Top 100 Hotels of 2007 from travelandleisure.com

Top 100 Hotels of 2007 from travelandleisure.com

Asian hotels have consistently received high marks, but this year, for the first time, an Indian property—Oberoi Udaivilas—has grabbed the No. 1 spot. The Udaipur property also tops our lists for best small hotel and best hotel in Asia.

Top 100 Hotels Overall

Rank	2006	Name	Score
1	3	Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur, India	94.36
2	1	Singita Sabi Sand, Kruger National Park, South Africa	94.30
3	9	The Oriental, Bangkok	94.23
4	48	Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet	93.55
5	n/a	Milestone Hotel, London	93.06
6	n/a	Relais Il Falconiere, Cortona, Italy	92.97
7	97	Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sands, South Africa	92.81
8	n/a	Mandarin Oriental, Munich	92.73
9	12	Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Hawaii	92.65
10	54	Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra, India	92.56
11	6	Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur, India	92.50
12	4	The Peninsula, Bangkok	92.41
13	18	Château Les Crayères, Reims, France	92.39
14	n/a	Jumby Bay, a Rosewood Resort, Antigua	92.24
15	14	Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace, Budapest	92.15
16	24	Mombo Camp, Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana	92.08
18	n/a	Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza	92.00
19	11	Four Seasons Resort, Chiang Mai, Thailand	91.90
20	52	Cape Grace, Cape Town	91.52
21	32	MalaMala Game Reserve, Mpumalanga, South Africa	91.38
22	27	Ladera, St. Lucia	91.34
23	28	La Casa Que Canta, Zihuatanejo, Mexico	91.28
24	35	Kichwa Tembo, Masai Mara, Kenya	91.25
25	n/a	Le Sirenuse, Positano, Italy	91.18
26	n/a	Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, Tanzania	91.11
27	n/a	Woodlands Resort & Inn, Summerville, South Carolina	91.09
28	43	Four Seasons Hotel, Prague	91.07
29	69	Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris	91.05
30	n/a	Four Seasons Hotel, Amman, Jordan	90.95
31	n/a	41, London	90.68
32	n/a	Post Hotel & Spa, Lake Louise, Alberta	90.61
33	n/a	Ritz-Carlton, Millenia, Singapore	90.59
34	n/a	The Strand, Yangon, Myanmar	90.56
35	n/a	Sweetwaters Tented Camp, Sweetwaters Game Reserve, Kenya	90.50
36	n/a	Blantyre, Lenox, Massachusetts	90.43
37	20	The Peninsula, Hong Kong	90.37
38	19	Halekulani, Honolulu	90.29
39	n/a	Londolozi Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sands, South Africa	90.19
40	60	Raffles Hotel, Singapore	90.15
41	n/a	Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at the First Residence, Cairo	90.14
42	78	Four Seasons Hotel, Buenos Aires	90.12
43	n/a	Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, South Carolina	90.07
44	n/a	Tortilis Camp, Amboseli National Park, Kenya	90.00
45	57	The Peninsula, Beverly Hills	89.99
46	n/a	Four Seasons Hotel, Bangkok	89.93
47	39	Kirawira Luxury Tented Camp, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania	89.92
48	n/a	Fairmont Mara Safari Club, Masai Mara, Kenya	89.87
49	n/a	Jamaica Inn, Ocho Rios, Jamaica	89.78
50	91	Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea	89.72
51	n/a	Esperanza, Los Cabos, Mexico	89.68
52	n/a	Il Pellicano, Porto Ercole, Italy	89.64
53	n/a	Planters Inn, Charleston, South Carolina	89.64
54	n/a	Inn at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach, California	89.63
55	37	Four Seasons Resort, Jackson Hole, Wyoming	89.50
56	n/a	Jao Camp, Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana	89.47
57	n/a	Hôtel d'Europe, Avignon, France	89.42
58	38	Huka Lodge, Taupo, New Zealand	89.38
59	n/a	Château de la Chèvre d’Or, Èze Village, France	89.35
60	44	Four Seasons Resort Lanai, The Lodge at Koele	89.29
61	n/a	Table Bay Hotel, Cape Town	89.23
62	n/a	Hôtel Hermitage, Monte Carlo	89.14
63	n/a	Madrona Manor, Healdsburg, California	89.09
64	n/a	La Bastide de Moustiers, Moustiers-Ste.-Marie, France	89.04
65	n/a	Domaine des Hauts de Loire, Onzain, France	89.00
65	n/a	Le Quartier Français, Franschhoek, South Africa	89.00
67	n/a	Hôtel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes, France	88.89
68	25	Ritz-Carlton, Santiago, Chile	88.86
69	n/a	Malliouhana Hotel & Spa, Anguilla	88.86
70	n/a	Four Seasons Resort Lanai at Manele Bay *Formerly Manele Bay Hotel, Lanai	88.86
71	5	Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay	88.83
72	n/a	Il San Pietro, Positano, Italy	88.82
73	n/a	Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France, St. Bart’s	88.81
74	n/a	Eden Rock, St. Bart’s	88.70
75	n/a	The Westcliff, Johannesburg	88.68
76	82	Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tennessee	88.62
77	n/a	Fullerton Hotel, Singapore	88.61
78	n/a	Ritz-Carlton, Istanbul	88.60
79	n/a	Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, Taipei	88.59
80	n/a	Beau-Rivage Palace, Lausanne, Switzerland	88.57
80	n/a	Willows Lodge, Woodinville, Washington	88.57
82	10	Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur, India	88.55
83	n/a	Horned Dorset Primavera, Rincón, Puerto Rico	88.54
84	n/a	Auberge Saint-Antoine, Quebec City	88.52
85	34	Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong	88.50
86	59	The Peninsula, Chicago	88.38
87	n/a	Bernardus Lodge, Carmel Valley, California	88.37
88	100	One & Only Palmilla, Los Cabos, Mexico	88.32
89	n/a	Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok	88.28
90	29	Hotel Villa Cipriani, Asolo, Italy	88.27
91	51	Four Seasons Hotel, Singapore	88.24
92	n/a	Hotel Hassler, Rome	88.18
93	n/a	Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterarder, Scotland	88.18
94	n/a	Katikies Hotel, Santorini, Greece	88.17
95	n/a	Ritz-Carlton, Berlin	88.17
96	n/a	Four Seasons Resort, Nevis	88.10
97	n/a	Four Seasons Hotel, Shanghai	88.08
98	63	Four Seasons Hotel, Chicago	88.03
99	n/a	Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town	87.94
100	n/a	Gravetye Manor Hotel, West Sussex, England	87.92

