Until now, since 2015, La Liste has been a recognised ranking of the 1,000 best restaurants in the world, long dominated by Guy Savoy's restaurant in Paris and recently overtaken by Frantzen in Stockholm. This initiative, launched by the French government in response to the launch of the 50 Best Restaurants - and led by Philippe Faure, former ambassador and honorary president of Atout France - has just added a new string to its bow with the ranking of the world's best hotels.
To establish this ranking, accessible to travellers via a website and an application, La Liste uses a methodology based on more than 300 sources, including travel guides, reference rankings and customer review sites. The result is a pre-selection of over 5,500 establishments, rated out of 100This score is used to distinguish the 1,000 best establishments in the world.
With a near-perfect score of 99.75 out of 100, the Cipriani of Veniceowned by the Belmond group, is the most prestigious hotel in the world, with three establishments tied for second place: the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal in Mexico and the Cheval Blanc St-Barth in the resorts category, and the Peninsula Chicago, the first major business hotel in this ranking.
While leisure establishments logically play an important role in this List of a Thousand and One Nights, the world's major cities are home to a number of hotels offering near-perfect hospitality that business travellers can visit for a drink or a VIP break. Le Savoy in LondonThe Peninsula in Shanghai, Le Meurice and La Réserve in Paris all rank third with a score of 99/100.
If Paris hotels stand out from the crowd with the Bristol (4th ex aequo) or the Cheval Blanc Paris and Plaza Athénée (5th ex aequo), London luxury is represented in the top places by, in addition to the Savoy, the Connaught (4th ex aequo) as well as the Goring and the Rosewood London (5th ex aequo).
Unsurprisingly, the major luxury brands have the following in their portfolios the best in town hotelThese include Peninsula in Shanghai and Chicago, Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, Milan and Madrid, Four Seasons in Istanbul and Toronto, Bulgari in Dubai, Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh and Guangzhou and, of course, Raffles in Singapore.
Alongside these rankings, La Liste also awarded special prizes to celebrate the best new hotel concept, such as that of the Habitas group, or the year's major openings including Capella Sydney, the Peninsula Istanbul and Atlantis The Royal in Dubai. The Carlton The Cannes hotel also received a Style & Design award in recognition of its complete renovation prior to being rebranded under the IHG Regent brand.
