UK-based Luxury Travel Intelligence (LTI) has announced the World’s Best Luxury Hotel Brands 2023, with Hong Kong-based Mandarin Oriental taking the top spot for the first time.

LTI, which covers luxury hotels, restaurants, spas and nightlife in granular detail, and helps affluent travellers make informed travel choices, based on its detailed intelligence, said it implemented a year-old assessment process to rigorously define the algorithm that measures the performance and values of luxury hotel brands.

This year, it said, the algorithm secured 130 touch points relevant to the luxury hotel sector. Each has its own weighted score value with a total maximum accumulative score of 4663.

According to LTI, the touch points relate to overall brand performance, not the performance of individual properties. The focus is on a brand’s ability to deliver – its passion, commitment, ethos and values, as well as the quality of its management and staff.

LTI said that Mandarin Oriental, a multinational hospitality and management group with a total of 34 properties worldwide, has always performed well in its annual report.

“This year, they have improved further across all our touch points, placing them at No1. It is an engaging brand with a loyal and growing following, who appreciate its commitment to excellence. The much-anticipated opening of their London Mayfair property could be a pivotal moment for them,” LTI said in a statement.

Here are this year’s results in percentage, with last year’s positions in brackets:

 1.    Mandarin Oriental 81.4% (2)                                                      

2.    Oetker Collection 81.3% (6)                               

3.    Auberge 79.6% (4)

4.    Six Senses 79.0% (1)                                                     

5.    Aman 78.8% (5)                                                         

6.    Belmond 76.3% (8)              

7.    Four Seasons 76.1% (9)                                          

8.    One&Only 75.1% (7)

9.    Rocco Forte 73.8% (11)                                     

10.  Rosewood 72.1% (3)

11.  Peninsula 69.8% (New Entry)

12.  Raffles 68.5% (New Entry) 

Other brands that rated sufficiently to be monitored throughout the year are (in alphabetical order): 1 Hotels, Alila, Anantara, Banyan Tree, COMO, Dorchester Collection, Firmdale, Jumeirah, Leela, Oberoi, Park Hyatt, Ritz Carlton, Shangri-La, Soho House, Red Carnation, St. Regis, Taj, The Luxury Collection, Viceroy.

Brands that currently have less than 10 properties (our minimum requirement) but rate highly when applying our algorithm are (in alphabetical order): Airelles, Althoff Collection, Bulgari, Capella, Cheval Blanc, JK Place, La Reserve, Maybourne, Montage, Nikki Beach, Pendry, Soneva, Ultima Collection, Virgin Limited Edition. – TradeArabia News Service