and experiences.

It’s yet another piece of good news for the museum, which was recently awarded £10.3 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

This money will be spent on a new state of the art learning centre, as well as additional storage facilities.

TripAdvisor uses a proprietary algorithm when selecting certificate of excellence winners.

This takes into account the quality, quantity and recent nature of the reviews and opinions submitted by travellers on TripAdvisor over a 12-month period.

In addition, each attraction’s tenure and ranking on the site’s popularity index is taken into account.

At the time of writing, the museum is ranked as the seventh top thing to do or visit in Dorchester.

To qualify for the award, an attraction must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five, have a minimum number of reviews and must have been listed on TripAdvisor for at least 12 months.

Dr Jon Murden, director of the museum, said staff were proud of the accolade.

He said: “Winning the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence is a true source of pride for the entire team at Dorset County Museum, and we’d like to thank all of our past guests who took the time to complete a review on TripAdvisor.

“There is no greater seal of approval than being recognised by your customers. With the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence based on customer reviews, the accolade is a remarkable vote of confidence in the Museum and our continued commitment to excellence.”

Marc Charron, president of TripAdvisor for Business, said they were pleased to honour ‘exceptional hospitality businesses’ that received consistent praise.

He said: “By putting a spotlight on hospitality businesses that are focused on delivering great service to customers, TripAdvisor not only helps drive increasing hospitality standards around the world, it also gives businesses both large and small the ability to shine and stand out from the competition.”