THE WORLD'S BEST BOUTIQUE HOTELS ARE ANNOUNCED

From over 550 nominees in all four corners of the world, the finest luxury boutique hotels of 2023 have been named by the Boutique Hotel Club. Honouring boutique hotels from Queenstown to California, and shortlisted by a panel of trailblazing travel experts, these selections reveal the very best boutique spots for discerning travellers to visit.

The world's best boutique hotels are:

World's Best Boutique Hotel - San Ysidro Ranch, Santa Barbara, California
"Greeted like royalty, waved through to the hacienda, draped with striking fuchsia bougainvillea - you are welcomed to utopia."

World's Best Beach Hotel - Velaa Private Island, Maldives
"An exclusive private island surrounded by an azure sea and curated experiences to go beyond luxury"

World's Best Chic Hotel - Hotel TwentySeven, Amsterdam, Netherlands
"As you are led upstairs, it becomes apparent, very quickly, that the hotels' creators have spared no expense in selecting the finest furnishings, ensuring that every inch is packed with texture and delightful detail."

World's Best City Hotel - Casa Polanco, Polanco, Mexico
"A design hotel and your rich uncle's uber-cool private residence, all at once"

World's Best Classic Hotel - Akademie Street Boutique Hotel, Franschhoek, South Africa
"If you asked us to describe what our ideal boutique hotel experience would be, it wouldn't be far away from our experience at Akademie Street - style, charm, service, food, facilities and location."

World's Best Design Hotel - Hotel Motto Vienna, Vienna, Austria
"Whimsical 1920s riot and glamour in Austria's capital "

World's Best Eco Hotel - Cielo Lodge, Golfito, Costa Rica
"A magical nature-first hideaway set in the treetop canopy of the Golfito rainforest"

World's Best Family Hotel - ASTER Natur & Idylle im Zillertal, Tyrol, Austria
"Whether it's the breathtaking views, fresh mountain air or the exquisite charm of the old farmhouse, there is something special happening at Aster."

World's Best Fine Dining Hotel - Velaa Private Island, Maldives
"An exclusive private island surrounded by an azure sea and curated experiences to go beyond luxury"

World's Best Honeymoon Hotel - San Ysidro Ranch, Santa Barbara, California

World's Best New Hotel - Casa Silencio, Oaxaca, Mexico
"A seductively dark aesthetic sets the scene for the exaltation of mezcal. For erudite spirit enthusiasts with a taste for adventure this is a magical new spot"

World's Best Romantic Hotel - The Carlin Hotel, Queenstown, New Zealand
"Each evening, your dedicated butler will fill your bathtub, prepared with a dreamy arrangement of flowers, setting the stage for an evening of relaxation."

World's Best Spa Hotel - Green Spa Resort Stanglwirt, Going am Wilden Kaiser, Austria
"The Stanglwirt, once a small dairy and cattle farm, succeeds in striking the rare balance between luxury and authenticity."

World's Best Hotel with a View - Athina Luxury Suites, Santorini, Greece
"Santorini is famed for its perfect sunset views of the ocean and caldera, at Athina Suites, guests have quite the envy-inducing front row seat."

World's Best Nature Hotel - The Crocodile Hunter Lodge, Queensland, New Zealand
"Greeted by lively sounds of the bush and Kookaburra calls and breathing the pure fresh air it really feels like you're entering into relaxation mode."

Background on the Club

For 13 years the Boutique Hotel Club has carefully selected the world's best boutique hotels, accepting nominations and conducting on-site reviews to quality-test the true guest experience of each nominee. Any independent boutique hotel may be nominated and there is no cost for consideration when entering a single category. A set of 30 luxury travel experts whose business it is to be 'in-the-know' shortlists properties to be inspected. The Club independently tests for quality, style and emotional impact using a proprietary Boutique Hotel Club Quality Assessment. This system comprises 400 gold standards of facilities and service execution covering every aspect of guest experience. In this way, an incredibly diverse set of nominees can be sifted through and inspected to identify the finest luxury boutique hotels in the world.

Separate to winner selections, the Boutique Hotel Club also operates highly selective membership by invitation only and now comprises an international collection of over 350 luxury boutique hotels. Member hotels communicate their character and calibre through the Boutique Hotel Club brand and use the Quality Assessment Reports to expand and raise each of these. The Boutique Hotel Club also brings together its members through the Master Key Society, an initiative where relationships are built exclusively among leading hoteliers by facilitating hotel exchange visits between them.

Whilst some hotel collections might have a cookie-cutter feel, and others might seem like an assortment of similarly snooty and stuffy properties, each member of the collection has a reason for being here. The set boasts the true variety of colours a wanderlust traveller could hope to see. From 10 km Rwandan treks to the last wild mountain gorilla, to private villas on even more private islands, to equestrian castles in the Indian desert, to glamorous retreats on the Almafi Coast, the Club find and showcase enviable travel spots and the trail-blazing creators behind them.

Boutique Hotel Club Guiding Principles

Though all the Club's properties are one-of-a-kind there are threads that run through them, connecting proudly different hotels in shared ideals. Hotels making the cut possess these five characteristics that form the pillars of the brand:

Sharing wholeheartedly - It is a state of mind where the joy of living in a place spills over into a desire to connect and share that wonderful something with a guest.

Connection to the region - Through a passion for celebrating the local culture, our properties give guests the true wonder of travel: exploration of lands unknown. This can be through experiences, cuisine or simply through people firmly rooted in the country and region. Our hotels find and keep staff with their finger on the pulse of the region's cultural heart.

Emotional impact - True hospitality goes beyond delivering fastidious service and material luxury. From the creators to the day-to-day staff, our hotels possess the emotional intelligence to heighten the internal experience of their guests.

Unique sense of place - Each property should possess a creative design flair that afford it a unique place in the memory of each traveller that walks through its doors. When you're there, you feel as though you couldn't be anywhere else.

Alchemy - As in so much of life, the real secret comes in the balance between the good ingredients chosen. What we are really looking for is for the design, location, personalities, history and character to come together in harmony to achieve an overarching immersive experience.


To nominate your favourite boutique hotels and read the reviews of selected hotels, please visit:

https://boutiquehotelclub.com/nominate

Boutique Hotel Club
2 Bailey House,
Coleridge Gardens,
552 King's Road,
Chelsea, London,
SW10 0RG
members@boutiquehotelclub.com

Boutique Hotel Club has become a beacon to the world's finest luxury boutique hotels. Whilst some hotel collections might have a cookie-cutter feel, and others might seem like an assortment of similarly snooty and stuffy properties, each member of our collection has a reason for being here. We boast the true variety of colours a wanderlust traveller could hope to see. From 10 km Rwandan treks to the last wild mountain gorilla, to private villas on even more private islands, to equestrian castles in the Indian desert, to glamorous retreats on the Almafi Coast, we find and showcase enviable travel spots and the trail-blazing creators behind them.

This release was published on openPR.