Dubai’s dazzling, sail-shaped Burj Al Arab broke a couple of records in Institutional Investor’s 23rd annual survey of the world’s best hotels. The first hotel ever to debut at No. 1 in the rankings, the Arabian pleasure palace -- at 1,052 feet, the world’s tallest freestanding hotel -- has an array of amenities fit for a sultan.
Burj Al Arab consists of nothing but suites, and each one boasts surround-sound movies. Even the smallest -- at a not-so-cramped 1,818 square feet -- has least ten phones. Club suites come complete with their own snooker rooms; the royal suite offers revolving beds. A simulated submarine ride shuttles guests to the Al Mahara seafood restaurant, where diners and denizens of the deep eye one another through aquarium walls.
Surprisingly, in a year of adversity for the hotel industry, 32 of the 75 hotels in our ranking managed to surpass last year’s top score of 90.3 on a scale of 100. How did hotels that had to cope with war in Iraq, the ongoing threat of terrorism, a global economy in the doldrums and -- perhaps most damaging of all -- an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Asia manage to do so well? “They
learned from adversity to be more cost-conscious, flexible and accommodating,” says Paul McManus, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World, a marketing group comprising 400 luxury hotels in 80 countries.
Financiers judge hotels by service, location, ambience, comfort and -- especially -- restaurants. Hotels that splendidly fill the bill of fare now exist in every region of the world. Lisbon’s Four Seasons Ritz (No. 2) gets a Los Angeles investment adviser’s nod for spacious rooms, panoramic views of the city’s old tiled roofs and memorable food at the Michelin three-star Varanda. A New York money manager praises the “immaculate service” at the U.S.'s Ritz-Carlton Washington (No. 3), along with the guest privileges at the adjacent Sports Club/LA. Although the high-speed Internet in his room at the Four Seasons Chinzan-So in Tokyo (No. 9) is the chief attraction for a California investment executive, he also likes the 24-hour gym.
To compile its rankings, II surveyed more than 100 senior financial executives from 24 countries who spent an average of 65 nights in hotels during the past year. (One nomadic panelist logged 250 nights.) They were asked to rate hotels they had recently visited on a scale of one to 100, and the scores were tabulated according to a formula that assigns greater weight to the responses of the more frequent travelers.
To qualify, a hotel has to receive a significant number of votes. Even consistently well-rated hotels sometimes fail to secure the necessary quorum. That (and the SARS scare) explains the absence this year of a perennial on the list since 1981: the Peninsula Hong Kong.
The Top 75 Hotels
Rank Score
2003 2002 Hotel 2003 2002
1 - Burj Al Arab 97 -
