LTI – Luxury Travel Intelligence, an organisation which says it doesn’t accept any advertising or sponsorship and bases rankings on an algorithm and a global network of highly experienced writers and researchers, has just released its list of the world’s 12 best luxury hotel brands.
LTI says it spent seven months creating the perfect assessment process – “a sophisticated algorithm that analyses 118 significant points in the luxury hotel industry. Each touch-point has its own weighted score value, and the maximum accumulative score is 4320”.
LTI plans to release a new annual list every September.
So, the LTI top 12 luxury hotel brands for 2018 (with the score out of the maximum 4320 points possible) are:
1 – Aman (3587)
2 – Oetker Collection (3494)
3 – Six Senses (3438)
4 – Belmond (3399)
5 – Mandarin Oriental (3378)
6 – Auberge (3312)
7 – Four Seasons (3264)
8 – Soho House (3180)
9 – One & Only (3152)
10 – St. Regis (3058)
11 – Rosewood (2981)
12 – The Luxury Collection (2897)
Amanzoe Luxury Resort – Porto Heli, Greece, an Aman property
Other brands that LTI rated sufficiently to monitor throughout the year are (in alphabetical order): Alila, Banyan Tree, Como, Dorchester Collection, Fairmont, Park Hyatt, Ritz Carlton, Rocco Forte and Shangri-La.
Brands that currently have less than 10 properties but rate highly when applying LTI’s algorithm are (in alphabetical order) – Bulgari, Capella, Cheval Blanc, Montage, Maybourne and Soneva.
“Note that the 118 touch points relate to the overall brand performance, rather than its individual properties. It’s all about the brand’s ability to deliver: its passion, commitment, ethos and values, as well as the quality of its management and staff. Investment and how well it is executed is also a major factor, particularly in new properties and the refurbishment of existing ones,” LTI founder Michael Crompton said.
“To be fair to the industry we love and the brands that deliver a true luxury experience, we will also feature those that didn’t make the top 12, but scored significantly enough to be in the running next year.
We will also mention the brands that currently have less than 10 properties (the minimum requirement), but are ones to support now and watch for the future.
For this process to be transparent we will also state each score (out of the maximum of 4320).
LTI says it covers luxury hotels, restaurants, spas and nightlife, “in granular detail”.
“We do not sell travel, have a booking engine or carry advertising. Membership fees are our only revenue and we only answer to our members.”
Written by Peter Needham
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