Luxurious hotels can be stumbled upon in most prolific touristic centers, as well as in most prominent administrative centers alike and we’ll bring you the list of 13 most luxurious hotel chains in the world to which most of these hotels belong to. Here’s a list of 11 biggest five star hotels in India – some of which belong to chained-brand hotels which we’ll mention further on.
Now, while hotels themselves can be classified in a number of different ways, mostly depending on the country in which they are being classified, branded hotel chains, as well as independent hotels are best categorized using the market class index. There are six market classes in total, spanning from the economy, over midscale, upper midscale and upscale, all the way to upper upscale and luxury class. These market classes can further be collapsed into three larger categories which look something like this: midscale and economy, upscale and upper midscale, and luxury with upper upscale. With this in mind it is clear that we’ll only consider upper upscale and luxury market classes for our list of 13 most luxurious hotel chains in the world.
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Chained-brand hotels have to appear in at least two countries in order to qualify for the list. In other words, hotels do not belong to hotel chains if they are domestic. Furthermore, every hotel chain, luxurious or not, belongs to a certain brand. Some of these brands emphasize exclusively on budget hotels, and naturally, won’t be considered. Whether they emphasize only on luxury hotels or a mixture of budget and luxury ones (which most of these do), doesn’t really matter. We’ll consider every brand that has luxury hotel chains inside of its portfolio.
So, how does hotel chain become a luxury one? Simply – by offering impeccable service regulated by strictly determined standards. These standard include special requirements on every luxury hotel’s part such as specially trained staff, a certain level of accessibility, decor and refinement, and some rather unique requirements that clearly divide the luxury and upper upscale hotels from those upscale ones – even though they all usually have 5 stars.
There are a lot more than just 13 luxury chained-brand hotels around the world. Even if there were only exactly 13 of them, we would still have to rank them from positions 13 to 1, wouldn’t we? This calls for a certain classification methodology on our part as well. We can’t just rank them subjectively, can we? This is why we’ll take a number of factors into account while trying to do so. Some of the categories will be a number of luxury hotels that certain hotel chain boasts, and a number of prominent, historic hotels that certain hotel chain possesses. Historic hotels have to fulfill certain standards and represent only a commodity in ranking hotel chains, but a commodity that needs to be earned nonetheless. You can find a map and list of world’s historic hotels here. Hotel chain’s reputation will also play an important role, and so will its history. Finally, we won’t list more than one hotel chain from a single brand, but we won’t fail to mention others as well. After all, it is a well-known fact that some hotel brands feature more than one luxury hotel chain line in order to further diversify the offer. For instance, Hyatt Hotels Corporation (brand) consists of Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt luxury chains, and Hyatt Regency upper upscale chain. Only one of them, however, will find itself on our list of 13 most luxurious hotel chains in the world.
13. Sheraton
Owned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts chain stands as their flagship brand. Sheraton has gone a long way since their humble beginnings in 1937 and their original Stonehaven hotel in Springfield, Massachusetts. Today, they employ close to 150,000 people in over 400 luxury hotels worldwide. Sheraton pride themselves on impeccable and standardized service which is quite an achievement considering the sheer number of hotels and different nationalities that work within them.
12. Kempinski
Kempinski Hotels S.A. is Europe’s oldest chained-hotel brand established in 1897. They only deal in highest luxury which is evident by the fact that the brand possesses a single luxury hotel chain with the same name. Kempinski employs around 20,000 people in 77 hotels scattered around Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific. Ciragan Palace Kempinski in Istanbul is a member of Historic Hotels Worldwide organization, but Kempinski group offers quite a few other prominent luxury hotels like Berlin’s Bristol and Adlon, and the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.
11. Banyan Tree
Banyan Tree Holdings Limited Possesses both Banyan Tree and Angsana hotel chains with former being the flagship one. Still mostly Asia-oriented, Banyan Tree has managed to find its way to Morocco and Mexico recently. However, the brand is mostly known for their first and flagship hotel in Phuket, Thailand. Apart from providing luxurious experience, they emphasize on both eco-friendly and culturally-sensitive experience as well, making them a perfect choice if you are both refined and ecologically responsible.
