Travel + Leisure | July 09, 2024

Hotels in Asia, India, and the United States got the most attention from T+L readers in the annual “World’s Best Awards” survey for 2024.

By Paul Brady and Jess Feldman

Travel + Leisure readers are going global. In this year’s World’s Best Awards, readers’ favorite hotels span far and wide, with 38 countries making an appearance on the 2024 list. Properties in destinations like India and Southeast Asia are among the highest scorers this year, along with 16 stellar U.S. properties. At each hotel, voters were wowed by the style and the service of the top 100: Every winner scored higher than 97 on our 100-point survey.

How Voting Works

Every year for our World’s Best Awards survey, T+L asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe — to share their opinions on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more. Over 186,000 T+L readers completed the 2024 survey. A total of more than 700,000 votes were cast across over 8,700 properties (hotels, cities, cruise lines, etc.).

Hotels were classified as either resort hotel, city hotel, inn, or safari lodge based on their location and amenities, and they were specifically rated on the criteria below:

  • Rooms/facilities
  • Location
  • Service
  • Food
  • Value

For each characteristic, respondents could choose a rating of excellent, above average, average, below average, or poor. The final scores are averages of these responses.

What Readers Loved

T+L readers traveled off the beaten path this past year. Each of the top 10 properties is located in a different country, from Spain to Qatar to Mexico. In Europe, England had four properties in the top 100, while France, Italy, and Spain each had two. Thirteen safari lodges and resorts caught our readers’ attention in Kenya, India, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The highlights of some of these stays? Readers mentioned chimpanzee tracking, private game drives, and accommodations so close to the action, they could hear the animals.

Those craving a calmer getaway found what they were looking for in villas next to white-sand beaches and crystal blue seas. The Maldives and the Indonesian island of Bali were particularly popular, with four and six hotels, respectively, in the top 100. While each winning property has its own allure — from an underwater restaurant at one property to pro surfers-turned-coaches at another — all these escapes offered voters the satisfaction of pure isolation without skimping on service.

For all the international adventure, T+L readers spent time exploring the United States, too, which has 16 properties on this year’s list. California has the most properties in the U.S. in the top 100, with four seaside hotels in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Newport Beach, Oceanside, and Sausalito. And the East Coast received some love, in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and South Carolina.

Top 10 Hotels:

 

Find a full rundown of the top 100 hotels in the world HERE, as voted by T+L readers.