How do you pick the best hotels in the world? First it depends on where they are. Second, it may help to have a way of sifting through data on 24,000 luxury hotels across the USA, Europe, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean for starters. Fortunately, the numbers crunchers at U.S. News & World Report had plenty of tools and support for this task and found ways to measure just what makes a hotel “best” for 2018.

USA: Bringing in the Gold 

In the Best Hotels in the USA rankings, Hawaii  took the No. 1 spot, followed by The Peninsula Chicago at No. 2 and The Langham, Chicago at No. 3. U.S. News awards the top 10 percent of ranked hotels with a Gold badge, what the media company uses to tally and rank properties according to specific criteria**

 

four seasons Hawaii

Four Seasons Resort Lanai

These four destinations are home to the highest number of Gold badge-winning hotels for 2018:

  • New York City has 24 Gold badge winners out of 231 ranked hotels
  • Las Vegas has 11 Gold badge winners out of 46 ranked hotels
  • Los Angeles has 11 Gold badge winners out of 87 ranked hotels
  • Washington, D.C., has 10 Gold badge winners out of 58 ranked hotels

For the Best Hotel in Mexico, Rosewood Mayakoba takes the top spot. Moving up from No. 2 last year, the Rosewood Hotel Georgia earns recognition as the Best Hotel in Canada for 2018, ousting the Ritz-Carlton Montréal, which had previously held the No. 1 spot since 2013. Rosewood Bermuda ranked No. 1 on this year’s Best Hotels in Bermuda ranking list.

 

Rosewood Mayakoba

New this year, the news magazine expanded its Best Hotels in Europe ranking to include 4- and 4.5- star hotels. The Ritz Paris jumps to the No. 1 spot on the list, followed by La Réserve Paris – Hotel and Spa at No. 2 and Rome’s Hotel Eden at No 3.

Hotel Rankings in More Than 200 Destinations

The company manages Best Hotels rankings amid more than 200 destinations. This time of year, the most popular hotel searches are in warm-weather spots, including Maui, Miami Beach and Cancun. Meanwhile, cold-weather fans flock to winter ski destinations like Aspen and Whistler.

The rankings survey also highlights properties in traveler-favorite European hot spots, such as Paris, London and Rome, in addition to scenic but less-visited destinations like Istanbul, Dubrovnik, Croatia and San Sebastian, Spain.

Due to the extensive damage across many Caribbean islands and their luxury hotels during the 2017 hurricane season, those properties were not taken into account this year

**The media company scored luxury hotels (4-star and higher) using a methodology that combines each hotel’s industry awards with expert and guest reviews.

Best Hotels USA

  1. Four Seasons Resort Lanai
  2. The Peninsula Chicago
  3. The Langham, Chicago
  4. Twin Farms
  5. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai

Best Hotels Canada

  1. Rosewood Hotel Georgia
  2. Ritz-Carlton Montréal
  3. Wickaninnish Inn
  4. Wedgewood Hotel & Spa
  5. Auberge Saint-Antoine

Best Hotels Mexico 

  1. Rosewood Mayakoba
  2. The Resort at Pedregal
  3. Esperanza, an Auberge Resort
  4. One&Only Palmilla
  5. Las Ventanas al Paraíso, a Rosewood Resort

Best Hotels Europe

  1. Ritz Paris
  2. La Réserve Paris – Hotel and Spa
  3. Hotel Eden
  4. Hôtel Plaza Athénée
  5. K. Place Roma