Forbes Travel Guide, the only independent, global rating system for luxury hotels, restaurants and spa, today unveiled its 2023 Star Awards.
The hotel ratings expanded into new destinations, including Athens, Bodrum, Capri, Copenhagen, Cusco, Cyprus, Oslo, Sicily, Stockholm and Tunis. The 65th annual list features 360 Five-Star, 585 Four-Star and 433 Recommended hotels; 79 Five-Star, 113 Four-Star and 67 Recommended restaurants; and 119 Five-Star and 195 Four-Star spas worldwide.
In Canada, five stars were awarded to nine hotels: The St. Regis Toronto, The Shangri-La Toronto, The Shangri-La Vancouver, Rosewood Hotel Georgia in Vancouver, The Ritz-Carlton Toronto, The Hazelton Hotel in Toronto, The Four Seasons Toronto, The Four Seasons Montreal and the Fairmont Pacific Rim, Vancouver.
That’s five top ratings for Toronto hotels, three for Vancouver and one for Montreal.
The St. Regis Toronto noted it’s one of only four hotels in Canada to achieve Five-Star designations for both hotel and spa. The others were The Four Seasons Hotel Montreal, The Four Seasons Hotel Toronto and The Fairmont Pacific Rim in Vancouver.
Louix Louis restaurant at the St. Regis Hotel, Toronto.
Four-star hotel ratings went to the Fairmont Banff Springs, the Fairmont Empress (Victoria, B.C.), The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, The Fairmont Waterfront (Vancouver), The Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler, The Ritz-Carlton Montreal, The Sutton Place in Vancouver and the Wickaninnish Inn on Vancouver Island.
No Canadian restaurants received five-star ratings. Forbes awarded four stars to Hawksworth in Vancouver, TOCA in Toronto (at the Ritz-Carlton hotel), Scaramouche in Toronto, Toque! in Montreal, Maison Boulud in Montreal (at the Ritz-Carlton), Chez Muffy in Quebec and Canoe in Toronto.
Four Seasons properties earned nine new Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star awards in 2023, bringing its total count to a record-breaking 73. With 51 Four Seasons hotels and resorts, six restaurants and 16 spas holding a Five-Star designation, the luxury hospitality leader maintains its position of holding the most Five-Star awards of any single hospitality brand, officials said.
Among the five-star winners were three of my fave Hawai’I resorts, The Four Seasons Lana’i, The Four Seasons Maui at Wailea and the Four Seasons Hualalai on Hawai’I Big Island. I was also happy to see a five-star rating for the Rancho Valencia Resort and Spa near San Diego, which I wrote about last year.
After four years of London claiming the most Five-Star hotels in the world, Macau is the new title holder with 22 top-rated properties. This year, Macau gained more new Five-Star hotels than any other destination (Galaxy Hotel, Grand Lisboa Palace Macau, The Karl Lagerfeld, Londoner Court, The Londoner Hotel).
See the full list of honorees on ForbesTravelGuide.com.
The rooftop pool at the Mission Pacific Hotel in Oceanside, California. JIM BYERS PHOTO
CONDE NAST TRAVEL RECOGNIZES OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA
Conde Nast Traveler readers ranked Oceanside’s new Mission Pacific Hotel the top hotel in San Diego in the travel magazine’s annual Reader’s Choice Awards released in October. The hotel also landed on USA Today 10 Best Lists for pool, spa, pet-friendly and hotel, and earned a host of other accolades from publications including Wine Enthusiast, Brides, Thrillist and San Diego Magazine. I stayed at the Mission Pacific for two nights last fall and thought it was outstanding. Here’s a link to a blog I published about my visit.
Planes at San Francisco International Airport. JIM BYERS PHOTO
AIR TRAVEL ON THE RISE WORLDWIDE
FCM Consulting’s latest Global Quarterly Trend Report suggests that global aviation will be back to 96% of pre-pandemic levels in 2023.
Their latest report shows that seat capacity for the fourth quarter of 2022 was up 18% from the fourth quarter of 2021, but down 13% down the final quarter of 2019.
Airfares are also staying strong with global international business class fares in 2022 on average 15 per cent more than 2019.
Discount economy class fares were on average 12 per cent higher in 2022 than they were in 2019.