Dubai
2 33 Four Seasons Ritz 95.9 83.9
Lisbon
3 - Ritz-Carlton 95.5* -
Washington
4 - Ritz-Carlton 95.5* -
Key Biscayne
Miami
5 34 Baur au Lac 93.9* 83.8
Zurich
6 - Peninsula 93.9* -
Los Angeles
7 6 Ritz-Carlton 93.8 88.2
San Francisco
8 3 Four Seasons 93.5 89.4
Chicago
9 - Four Seasons
Chinzan-So 93.3 -
Tokyo
10 24 Ritz-Carlton
(Four Seasons) 93 85.4
Chicago
11 46 Four Seasons George V 92.4 82.5
Paris
12 13 Mandarin Oriental 92.3 86.9
Hong Kong
13 57 Makati Shangri-La 92.2 81.4
Manila
14 35 Raffles 92.1 83.7
Singapore
15 2 Ritz-Carlton Millenia 91.9* 90.3
Singapore
16 31 Mandarin Oriental
Hyde Park 91.9* 84
London
17 17 Four Seasons 91.7* 86.6
New York
18 70 Grand Hyatt 91.7* 78.3
Seoul
19 12 Ciragan Palace
Kempinski 91.5 87.4
Istanbul
20 - Grand Hyatt Erawan 91.2 -
Bangkok
21 - Park Hyatt 91.1 -
Tokyo
22 45 Principe di Savoia 90.9* 82.6
Milan
23 5 Lanesborough 90.9* 88.2
London
24 - Phoenician 90.9* -
Phoenix
25 - Arizona Biltmore 90.7 -
Phoenix
26 4 Oriental 90.6* 88.6
Bangkok
27 - Arabella
Sheraton Grand 90.6* -
Frankfurt
28 54 Four Seasons 90.6* 81.7
London
29 8 Four Seasons 90.5*† 88.2
Singapore
29 - Beau Rivage 90.5*† -
Geneva
31 44 Four Seasons 90.5* 82.7
Washington
32 15 Bristol 90.4 86.7
Paris
33 10 Beverly Hills 90.3 87.4
Los Angeles
34 36 Claridge’s 90.2 83.6
London
35 51 Conrad 90.1* 82.1
Hong Kong
36 43 Park Hyatt 90.1* 82.8
Sydney
37 11 Mandarin Oriental 90 87.4
San Francisco
38 - Four Seasons 89.9 -
Toronto
39 20 Shangri-La 89.8* 86.3
Singapore
40 25 Crillon 89.8* 85.4
Paris
41 18 St. Regis 89.7 86.4
New York
42 26 Peninsula 89.5* 85.1
New York
43 - Carlyle 89.5*† -
New York
43 62 Willard
InterContinental 89.5*† 80.6
Washington
45 38 Ritz 89.3* 83.5
Madrid
46 22 Ritz-Carlton Buckhead 89.3* 85.8
Atlanta
47 6 Ritz 89.1 88.2
Paris
48 39 Four Seasons 89 83.3
Boston
49 - Shutters on the Beach
Santa Monica 88.7 -
Los Angeles
50 - D’Angleterre 88.4 -
Geneva
51 - Imperial 88.1* -
Tokyo
52 37 Island Shangri-La 88.1* 83.5
Hong Kong
53 48 New York Palace 87.6 82.3
New York
54 50 Fullerton 87.4* 82.3
Singapore
55 - Adlon Kempinski 87.4* -
Berlin
56 - Four Seasons 87.3* -
San Francisco
57 65 Ritz-Carlton 87.3* 79.9
Hong Kong
58 - Grand Hotel 86.9 -
Stockholm
59 - Four Seasons
(fka Regent) 85.9* -
Sydney
60 67 Savoy 85.9* 78.8
London
61 - Royal Meridien
King Edward 85.9* -
Toronto
62 19 Villa Magna 84.9 86.4
Madrid
63 - Ritz-Carlton 84.8 -
Boston
64 - Richemond 84.6 -
Geneva
65 73 Waldorf Towers 84.5* 77.7
New York
66 60 Okura 84.5* 81.1
Tokyo
67 29 Sukhothai 84.4* 84.4
Bangkok
68 64 Hessischer Hof 84.4* 79.9
Frankfurt
69 27 Berkeley 84.2 84.7
London
70 61 Dorchester 84.1* 80.6
London
71 - InterContinental 84.1* -
Abu Dhabi
72 - Four Seasons 84.1* -
Milan
73 - Plaza Athenee 84 -
New York
74 32 Connaught 83.3 83.9
London
75 46 Pierre 82.8 82.5
New York
*Order determined by actual results before rounding.
†Actual tie.
