Last February 15, Forbes Travel Guide unveiled its 2023 Star Awards Winners, declaring its top picks of the world’s finest hotels, spas, restaurants, and ocean cruises. This year, a new champion emerged with the most five-star rated hotels, breaking London’s four-year streak of being on top.
Forbes Travel Guide is an independent global rating system. It has created an annual list of top-rated luxury hotels, spas, and restaurants by sending incognito inspectors into specific establishments posing as ordinary guests. This approach allows Forbes Travel Guide to sample the establishments’ decor, quality of service, condition of facilities, food and beverage options, and 900 more rigorous standards test.
The lobby of The Karl Lagerfeld in Macau.
Every year, one country takes credit for having the most five-star hotels in its domain. And after four years, the Southeast Asian Country, Macau, has taken the title from London, with 22 five-star hotels – just one hotel above the former top-rated country. New additions include the Galaxy Hotel, Grand Lisboa Palace, The Karl Lagerfeld, Londoner Court, and Londoner Hotel. Meanwhile, Banyan Tree Macau, Four Seasons Hotel Macau, Mandarin Court Macau, and The Ritz-Carlton have solidified their place in the Forbes Travel Guide list, along with many others.
The facade of Raffles Singapore.
Other Asian countries with high numbers of five-star rated hotels include Japan, with 14 hotels including The Capital Hotel Tokyo, The Peninsula Tokyo, Shangri-La Tokyo, and many more. Singapore‘s hotels are also notable in the list, with the legendary Raffles Hotel Singapore emerging after a massive two-year renovation.
Meanwhile, Forbes Travel Guide features hotels in the Maldives on a bigger scale as it added four new top-ranked hotels in the destination, garnering its number of five-star hotels to a total of 13. A few of these hotels in the Maldives include the JOALI BEING, Soneva Jani, The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort, and much more.
Overall, Forbes Travel Guide’s 2023 Star Awards honored 360 five-star hotels, 585 four-star hotels, and 433 recommended hotels. Additionally, it lists 79 five-star and 113 four-star restaurants.
Travel has continued its resurgence in 2022 and more so in 2023. Recently, we have seen a rise in hotel developments, along with restaurants, spas, and cruises for travelers to enjoy across the globe. With new and upcoming names in the hotel industry, who knows which country will take the reign in the following years?
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Featured Image: Galaxy Hotel Macau