When Forbes Travel Guide’s expert inspectors visit a property, they anonymously test it based on hundreds of exacting standards, with an emphasis on exceptional service. Only the best of the best achieve the coveted Five Star, our highest rating. Following our 2025 Star Award winners announcement on February 12, we give you a peek into what it takes to earn a Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star award.
Find authentic experiences in far-flung destinations
Though familiar destinations such as London and Macau continue to hold a firm grip on the high-end hospitality scene, quieter corners of the map are making their own inroads. Less-frequented places often offer fresh travel perspectives and new, authentic experiences that some well-worn cities seemingly aren’t.
Take a place like Southeast Asia’s Brunei, for example. When you visit the sublime Empire Brunei, you’re not only swayed by the resort’s five pools and bowling alley, but you’ll be intrigued by the 200 species of birds you can watch or the monkeys you’ll spot on a safari through the mangroves.
At Hotel das Cataratas, A Belmond Hotel, Iguassu Falls, which rests deep inside Brazil’s Iguacu National Park, guests receive a first-hand introduction to the lush surroundings with full moon walking tours of the falls. These destinations, and the one-of-a-kind experiences they offer, are examples of the changing landscape of how luxury is being defined.
Hotels drive wellness travel
Guests are prioritizing wellness when traveling, and hotels are responding with offerings outside of the spa. As our inspectors body-wrapped and ice-bathed their way around the globe in 2024, they found properties are putting a renewed focus on smaller but still essential aspects of self-care.
The Lodge at Blue Sky, Auberge Resorts Collection is a stunning property surrounded by Utah’s Wasatch Mountains. To encourage outdoor adventuring among its guests, the resort offers backpacks and walking sticks for hikes. Additionally, healthy welcome amenities such as fruit and vegetables with hummus are thoughtfully supplied.
Inspectors are also impressed with Waldorf Astoria Seychelles Platte Island, a remote getaway in the Indian Ocean where classes in breathing and meditation are held in the same high regard as deep tissue massages and body scrubs.
And at Maroma, A Belmond Hotel, Riviera Maya, spa therapists survey the beach and offer complimentary head massages to anyone who wants them, proving again how the little things leave the biggest impressions.
Hotels leverage luxurious collaborations
We all pep up a bit when we step into a hotel room and see our favorite toiletries in the bathroom. Hotels and resorts understand that, more and more, guests are expecting a similar sense of euphoria outside of the shower. To meet these heightened expectations, properties are forging strategic alliances with other leading luxury brands, resulting in curated offerings and personalized perks redefining the guest experience.
Palm Beach’s The Colony Hotel is a perfect example of this fundamental shift in service. Over the past few years, the property has paired with like-minded lifestyle brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Goop and Matouk for design enhancements it knows its clientele will love to see.
Even beyond in-room aesthetics, properties are pairing with designer labels for everything from fashion statements (Ritz Paris and L.A.-based Frame) to pool redesigns (The Little Nell and Dior) to art installations (Atlantis The Royal and Louis Vuitton) to create a swanky symmetry that takes the guest experience to heights.
This week, we revealed our 2025 Forbes Travel Guide Star Awards. Click here to see the list of winners.
