We at Pursuitist are always on the quest for the next great luxury hotel, restaurant or spa. Which explains why for years we’ve relied on help from our friends at Forbes Travel Guide to offer insight into where we should visit in a new city. Now, for the 57th year in a row, the brand has released their Star Rating Winners, which includes for the first time ever hotels in Mexico, the Caribbean, Latin America, Japan and Thailand.
We trust the FTG team, which sends incognito inspectors to visit each and every property on their list, to really choose the best of the best. When a hotel gets the coveted fifth star, the property is usually one that is truly exceptional.
New Five-Star winners for this year include 18 new Five-Star hotels, 10 new Five-Star restaurants and seven new spas capturing the top honor. In Mexico, Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita in Nayarit and Rosewood Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen snagged Five-Stars, while the Caribbean saw Jumby Bay, A Rosewood Resort in Antigua, and Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France and Eden Rock – St. Barths in St. Barts earning the coveted distinction. Guangzhou debuted on the list with two Five-Stars, Four Seasons Hotel Guangzhou and The Ritz-Carlton, Guangzhou. Bangkok’s grande dame, Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, grabbed Thailand’s first Five-Star hotel award, and Tokyo landed a Five-Star with Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo. The Langham, Hong Kong and Conrad Macao, Cotai Central scored first-time Five-Star awards for their respective brands.
In the US, new Five-Star awards went out to Park Hyatt Aviara Resort in Carlsbad, California; Keswick Hall and Golf Club in Keswick; Rosewood Sand Hill in Menlo Park, California; The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain in Marana, Arizona; The Setai, Miami Beach in Miami Beach; Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach Walk in Honolulu; and Wheatleigh in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Other highlights include properties like Pursuitist favorite Ocean House, in Rhode Island, which swept the awards with a “triple five star” across its hotel, spa and restaurant and Mandarin Oriental San Francisco, which took two Five Star awards home.
See the full list of winners here.
{Full disclosure: I also write regularly for Forbes Travel Guide, but my opinions on this awards list and FTG’s methodology are my own.}