The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025 list has been announced, spotlighting the world’s top luxury hotels and most exquisite travel destinations.
COMPILED BY Gina Dionisio PHOTOS Supplied; Chad Batka
The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025 list features properties from XX cities, with XX new entries spread across the globe. This year, one South African hotel made the prestigious list: Singita – Kruger National Park, which takes the No. 40 spot in the global ranking as well as a special award
The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025 list of winners
The list of The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025 winners, ranked from 50 to 1:
- No.50 Mandapa, Bali
- No.49 Hotel Sacher Vienna, Vienna
- No.48 Grand Park Hotel Rovinj, Rovinj
- No.47 Estelle Manor, Witney
- No.46 Hotel The Mitsui, Kyoto
- No.45 The Tokyo Edition Toranomon, Tokyo
- No.44 Las Ventanas al Paraíso, Los Cabos
- No.43 The Mark, New York
- No.42 Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles
- No.41 Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- No.40 Singita – Kruger National Park, Kruger National Park
- No.39 One&Only Mandarina, Riviera Nayarit
- No.38 The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai
- No.37 Janu Tokyo,Tokyo
- No.36 Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, Monaco
- No.35 The Lana, Dubai
- No.34 The Calile, Brisbane
- No.33 Maroma, Riviera Maya
- No.32 The Emory, London
- No.31 Raffles London at The OWO, London
- No.30 La Mamounia, Marrakech
- No.29 The Connaught, London
- No.28 Soneva Fushi, Maldives
- No.27 Hôtel du Couvent, Nice
- No.26 Hotel Il Pellicano, Porto Ercole
- No.25 Aman Tokyo, Tokyo
- No.24 Rosewood São Paulo, São Paulo
- No.23 Hôtel de Crillon, Paris
- No.22 Bulgari Roma, Rome
- No.21 Cheval Blanc Paris, Paris
- No.20 Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, Dubai
- No.19 Le Bristol, Paris
- No.18 Desa Potato Head, Bali
- No.17 Four Seasons Astir Palace, Athens
- No.16 Claridge’s, London
- No.15 Bulgari Tokyo, Tokyo
- No.14 Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing
- No.13 Royal Mansour, Marrakech
- No.12 Capella Sydney, Sydney
- No.11 Copacabana Palace, Rio de Janeiro
- No.10 Upper House Hong Kong, Hong Kong
- No.9 Four Seasons Firenze, Florence
- No.8 Chablé Yucatán, Chocholá
- No.7 Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, Bangkok
- No.6 Atlantis The Royal, Dubai
- No.5 Raffles Singapore, Singapore
- No.4 Passalacqua, Lake Como
- No.3 Capella Bangkok, Bangkok
- No.2 Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River, Bangkok
- No.1 Rosewood Hong Kong, Hong Kong
There were several special awards handed out during the ceremony, which took place on 30 October in London:
American Express Travel One To Watch Award
Winner: Southern Ocean Lodge, Kangaroo Island
Stretched along a limestone clifftop in the rugged wilderness of Australia’s third-largest island, this luxury lodge was destroyed in catastrophic bushfires in 2020. Parent company Baillie Lodges didn’t take this lying down, engaging the original architect, Max Pritchard, to recreate his sculptural design and subtly enhance it. What was already an icon of wilderness-based luxury became more so when the lodge reopened in 2023, with its 25 glass-walled suites elongated and repositioned to take in more of the immense coastal view.
Southern Ocean Lodge’s Great Room provides one of the world’s great arrival experiences. The immense space houses floor-to-ceiling glazing framing 180-degree views of craggy coastline, sandy beaches, and an expanse of wild ocean that stretches, unhindered by any other land, beyond the horizon to Antarctica.
Lavazza Highest New Entry Award 2025
Winner: Copacabana Palace, Rio de Janeiro
Built in 1923, the hotel sought to bring an element of European-style glamour to Rio de Janeiro. From its early days, it has attracted the famous and the powerful to stay in its beach-view suites (standard rooms looking back over the city are also striking, and a tad more affordable), and its appeal shows no signs of waning. The hotel is as opulent and fabulous as one might imagine, thanks to ongoing and sympathetic renovations and modernisations. The suites are old-school luxurious, with genuinely comfortable sitting rooms, and the public space in which to see and be seen is the famous pool area.
SeiBellissimi Art of Hospitality Award 2025
Winner: Soneva Fushi, Maldives
As guests arrive via seaplane over atolls dotting the deep blues and dazzling azures of the Indian Ocean, a dreamy island escape awaits, with the dial permanently set to holiday mode. You’ll find world-class facilities galore on the island, including a full-size tennis court, a padel court and Soneva Soul – the resident spa offering advanced treatments such as hyperbaric chamber therapy, cryotherapy and IV drips alongside conventional, Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine. There’s also superlative dining, including plant-based eateries and flagship restaurants with a rolling roster of international star chefs, and even one eatery that’s only accessible by gliding through the jungle treetops via a 200-metre zipline.
SevenRooms Icon Award 2025
Winner: Ian Schrager
For more than five decades, Ian Schrager has shaped the world of hospitality. Born in New York City, the 79-year-old entrepreneur’s first steps into the field were as large as they come, founding the iconic Studio 54 nightclub in 1975, followed by a host of other party-centric discotheques in the city. After writing history in the Midtown club, Schrager adjusted his lens to the world of luxury accommodation to open Morgans Hotel in 1984… and the rest is history. At each stage in his career, Schrager has pushed existing boundaries to new heights. Behind each of his projects is an unmatched understanding of hospitality and the current and future trajectories of design and lifestyle trends that have allowed his hotels to transcend being simply a good stay.
