I think a lot of these issues have contributed to me being less engaged with this particular discussion board. The focus here (which I'm not knocking) is often "what's the best hotel in X?" and with prices at the point they are, that's no longer a question I ask myself, at least in cities with lots of high-tier options.
When I travel these days, I'm looking for high-end properties that deliver luxury in one form or another, while delivering real value for the dollar. I think that these days that's almost never the "best" hotel in a major city. The best hotel can charge whatever it wants, and does. But you can often find what I'm looking for elsewhere in the top tier. Our most recent travels last month took us to the Ritz Carlton in Singapore, the Capella in Bangkok, the MO in Kuala Lumpur, and the Soho Grand in NYC. None of these hotels are the "best" in their respective cities, but three of the four qualify as luxury properties (in my subjective view), and they all delivered what we were looking for at a price point we were happy with. In London the shift is more significant - my favorite hotel pre-pandemic was the Rosewood, but nowadays you'll find me at Batty Langleys or one of the Red Carnation properties because they all deliver "enough" value and I never feel ripped off. When go to Whistler on a ski trip next month, I'll stay at FS because their December rates are pretty appealing, But when I go to Utah in January, there's no way I'll pay what Stein Erickson or Montage Deer Valley are asking, so I'll end up at a chain hotel.
I know there are plenty of folks here who always want to stay at the "best" hotel, and if I'm looking for a hotel in Winnipeg or Bristol or New Delhi then yes, that's probably what I want too. But I no longer have much interest in debating the best hotel in Paris or Hong Kong or whatever. I just want to know what a really good one is.