Only five European and seven U.S. hotels made the list of Top 50 Hotels of the World released yesterday by Travel + Leisure magazine.
The magazine's well-heeled and well-traveled readers voted Mombo Camo and Little Mombo Camp in the Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana, as the best hotel in the world.
Second-place Castello di Casole-A Timbers Resort, in the Tuscan town of Casole d'Elsa, Italy, and the Ritz-Carlton, Berlin, at number seven, represented Europe in the top 10.
Rated numbers three to five were the lodges of Singita Kruger National Park, South Africa; Nayara Hotel, Spa & Gardens, La Fortuna, Costa Rica; and the Four Seasons Resort Bora-Bora in French Polynesia.
The top Eastern European hotel, at number 12, was the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest.
It was followed by the highest-rated U.S. hotel, the adults-only, log-cabined Triple Creek Ranch in Darby, Montana, at number 13.
Only two other European hotels made the list: the Stafford London by Kempinski (number 33), and the Palazzo Avino (formerly Palazzo Sasso) Ravello in Italy (number 49).
Among the U.S. winners, the laid-back charm of the South scored well, with four Dixieland hotels making the Top 50: The neighboring Lodge Sea Island, with its legendary golf course and roaming bagpiper, and Old Clositer Sea Island in Georgia (numbers 16 and 23); Edwards Inn & Spa in Highlands, North Carolina (24); and Elizabeth Pointe Lodge on Florida's Amelia Island (25).
The highest-scoring hotel on the West Coast, at number 28, was The Peninsula Beverly Hills in California. The Waldorf Astoria Chicago was the best of the Midwest, at 44.
Source: TravelMole
