Forbes Travel Guide has released a preview of its famed Star Award winners for 2021 to provide some inspiration for your next getaway.
Standout winners include Montage Hotels & Resorts in the Five-Star hotel category, with newcomers Montage Deer Valley in Park City, Utah, and Montage Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton, South Carolina, joining repeat Five-Star recipients Montage Kapalua Bay in Maui, Montage Laguna Beach and Montage Los Cabos.
The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston gave the city its first Five-Star hotel accolade ever, with its two-story Rolls-Royce showroom, a museum-caliber art collection and a library of Assouline books.
To find the world’s best properties, Forbes Travel Guide’s inspectors checked into a hotel for a two-night minimum stay, posing as regular guests and paying their own way. The incognito inspectors test up to 900 objective, stringent standards — such as whether you are greeted curbside by a staff member within 30 seconds of arrival, whether the bedroom is exceptionally clean and whether turndown service includes a special or thoughtful element. The ratings calculate 75 percent of a hotel’s score based on its service and 25 percent from the quality of its facilities. All early inspections were conducted prior to Covid-19 closures.
Click here to view the full list of preliminary 2021 winners, along with the properties that earned top awards in February 2020. The full slate of honorees will be revealed in spring 2021.
