Based on a study of more than 2.25 million public reviews on TripAdvisor, creative agency Luxury Branding has revealed the world’s most-loved luxury hotel brands.
The report says: “Commentators and customers are challenging the value of hotel star ratings and travellers are questioning which sources of information they should trust in the face of the numerous alternative lists that purport to evaluate luxury hotels.
“Travellers are developing a more sophisticated set of references and an opinionated view of the world upon which a truer assessment of the hospitality industry is emerging and shaking up conventional perceptions.
“This quest for authenticity and the rise of peer-to-peer influence also explains the phenomenal success of Airbnb, which relies solely on visitor reviews and ratings.”
Derived entirely from customer opinion with the help of some intelligent algorithms, Luxury Branding “has been able to reveal a fresh and unexpected ranking of the world’s most popular high-end hotel and resort brands”.
Founder Piers Schmidt says: “A more reliable assessment of luxury hospitality is emerging. These findings may rattle some in the industry but it’s the guests that have spoken and now they’re going to be heard.”
The report states: “The sample of luxury hotel brands in this study has an average portfolio size of 29 hotels, from which it is possible to estimate that there are more than 2,800 hotels and resorts operated by luxury hotel brands in the world today.”
TripAdvisor, meanwhile, has 375 million monthly visitors, and 250 million ratings and reviews of 5.2 million establishments around the world.
Out of 59 luxury hotel brands, here are the top ten: