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What's the best hotel in the world? Trick question, as right now there are ten of them. This year's La Liste rankings ended in a ten-way tie at the top, with hotels from St Moritz to Shanghai all locking in a near-perfect 99.5 out of 100.
If you're wondering how that's even possible, it's down to how La Liste works. Instead of relying on a panel of critics, the Paris-based team pools data from hundreds of international guides, travel publications and customer reviews across 7,300 hotels in 200 countries, to find the places that are consistently getting it right.
The 99.5 club
So who's in the club? The old guard is out in force. Thailand's Mandarin Oriental Bangkok is on the list, welcoming guests on the banks of the Chao Phraya since 1876. Paris lands a double win with La Réserve, a nineteenth-century mansion a stone's throw from the Champs-Élysées, and Le Meurice, the gilded grande dame opposite the Tuileries that famously hosted Salvador Dalí for a month every year.
One&Only Portonovi on Montenegro's Bay of Kotor made the cut for being the exact opposite of flashy, valuing stillness and privacy. Flying the flag for the Alps is Badrutt’s Palace, the turreted St Moritz landmark that's been hosting the slopes' glossiest guests since 1896.
London’s big win
The Emory in Belgravia took home the Style & Design award, and it's easy to see why. In a neighbourhood where luxury usually means red brick and a doorman in a top hat, Richard Rogers’ building hangs its entire frame on the outside, which means no columns cluttering up the suites, just clean rooms and huge windows staring straight over Hyde Park. Every floor was handed to a different designer, too, so no two levels look alike.
The 10 best hotels in the world for 2026
All scored 99.5/100 – listed alphabetically.
- Badrutt's Palace Hotel, St Moritz, Switzerland
- Il San Pietro di Positano, Positano, Italy
- La Réserve Paris, France
- Las Ventanas al Paraíso, San José del Cabo, Mexico
- Le Meurice, Paris, France
- Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, Thailand
- One&Only Portonovi, Herceg Novi, Montenegro
- Rosewood Mayakoba, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
- The Peninsula Chicago, USA
- The Peninsula Shanghai, China
Can't get enough hotel content? Check out the latest reviews from all over the world on Time Out’s hotels hub.
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