Nikka Best New Hotel Award 2025
Winner: Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing
Opened in 2024, Mandarin Oriental’s second property in Beijing upends the luxury hotel concept by doing away with traditional hotel boundaries. Instead of a central building with corridors, the property comprises 42 individual siheyuan (traditional courtyard houses) scattered throughout the laneways (hutongs) of Beijing’s historic Qianmen district. Each exquisitely restored siheyuan is a standalone sanctuary of traditional craftsmanship and comfort behind discreet wooden gates. Ranging from 110 square metres, they feature garden courtyards, original timber beams, grey-tiled roofs, and floor-to-ceiling glass that brings the outdoors in.
Lost Explorer Best Beach Hotel Award 2025
Winner: Atlantis The Royal, Dubai
There’s nothing understated about Atlantis The Royal. Hyped up well before it opened, this hotel is big, bold and in your face. It is home to 795 rooms and suites, 16 restaurants, 17 boutiques, a sprawling 32,300-square-foot wellness space and no fewer than 90 swimming pools – including Cloud 22, perched high atop the sky bridge. This is the place to stay if you want an all-out, bling Dubai experience.
Ferrari Trento Most Admired Hotel Group Award 2025
Winner: Four Seasons
The Ferrari Trento Most Admired Hotel Group Award was introduced to spotlight pioneers of the hospitality sector, whose ground-breaking initiatives or mould-breaking methods have made a significant impact on guest experiences around the world. In its second year, the winner, as voted for by the 800-plus experts who make up the global Voting Academy of The World’s 50 Best Hotels, is Four Seasons.
WhistlePig Highest Climber Award 2025
Winner: Royal Mansour, Marrakech
Royal Mansour Marrakech opened in 2010 under the watchful eye of King Mohammed VI, who was determined that it wouldn’t just be a Moroccan hotel, but instead a physical manifestation of all things Moroccan. This deep reverence for the region’s native culture is evident in every aspect of Royal Mansour, from the food to the fabrics and even the floor plan, which eschews the typical arrangement of suites and rooms in favour of multi-storey riads. The structures are scattered across a walled-in estate dotted with small pathways, immaculate gardens and numerous nooks and hideaways, all built to mimic a traditional medina.
Johnnie Walker Art of Design Award 2025
Winner: Singita – Kruger National Park, Kruger National Park
A new addition to the list of special awards for The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025, the Johnnie Walker Art of Design Award celebrates how design in hotels goes beyond architecture to create a multi-sensorial experience for visitors. Every hotel ranked on the 1–50 list, and the inaugural extended 51–100 list, had the opportunity to be considered for the award, with each entrant judged by four external experts and senior representatives from 50 Best on a set of design criteria, including innovation, sensorial immersion, ecological longevity and all-encompassing aesthetics. Scoring the highest, the recipient of the inaugural award is Singita – Kruger National Park.
Singita – Kruger National Park, composed of two clusters of suites and villas (Sweni and Lebombo lodges) near the Sweni River in north-east South Africa on the border with Mozambique, has redefined contemporary modernism in the African bush. Its architecture blends rational functionality with organic forms: deconstructed, box-like structures softened by timber lattice veils that offer shade, privacy and a tactile link to nature. Inspired by the Lebombo Mountains, these lodges were the national park’s first to embrace raw African contemporary design, balancing nature and culture through natural materials and thoughtful craftsmanship.
Best Boutique Hotel Award 2025
Winner: Passalacqua, Lake Como
Set in an 18th-century villa whose former premises housed Pope Innocent XI, this Milanese-designed gem has played host to an aristocratic roll call of occupants, from Count Andrea Lucini-Passalacqua and composer Vincenzo Bellini to the current owners, the De Santis family. Situated within spectacular terraced gardens and with just 24 rooms, the boutique hotel showcases the finest Italian craftsmanship in a riot of ornate Baroque elegance, all curated under the watchful and always stylish eye of the current owner, Valentina De Santis.
Eco Hotel Award 2025
Winner: Desa Potato Head, Bali
Over the last decade, the property has become a beacon of sustainably minded hospitality across the globe, setting an example for the hotels of the future that ultra-luxury need not be wasteful.
While the hotel opened its rooms to guests in 2015, the establishment’s roots go five years deeper, when its visionary owner, Ronald Akili, debuted Potato Head Beach Club: a music club, restaurant and social space for the creatives of Bali on a quiet stretch of Seminyak beachfront. The catalyst behind its eco-conscious philosophy, however, came when Akili found himself surfing through a sea of discarded plastic along the shores of Bali in 2016, vowing from then onwards to do his part in cleaning up the island.
The World’s Best Hotel 2025 & Best Hotel in Asia 2025
Winner: Rosewood Hong Kong, Hong Kong
In a city crowded with skyscrapers, Rosewood Hong Kong stands out. Soaring 270 metres above the city, the 413-room flagship of the ultra-luxury group commands an enviable waterfront location on Victoria Harbour, plus stunning views of Hong Kong’s iconic skyline. Inside is a world of its own: 11 dining and drinking venues, extensive wellness facilities, gallery-worthy art, elegant rooms and suites, and top-notch service that attracts movers and shakers. | theworlds50best.com
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