LTI – Luxury Travel Intelligence | October 15, 2021

October 15, 2021 – Welcome to our annual World’s Best Luxury Hotel Brands report. This is not just another World’s Best list. LTI – Luxury Travel Intelligence – has taken the past 12 months to apply the perfect assessment process: a rigorously defined algorithm that measures the performance and values of luxury hotel brands.

This year, our algorithm has 131 touch points relevant to the luxury hotel sector. Each has its own weighted score value with a total maximum accumulative score of 4736. 

The touchpoints relate to overall brand performance, rather than the performance of individual properties. It is all about a brand’s ability to deliver: its passion, commitment, ethos and values, as well as the quality of its management and staff.

Continuing investment and how well it is executed is also a major factor, particularly regarding new properties and the refurbishment of existing ones.

This year’s results are reflected as percentages, with last year’s positions in brackets.

1.  Six Senses 83.3% (1)​

2.  Mandarin Oriental 82.6% (5)

3.  Auberge 81.8% (3)

4.  Aman 81.4% (2)

5.  Belmond 79.9% (4)

6.  One&Only 77.0% (6)

7.  Oetker Collection 75.7%  New Entry

8.  Four Seasons 74.1% (8)

9.  Rosewood 73.5% (7)

10.  Raffles 72.7%   New Entry

11.  Viceroy 72.2%  New Entry

12.  COMO 71.0% (10)

Other brands that rated sufficiently to be monitored throughout the year are (in alphabetical order) Alila, Anantara, Banyan Tree, Dorchester Collection, Firmdale, Jumeirah, Leela, Oberoi, Park Hyatt, Peninsula, Ritz Carlton, Rocco Forte, Shangri-La, Soho House, St. Regis, Taj, The Luxury Collection.

Brands that currently have less than ten properties (our minimum requirement) but rate highly when applying our algorithm are (in alphabetical order)  Airelles, Althoff Collection, Bulgari, Capella, Cheval Blanc, Maybourne, Montage, Nikki Beach, Pendry, Soneva.

About The World’s Best Luxury Brands Report
No other organisation connects with the global luxury hotel industry as LTI does. Our researchers engage with everyone from CEOs of the brands we have rated to thousands of managements, staff and guests. This is all part of the process for creating our destination led reports for our members (affluent, discerning travellers) but it also allows us to utilise our findings to create this unique report. Every year the process starts again – the results from previous years have no bearing on the following year. This does inevitably lead to volatility in each year’s results (such as this year), but this is a dynamic sector and we want to reflect what is really happening out there.

Six Senses: Worlds Best Luxury Hotel Brand
We continue to be very impressed with Six Senses. It has an authentic blend of wellness, sustainability, warm hospitality and crafted guested experiences.  Also, its leadership is exemplary. The recent addition of Neil Palmer as Chief Operations Officer will bring boundless experience, energy and further integrity to the brand.

New Entries
We have been tracking Oetker Collection for several years while they have been building an exceptional portfolio of globally renowned hotels. We have been particularly impressed with the meticulously rebuilt of The Eden Rock in St Barths and their creation of The Woodward, a 26 room all-suite hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva, which opened in September.

Raffles, with a new CEO at the helm, has been quietly creating a raft of impressive new properties across the globe.

Viceroy has also shown great courage and commitment to building a global modern luxury hotel brand offering intuitive service, authentic experiences and provocative design.

Covid-19 Impact
Our algorithm has been suitably adjusted to accommodate the multitude of Covid- related challenges that luxury hotel operators have faced during 2020 and 2021. This also accommodates how brands are responding to a significant shift in Covid- driven demands from the luxury traveller.