The Best Travel Tips Come From Other Travelers

This is why Lonely Planet and sites like it are so popular. Travelers want to know where to go and stay mainly from those who have been there because fellow travelers usually do not have an agenda. Some think hotels or discounters and their sites have an agenda and certainly won't tell you the WHOLE truth. While this may well be true, it does not mean hotel review sites are to be ignored. In fact, they should be used BEFORE you choose a property or lock yourself into a choice without doing research.
The reason for this is to get a more comprehensive overview of a property. If you combine a hotels own internet site (where understandably they are intent on putting their best foot forward) with other neutral sources, you should be able to piece together a commendable part of the travel puzzle - choosing where to stay.
For instance, some people choose by price - some by location, some by amenities and some by intangibles like highly rated properties or personally recommended hotels. But what is a personal recommendation worth anyway? It is nothing more than an opinion, albeit a valued one of you know the person well. Buit let me ask you this: If you knew the exact perfect place you wanted to stay in
Hawaii because it was recommended by others and had everything you wanted including price and location, would you NOT stay there because a good friend had a horrible billing experience at the same place?
This is the problem with hotel reviews - they can be personal yet useless. A tremendous help or a rant to be ignored. What is needed is for you the traveler to clearly DECIPHER what reviewers are saying and then make a logical determination from them. Some people do not want to take the time to search for reviews so they go with the 'numbers'. Discount sites use a 1-5 system with 5 being fantastic. So what if you find a property with a 4.3 but they only have 3 reviews? Is that an enough of a sample from which to really form an opinion? What if a property has 25 reviews but the average is 3.1 - just a little over the average mark. This obviously means as many people liked the property as didn't like it. Does this help a lot?

There is an art to travel if you look at it from the standpoint of making it as easy on yourself as possible. Reviews do this but the fact remains that not all review sites are equal and neither are all reviews. In the end, it can simply come down to numbers (which is a valid criteria) or gut feelings. I tend to use both in my analysis but then I realize the more research you do up front, the more enjoyable your trip usually turns out to be.
David C. Reynolds is a longtime veteran of the Hotel business who offers common sense, money saving advice on how to find rooms, booking hotels as cheap as possible, travel and ground transportation tips, understanding hotel reviews and occasional destination 'specials'.
He is the author of three travel tips books as well as a blog devoted to travel. If you would like more information about understanding reviews,
visit http://www.cheaphotelforyou.com/HotelReviews.htm
or
visit his blog at http://www.bookhotelscheaper.com
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