What makes a hotel superb? Not just pleasant or comfortable or even luxurious, but truly excellent?
Forbes Travel Guide uses a proprietary list of up to 800 objective standards to answer that question and assess hotels, restaurants and spas in 29 countries across the globe to see how they measure up. Formerly known as the Mobil Travel Guide, Forbes sends undercover agents into the field to evaluate properties from virtually every angle, from the customer service to the room service to the fitness facilities.
Last month, Forbes revealed the results of all that research with its 58th list of star-rating recipients from countries in the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. And once again, Las Vegas scored well with the reviewers.
Five Las Vegas resorts or hotel products within them earned the highest honor, the five-star rating, which Forbes defines as “outstanding, often iconic properties with virtually flawless service and amazing facilities.” Las Vegas’ winners were the Aria Sky Suites and Mandarin Oriental at CityCenter, Skylofts at MGM Grand and both the Encore and Wynn Tower Suites.
The Strip also had three five-star restaurants — Joel Robuchon, Restaurant Guy Savoy and Twist by Pierre Gagnaire — and four five-star spas, located at Encore, Wynn, Mandarin and the Four Seasons.
In fact, Mandarin Oriental scored a trifecta of five-star ratings, earning the prestigious title for its hotel, its spa and its marquee restaurant, Twist.
One step below that ranking, four-star venues are “exceptional properties, offering high levels of service and quality of facility to match.” In Las Vegas, 11 resorts received four stars, including the Bellagio, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and the Palazzo. Seven spas earned the same distinction, including the Cosmopolitan’s Sahra Spa & Hammam, new to the list in 2016. In addition, 17 Vegas restaurants were deemed worthy of four stars, representing a wide variety of cuisine, from Sage’s modern American to Wing Lei’s decadent Chinese. New to the ranking was Lakeside at the Wynn, which serves fresh seafood hailing from Hawaii and other waters in an elegant setting.
“These properties set an unimpeachable standard of excellence in hospitality at a moment when the proliferation of voices claiming to provide unbiased ratings online is exploding,” said Forbes Travel Guide CEO Gerard J. Inzerillo via press release. “With Forbes Travel Guide-rated properties, there is no ambiguity, no doubt: Based on a stringent set of standards developed and refined over six decades, our ratings are now accepted and embraced worldwide.”
While Las Vegas properties received high marks, it wasn’t the only city to boast an array of five-star options. Paris, which was rated by Forbes for the first time, earned nine five-star hotels, including Four Seasons Hotel George V, Le Meurice and Hotel Plaza Athenee. Macau also has nine five-star hotels, including MGM Macau, which received that rating for the first time.
And more top hotels will likely be joining those ranks next year. Forbes Travel Guide has announced plans to expand its ratings to the Middle East and Africa in 2017.
For the complete list of Forbes Travel Guide-recognized properties, visit forbestravelguide.com/about/awardwinners.