Rosewood Hong Kong becomes the first Asian hotel to repeat as the World’s Best, in a year where the region claimed 36 of 100 spots, one behind Europe’s 37. Thailand’s five-hotel cluster, Japan’s eleven, Vietnam’s first-ever entry, and a Beijing hutong restoration all featured.

Rosewood Hong Kong has been named the World’s Best Hotel for a second consecutive year, the first repeat win any Asian property has managed since The World’s 50 Best Hotels launched in 2023. The 65-storey tower above Victoria Harbour, designed by Tony Chi and open since 2019, also claims Best Hotel in Asia, its 413 rooms and eleven restaurants and bars sitting alongside the multi-level Asaya wellness complex and its harbour-facing infinity pool.

It sits inside a moment for Asian hospitality. Across the full extended ranking by The World’s 50 Best Hotels from No. 1 to No. 100, Asia claims 36 hotels. Europe leads with 37, spread across a larger number of countries.

Closer to Home

Thailand leads the region with five hotels. Capella Bangkok climbed to No. 2, having held No. 1 in 2024 and No. 3 last year, a hotel that has occupied a different position in the top three every year of its existence. Its 101 rooms and villas sit low-rise on the river’s east bank along Charoen Krung Road, home to Côte, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant from chef Mauro Colagreco. Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River, next door on the same riverside estate, took the No. 3 spot. Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, one of Asia’s oldest hotels, tracing its history back to 1876 on the same riverbank, landed at No. 10. Aman Nai Lert Bangkok enters fresh at No. 48, the brand’s first urban property in Southeast Asia, its 36-storey tower rising from the century-old Nai Lert Park estate around a Sompong tree that predates the hotel by a hundred years, designed by Jean-Michel Gathy. Rosewood Bangkok closed the extended list at No. 70, its 30-storey silhouette by architects Kohn Pedersen Fox tracing the wai—the Thai gesture of greeting.

Singapore holds two placings. Raffles Singapore returns at No. 17, the colonial-era hotel that opened in 1887 and gave the world the Singapore Sling. Capella Singapore re-enters the extended list at No. 97, set on Sentosa Island inside a colonial-era black-and-white bungalow complex reworked for the brand.

Indonesia carries three. Desa Potato Head in Bali placed at No. 21, the Seminyak beach club turned 226-room hotel that has pushed its waste-to-landfill rate down to under one percent and won The 50’s own Eco Hotel Award last year. Nihi Sumba re-entered at No. 35, the property James McBride transformed from the surf retreat Nihiwatu into a globally recognised resort on an “Edge of Wildness” philosophy; McBride separately won this year’s SevenRooms Icon Award. Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve set along the Ayung River in Ubud, landed at No. 61.

Vietnam appears on this ranking for the first time in its history, with Capella Hanoi entering at No.81. Bill Bensley designed the 47-room hotel around the Hanoi Opera House next door, an entire fictional world of touring opera singers written into its rooms and corridors, down to more than a thousand pieces of original opera memorabilia collected for the project.

Beyond Southeast Asia

Japan produced eleven hotels across both lists, more than any single city or country managed anywhere on the ranking. Aman Tokyo leads the pack at No. 11, with Bvlgari Hotel Tokyo at No. 24 and Park Hyatt Kyoto at No. 37. The extended list adds Janu Tokyo at No. 52, the debut hotel for Aman’s younger sister brand, set inside Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills district with a wellness centre spanning four floors; followed by Park Hyatt Tokyo at No. 53, The Okura Tokyo at No. 69, Hotel The Mitsui in Kyoto at No.79, Palace Hotel Tokyo at No. 73, and Hoshinoya Tokyo at No. 85. Waldorf Astoria Osaka entered fresh at No. 89. Patina Osaka, meanwhile, took the Nikka Best New Hotel Award on top of its No. 33 ranking.

Hong Kong placed five hotels between both lists. Along with Rosewood Hong Kong at the top spot, Upper House Hong Kong ranked at No. 8 and The Peninsula Hong Kong, the 1928 harbourfront institution in Kowloon, at No. 46. Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong entered the extended list at No.59, with Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong at No. 86.

Greater China added four names. Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing came in at No. 7—the highest ranking mainland China has achieved—restored across just 42 courtyard houses inside a working hutong neighbourhood near the Forbidden City, its original brick and roof beams kept in place rather than replaced. Mandarin Oriental, Shenzhen entered at No. 90, The Peninsula Shanghai at No. 99, and Wynn Palace gave Macau its first appearance at No. 96.

In India, The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai—the 1903 landmark facing the Gateway of India—climbed eight places to No. 30. The Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur entered at No. 98, and The Johri Jaipur, an independent hotel outside any hotel group, placed at No. 94, a five-suite haveli tucked inside the city’s Johri Bazaar jewellers’ market.

Soneva Fushi in the Maldives, one of the country’s original barefoot-luxury pioneers on its own private Baa Atoll island, ranked at No. 55. Amangalla entered at No. 71, occupying a 1684 Dutch colonial building inside Galle Fort, Sri Lanka’s UNESCO World Heritage site, first opened to guests as the New Oriental Hotel in 1865 before becoming an Aman property in 2005.

The Rest of the World

Atlantis The Royal (No. 4) in Dubai won both Best Beach Hotel and Best Hotel in the Middle East. Royal Mansour (No. 26) in Marrakech took Best Hotel in Africa, Rosewood São Paulo claimed Best Hotel in South America after the sharpest single climb on either list, up 18 places to No. 6, and Capella Sydney (No. 16) was named Best Hotel in Oceania. Chablé Yucatán (No. 9) in Mexico won both Best Hotel in North America and the Bombay Sapphire Eco Hotel Award, its kitchens drawing on produce grown in traditional Mayan ka’anche gardens.

A handful of properties stood out for reasons beyond ranking. Passalacqua (No. 5) on Lake Como won Best Boutique Hotel for the third consecutive year, a category reserved for hotels under 50 rooms operating outside any major chain. Hôtel du Couvent (No. 38) in Nice took the Johnnie Walker Art of Design Award, and Badrutt’s Palace (No. 36) in St. Moritz won the SeiBellissimi Art of Hospitality Award for its service. Casa Maria Luigia in Modena, a new entry, also won the Lavazza Highest New Entry Award, coming in at No. 18. The Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York took No. 78 and this year’s American Express Travel One to Watch Award in the same breath.

A few addresses on the list belong on anyone’s bucket list regardless of rank. Palacio Nazarenas, a Belmond Hotel, a former 16th-century convent set at 3,400 metres in Cusco, Peru, placed at No. 54. Huka Lodge, a single lodge on the Waikato River outside Taupō, New Zealand, entered at No.82. Forestis Dolomites in Brixen, high in the Italian Alps, entered the ranking for the first time at No. 68.

Looking Ahead

In the four editions of the list, Malaysia is yet to make its debut. The country already has properties working at a level that competes internationally, hotels with the design instinct, the culinary weight, and the service depth recognised by critics and enthusiasts alike, and the gap between where they stand today and where the Academy’s attention sits is narrower than the number suggests. Bangkok proved a market can go from absent to five entries inside a few editions once its hotels commit fully. Malaysia has the raw material to make the same jump. We’re looking forward to being the ones who called it first.

Learn more at the50.com

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