International Travel Awards 2026

Luxury Hotel Awards

Recognising the world's most exceptional luxury hotel properties — where architectural splendour, flawless personalised service, and extraordinary amenities combine to create the ultimate guest experience.

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Five-Star Hotel Excellence

The Premier Global Recognition for Luxury Hotel Excellence

True luxury in hospitality is not a price point — it is the art of anticipating and exceeding the expectations of the world's most discerning travellers. The International Travel Awards Luxury Hotel Awards programme identifies and celebrates the properties that have mastered this art, evaluating everything from the quality of the pillow menu to the intelligence of the concierge, the precision of the sommelier, and the craftsmanship embedded in every architectural detail. These awards are the benchmark that the global luxury hotel industry aspires to.

Award Categories

Luxury Hotel Award Categories 2026

Best Ultra Luxury Hotel Award
💎

Best Ultra Luxury Hotel

The highest possible hotel recognition — awarded to properties achieving unmatched staff-to-guest ratios, extreme personalisation, architectural magnificence, and an absolute mastery of anticipatory service at the apex of global hospitality.

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Best 5-Star Hotel Award
⭐

Best 5-Star Hotel

Recognising five-star hotels that consistently deliver excellence across all quality dimensions — from suite product and fine dining to spa quality, service culture, and guest satisfaction scores that place them among the world's finest properties.

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Best Luxury Hotel Chain Award
🌐

Best Luxury Hotel Chain

Awarded to luxury hotel groups that maintain extraordinary standards of quality and brand promise across every property in their portfolio — demonstrating that luxury excellence can be replicated at scale without compromise to the guest experience.

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Best Luxury City Hotel Award
🏙️

Best Luxury City Hotel

Celebrating urban luxury hotels that harness their city location to enrich the guest experience — offering exceptional proximity to cultural landmarks, business districts, and luxury retail while providing a flawless sanctuary from the city's energy.

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Best Luxury Resort Hotel Award
🌴

Best Luxury Resort Hotel

Recognising luxury properties that combine resort-style settings and extensive recreational facilities with the highest standards of five-star hotel service — delivering complete destination experiences that set the global benchmark for luxury resort hospitality.

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Best Luxury Boutique Hotel Award
🏛️

Best Luxury Boutique Hotel

Honouring intimate luxury properties of typically fewer than 100 rooms where exceptional design, deep personalisation, and a distinctive sense of place combine to create a luxury experience that large-scale properties simply cannot replicate.

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Does Your Luxury Property Define Excellence?

The International Travel Awards Luxury Hotel Awards 2026 seeks nominations from the world's finest five-star and ultra-luxury properties. Independent recognition by 200+ luxury travel experts awaits hotels that truly set the standard.

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Why Win

Benefits of Winning

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Premium Crystal Trophy

A bespoke crystal trophy of the highest quality — a powerful lobby centrepiece that immediately communicates internationally recognised luxury excellence to every arriving guest and visiting travel agent.

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Official Winner's Certificate

A prestigious certificate of excellence from the International Travel Awards, perfect for display alongside other accolades and inclusion in luxury travel agent briefing materials and media kits.

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Digital Winner Seal

A premium digital badge for your website, OTA profiles, and digital communications — providing the quality signal that high-net-worth travellers and luxury travel agents actively look for when selecting properties.

📰

Global Media Coverage

International coverage across the ITA media network in 150+ countries — reaching Virtuoso advisors, luxury travel editors, UHNWI audiences, and premium travel publications where luxury hotel decisions are made.

🎊

Gala Ceremony Invitation

Invitation to the Gala Ceremony — Westin Marina Hotel, Dubai, 14 November 2026, 5:00 PM – 11:00 PM — providing unparalleled networking with global luxury travel agents, media, and hospitality industry leaders.

🌟

Industry Recognition

Luxury consortia membership leverage, corporate luxury travel programme qualification, and the independent credibility that differentiates award-winning properties in a competitive market of globally high-quality luxury hotels.