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10. Mandarin Oriental
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is one of the most exclusive chained-brand hotel groups which emphasizes on exclusive luxury through one chain with 29 five-star hotels in Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa and North America. New York Mandarin Oriental overlooking the Central Park or Forbes triple 5-star luxury hotel in Las Vegas don’t require introduction and neither does any of Mandarin Oriental’s top-class hotels across 16 world’s countries.
9. Aman
Similarly to Banyan Tree, Amanresorts International brand had also started from Phuket where they had built their first resort; Amanpuri. Aman is not a classic hotel chain as they mostly emphasize on small resorts with up to 50 rooms. However this business model has proven to be successful and lucrative, and no one does a better job in this niche market than Aman. They currently possess 30 such resorts and hotels across the USA, Caribbean, Europe, Morocco, and Asia.
8. Rosewood
Rosewood Hotels & Resorts started out in Dallas with Mansion on Turtle Creek hotel opening its doors in 1980. Rosewood’s hotels and resorts are mostly of a smaller scale so that they would be able to offer unique and attentive service to their visitors. Needless to say, every single Rosewood property is unique and extremely refined, and there are 18 of these in 10 countries across the globe with additional 14 scheduled to be built by 2019.
7. The Peninsula
Owned by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels brand, The Peninsula chain emphasizes on lavish luxury and refinement which is clearly evident by their hand-picked hotel locations around the globe. Currently, Peninsula hotels can only be found in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, New York, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Paris, Bangkok and Manila, but London and Rangoon Peninsula’s are soon to follow. Hong Kong’s Peninsula is chain’s first hotel, while Parisian one is their latest addition not counting a couple of mentioned hotels still under construction. Peninsula’s fleet of Rolls Royce’s is as good proof as any that this hotel chain doesn’t offer anything but utmost luxury.
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6. Shangri-La
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts brand offers upscale and midscale accommodation, but our concern in this list of 13 most luxurious hotel chains in the world is their flagship Shangri-La chain. Being a Chinese company, it is natural that most Shangri-La’s are found on Chinese mainland (46 of them), but the chain operates 94 hotels in total across 20 countries with 10 more hotels scheduled for opening within 3 years time.
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5. Park Hyatt
Hyatt Hotels Corporation works with many chains including Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency, but Park Hyatt takes the biscuit thanks to chain hotel’s premium locations within cities and slightly more personalized service compared to that of Grand Hyatt. You can stumble upon Park Hyatt on every single continent (besides on Antarctica, of course), but only 40 hotels are currently available. Some of the locations include Paris, Moscow, Sydney, New York, Tokyo and Buenos Aires.
4. Waldorf Astoria
Part of Hilton Worldwide brand, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts chain stands out as one of the best-known and most luxurious hotel chains in the world. It makes our list in front of Conrad, Hilton and Double Tree luxury chains thanks to its iconic name. Even though it was acquired in 2007, Waldorf Astoria is already, arguably, Hilton Worldwide’s most prized possession. One only has to look at the Waldorf Astoria in New York which is chain’s flagship hotel, but any of 24 other hotels is as refined as Waldorf Astoria’s first.
3. InterContinental
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC boasts with hotels in every single class and with the likes of Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn at the same time. However, InterContinental is their flagship brand and it appears on all continents, no less than 192 times. Managing almost 200 top-class hotels is no mean feat and this is why InterContinental takes such a high spot among luxury hotel chain names.
2. Ritz-Carlton
Hotel chain’s gold standards and motto: “We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen” speaks volumes about Ritz-Carlton. The fact that it makes our list in the name of the Marriott International, Inc. instead the likes of JW Marriott and Bvlgari speaks even more. Ritz-Carlton chain currently has 91 hotels in 29 countries with four more upcoming locations in Los Cabos (Mexico), Cairo (Egypt), Tamuda Bay (Morocco) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).
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1. Four Seasons
Four Seasons Hotels, Inc. has always been the epitome of luxury, good organization and impeccable service. It isn’t easy to achieve such a high level of the three – especially since most of Four Seasons hotels are under franchising contracts. However, this feat and 98 five-star hotels across the globe have ensured the top spot on our list of 13 most luxurious hotel chains in the world for Toronto-based company.
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