The Regional Rankings
Regional Global
Rank Rank
2003 2002 Hotel Score 2003
Americas
1 - Ritz-Carlton 95.5* 3
Washington
2 - Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne
Miami 95.5* 4
3 - Peninsula 93.9 6
Los Angeles
4 3 Ritz-Carlton 93.8 7
San Francisco
5 2 Four Seasons 93.5 8
Chicago
6 9 Ritz-Carlton
(Four Seasons) 93 10
Chicago
7 6 Four Seasons 91.7 17
New York
8 - Phoenician 90.9 24
Phoenix
9 - Arizona Biltmore 90.7 25
Phoenix
10 15 Four Seasons 90.5 31
Washington
11 4 Beverly Hills 90.3 33
Los Angeles
12 5 Mandarin Oriental 90 37
San Francisco
13 - Four Seasons 89.9 38
Toronto
14 7 St. Regis 89.7 41
New York
15 10 Peninsula 89.5* 42
New York
16 - Carlyle 89.5*† 43
New York
16 21 Willard
InterContinental 89.5*† 43
Washington
18 8 Ritz-Carlton Buckhead
Atlanta 89.3 46
19 12 Four Seasons 89 48
Boston
20 - Shutters on the Beach
Santa Monica 88.7 49
Los Angeles
21 17 New York Palace 87.6 53
New York
22 - Four Seasons 87.3 56
San Francisco
23 - Royal Meridien
King Edward 85.9 61
Toronto
24 - Ritz-Carlton 84.8 63
Boston
25 23 Waldorf Towers 84.5 65
New York
26 - Plaza Athenee 84 73
New York
27 16 Pierre 82.8 75
New York
Asia
1 - Four Seasons
Chinzan-So 93.3 9
Tokyo
2 4 Mandarin Oriental 92.3 12
Hong Kong
3 18 Makati Shangri-La 92.2 13
Manila
4 11 Raffles 92.1 14
Singapore
5 1 Ritz-Carlton Millenia 91.9 15
Singapore
6 21 Grand Hyatt 91.7 18
Seoul
7 - Grand Hyatt
Erawan 91.2 20
Bangkok
8 - Park Hyatt 91.1 21
Tokyo
9 2 Oriental 90.6 26
Bangkok
10 3 Four Seasons 90.5 29
Singapore
11 17 Conrad 90.1* 35
Hong Kong
12 14 Park Hyatt 90.1* 36
Sydney
13 7 Shangri-La 89.8 39
Singapore
14 - Imperial 88.1* 51
Tokyo
15 12 Island Shangri-La 88.1* 52
Hong Kong
16 16 Fullerton 87.4 54
Singapore
17 20 Ritz-Carlton 87.3 57
Hong Kong
18 - Four Seasons
(fka Regent) 85.9 59
Sydney
19 19 Okura 84.5 66
Tokyo
20 10 Sukhothai 84.4 67
Bangkok
Middle East & Africa
1 - Burj Al Arab 97 1
Dubai
2 - InterContinental 84.1 71
Abu Dhabi
Europe
1 12 Four Seasons Ritz 95.9 2
Lisbon
2 13 Baur au Lac 93.9 5
Zurich
3 17 Four Seasons
George V 92.4 11
Paris
4 10 Mandarin Oriental
Hyde Park 91.9 16
London
5 4 Ciragan Palace
Kempinski 91.5 19
Istanbul
6 16 Principe di Savoia 90.9* 22
Milan
7 1 Lanesborough 90.9* 23
London
8 - Arabella Sheraton 90.6* 27
Grand
Frankfurt
9 19 Four Seasons 90.6* 28
London
10 - Beau Rivage 90.5 29
Geneva
11 5 Bristol 90.4 32
Paris
12 14 Claridge’s 90.2 34
London
13 7 Crillon 89.8 40
Paris
14 15 Ritz 89.3 45
Madrid
15 2 Ritz 89.1 47
Paris
16 - D’Angleterre 88.4 50
Geneva
17 - Adlon Kempinski 87.4 55
Berlin
18 - Grand Hotel 86.9 58
Stockholm
19 26 Savoy 85.9 60
London
20 6 Villa Magna 84.9 62
Madrid
21 - Richemond 84.6 64
Geneva
22 24 Hessischer Hof 84.4 68
Frankfurt
23 8 Berkeley 84.2 69
London
24 22 Dorchester 84.1* 70
London
25 - Four Seasons 84.1* 72
Milan
26 11 Connaught 83.3 74
London
*Order determined by actual results before rounding.
†Actual tie.
The rankings were compiled under the direction of Senior Editor Jane B. Kenney with Researchers Barbara Bent and Michele Bickford. Contributing Editor Lois Madison Reamy wrote the overview.