Process

Nomination Process

01

Submit Nomination

Complete the nomination at internationaltravelawards.org/award-nomination.html. Provide evidence of luxury excellence — verified guest satisfaction scores, design awards, sustainability credentials, F&B accolades, and service standard documentation.

02

Expert Evaluation

200+ independent luxury travel industry experts — including luxury travel agents, travel editors, Virtuoso members, and hospitality consultants — evaluate each nomination against the published luxury hotel criteria for their assigned category.

03

Shortlist Announcement

Shortlisted luxury hotels are publicly announced across the ITA media network, generating valuable editorial coverage and industry recognition well before the Gala Ceremony takes place in November 2026.

04

Gala Ceremony

Winners are announced and presented their awards at the Gala Ceremony — Westin Marina Hotel, Dubai, 14 November 2026, 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM — in front of the global luxury hospitality industry's most influential figures.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

The International Travel Awards Luxury Hotel Awards are the premier recognition programme for five-star and ultra-luxury hotel properties worldwide. They evaluate hotels on the full spectrum of luxury hospitality excellence — from suite design and fine dining to personalised butler service, exclusive member benefits, and architectural distinction. Winners are independently selected by a panel of 200+ luxury travel industry experts.
Luxury hotel award eligibility criteria include: five-star or equivalent independent rating, documented commitment to personalised guest service, premium suite and room product, fine dining and beverage offerings, spa and wellness facilities, concierge and butler service capability, architectural and design distinction, and consistent delivery of exceptional guest experiences evidenced by verified satisfaction data from major platforms and independent surveys.
Five-star hotels benefit through enhanced credibility with luxury travel agents and consortia including Virtuoso and Signature Travel, increased direct booking conversion from high-net-worth travellers using award status as a quality signal, strengthened positioning in corporate luxury travel programmes, and global media coverage reaching affluent travel audiences across 150+ countries. Winners consistently report measurable increases in booking enquiries following their award announcement.
Yes. Star ratings are one input into the evaluation but not the sole determinant. The International Travel Awards Luxury Hotel Awards evaluates the actual luxury experience delivered. A superbly positioned independent property without an official five-star designation can be recognised if it genuinely delivers a luxury guest experience as assessed by the independent judging panel. Substance and actual guest experience over formal classification is the governing principle.
Ultra-luxury hotels are distinguished by the highest possible staff-to-guest ratios, extreme personalisation including pre-arrival preference profiling and dedicated relationship managers, private access and exclusivity features, exceptional suite square footage and design investment, multi-Michelin-starred or equivalent dining, ultra-premium spa programmes, and a consistent ability to fulfil exceptional and complex guest requests. The Best Ultra Luxury Hotel category recognises properties achieving performance at this rare level.
The Middle East — particularly Dubai and Abu Dhabi — consistently produces Luxury Hotel Award winners given the density of world-class luxury properties. Asia, including the Maldives, Thailand, Singapore, and Japan, and Europe, including France, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK, also produce consistently strong nominees. Saudi Arabia is an emerging force in luxury hospitality recognition through its Vision 2030 mega-projects including NEOM and the Red Sea Project.
The International Travel Awards Gala Ceremony takes place on 14 November 2026 from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM at the Westin Marina Hotel, Dubai. The ceremony includes a welcome reception, gala dinner, awards presentation across all categories including Luxury Hotel Awards, and post-ceremony networking. Winners receive their crystal trophy on stage and are extensively photographed for global media distribution to the ITA's network of 150+ country travel audiences.
Submit Your Nomination

Nominate for Luxury Hotel Awards Today

If your property defines what luxury hospitality means in 2026 — through extraordinary design, flawless personalised service, and experiences that surpass every expectation — nominate today. Join the world's finest luxury hotels on the international stage at the Westin Marina Hotel, Dubai on 14 November 2026.

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