Ritz Carlton Millenia Singapore! Absolutely magnificent hotel with service that's unmatched!

Close seconds:
Shangri La Bangkok
Grand Hyatt Taipei
Grand Hyatt Jakarta


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I love the ambience of the Sheraton Moana front room third floor./
the Royal Hawiian cause its so famous/
the Hyatt Waikiki only because of the fabbo staff in Regency.and although I sound prejudice
The Park Hyatt in Melbourne for the class.the view of the cathedral and the sushi in Regency./
Oh the Grand Hyatt Regency View Hong Kong THAT takes some beating!!!

Chateau Du Sureau in Oakhurst, CA - it has only ten rooms. Next door is Erna's Elderberry House restaurant which Conde Nast Traveler this month gave a perfect "100" to.

With a few (notable) exceptions, it's truly disappointing that the good ol' USA is missing in this post.

World's Top 20 Hotels ranked by Institutional Investor:

1. Oriental*, Bangkok
2. Raffles, Singapore
3. Four Seasons, New York
4. Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong
5. Four Seasons, Los Angeles
6. Peninsula, Hong Kong
7. Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix
8. Four Seasons, Chicago
9. Mandarin Oriental, San Francisco
10.Lanesborough, London
11.Alvear Palace, Buenos Aires
12.Four Seaons, Singapore
13.Ritz, Paris
(tie) Sukhothai, Bangkok
15.Regent Beverly Wilshire, Los Angeles
16.Park Hyatt, Sydney
17.Ritz Carlton, Chicago
18.Imperial, Vienna
19.Vier Jahreszeiten, Hamburg
20.Four Seasons, Boston

*Last year's winner, Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles actually scored higher than the Oriental, but didn't receive enough votes to make the survey.

"Institutional Investor asked more than 100 senior financial executives from 26 countries to rate the hotels they had recently visited on a scale of 1 to 100. The scores were weighted according to a formula that attaches greater value to the responses of the most frequent travelers (some stay in hotels up to 200 nights a year). The results were averaged and the top 80 hotels were ranked."

I'll leave it to FTers to debate the merits of these rankings.

Institutional Investor Magazine. Why not post the survey from MAD magaizne?

I've stayed in 80% of the hotels mentioned in previous posts and none of the top 20 in the survey. Have stayed at the Bel-Air twice, but their number one pick did not make the list.

For the comment about how few USA hotels are mentioned, it is for good reason. The service at so many Asian hotels can leave a lasting impression.

Favorite hotel----Reading the posts on this thread brings great memories.

Yes, good point - apart from a couple agreeing on my choice of The Royal Hawaiian, (The Pink Palace) nearly none others were in the USA. I can say this as an outsider, but I never regard Hawaii as "America" anyway .. or, it is about as American as Guam, IMHO!

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~ Glen ~

I have stayed at only a few of the USA hotels on Institutional Investor's list. The Ritz-Carlton in Chicago is certainly outstanding by any American standard -- but the elite foreign hotels do seem to me to offer a higher standard of service, siply by spending more on labor.

My travels are typically throughout the Northeast with a few stays in Europe. But I would have to say that out of all the hotels the Marriott Marquis was fabulous in terms of the room, customer service, location, everything! My three weeks there was certainly enjoyable especially since it was Christmas season!

For an Honorable Mention- Holiday Inn St. Germain Des Pres in Paris. Nothing fancy but clean and good service. One thing that I was impressed with, was that the hotel manager noticed that we always arrived back at the hotel very late and would have coffee and some pastry waiting for us everynight. Then he would give us some highlights as to where to go, teach us some french etc. I thought that was special and thoughtful. Consequently, my neice has chosen French to learn and is doing fantastic at it http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Rosemarie (edited 11-05-2000).]

I've been at the Ritz and The Four Seasons in a few different cities as well as some smaller more intimate high quality hotels. Like most of us who visit this forum, I am considered among my friends and relatives to be the most travelled person they know.

I would like to rate the Peninsula in Bangkok in two terms. It is very best value I have ever experienced in a first class hotel. $82.00 for a truly modern high tech room with a sumptuous multicultural breakfast buffet included that is a gustatory benchmark for all others to be judged by. Second, the level of service was indeed superior, from the complimentary shoe shine(s), the superb, knowledgeable and genuinely helpful concierge desk, the timely and efficient ferry service back and forth across the river. The speed of room service was light years ahead of any European or North American hotel. In this hotel service is not equated with servitude. The staff is truly committed to the client's needs.

I forgot to mention that the $82.00 rate also includes your choice of full size Mercedes sedan service either from or to BKK.

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Another vote for the Regent, Hong Kong. In the US, I've been most overwhelmed by the service at the Four Seasons, Maui.

The Oriental Bangkok gets my vote as the best hotel in the world. The staff's attentiveness and attention to detail was beyond my expectation.

The Park Hyatt, Tokyo would get my vote as perhaps the most beautiful hotel. Dining atop the hotel at The New York Grill is an experience not to pass up.

This is indeed subjective. While airoli loves the Hempel, I thought it was the worst $600 hotel in the world. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

To me, the Park Hyatt's in Melbourne and Buenos Aires are two of the best overall hotels in the world. But I hear from AuH2o that the new Park Hyatt in Chicago is the new champion. For me the Lancaster in Paris is the tops in Service, but like a lot of other references here, that is based on personal service.

However the Al Burjab is supposed to be the world champ now in every category. I haven't been inside yet, but the next time I get to DXB I'll definitely try it out.

US: St.Regis New York

World: Lanesborough Hotel,London

The reason for both is service. both are excellent hotels in excellent locations in their respective cities, but the staff is attentive, responsive and remembers it's past guests.

I think that one of the big reasons we are all in frequency programs is that it helps large companies "remember" our past experiences with them.

I love the Palace in Madrid I lived there for much of last year and they treated me like family