Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)
WHEN it comes to the world’s best luxury hotels, Spain ticks many boxes.
Now, a new hot list puts an exciting launch and two long-awaited relaunches of hotels over the last year at the top of the pile.
Ibiza’s new Six Senses hotel and Madrid’s recently relaunched Mandarin Oriental Ritz and Rosewood Villa Magna are in the Top Three best global luxury brands for 2022.
All three brands score over 80% in overall rating by the respected Luxury Travel Intelligence (LTI) body.
The group, which each opened (or reopened) hotels in Spain over the last 12 months, come way above the Ritz Carlton, Oberoi and Jumeirah brands.
Four Seasons, Belmond and One&Only also score highly.
It is the second year in a row Six Senses took the number one spot, while Rosewood has jumped an impressive seven places from ninth to second.
Six Senses – which only has two other hotels in Europe, one on the Douro river in Portugal and another in the French Alps – opened in the north of Ibiza last summer.
The group has continually impressed LTI this year. “It delivers an authentic blend of wellness, sustainability, warm hospitality and crafted guest experiences,” it ruled.
Assessed over a 12-month period each brand (which must have a minimum of 10 hotels) can get an accumulative maximum score of 4628, they score over 128 different areas.
These relate to overall performance, not the performance of individual properties. The focus is on the brand’s ‘passion, commitment, ethos and values, as well as the quality of its management and staff’.
Continuing investment and how it’s used is also a major factor in the ranking – particularly for new properties and the refurbishment of existing ones.
The Olive Press was extremely impressed with the relaunches of both the Mandarin Oriental Ritz and Rosewood Villa Magna hotels, in Madrid, on visits this year.
Both five star hotels showed original architectural and style improvements and each had a strong focus on food. The reviews can be found here on the website.
The Olive Press also picked out the Six Senses hotel in Ibiza as one of the hottest, must visit, places to stay this year in January.
On a visit there this summer to try its main restaurant, we were impressed with its use of space and quality of staff.
Six Senses is due to open two more hotels in London and Rome next year.
The results, reflected as percentages, with last year’s positions in brackets:
1. Six Senses 82.6% (1)
2. Mandarin Oriental 81.0% (2)
3. Rosewood 80.3% (9)
4. Auberge 78.8% (3)
5. Aman 77.3 4% (4)
6. Oetker Collection 75.7% (7)
7. One&Only 75.0% (6)
8. Belmond 74.7% (5)
9. Four Seasons 71.2% (8)
10. Viceroy 70.9% (11)
11. Rocco Forte 69.4% (New Entry)
12. COMO 69.1% (10)
• Other brands that rated sufficiently to be monitored throughout the year are (in alphabetical order): Alila, Anantara, Banyan Tree, Dorchester Collection, Firmdale, Jumeirah, Leela, Oberoi, Park Hyatt, Peninsula, Ritz Carlton, Shangri-La, Soho House, Raffles, Red Carnation, St. Regis, Taj, The Luxury Collection.
• Brands that currently have less than ten properties (the minimum requirement) but rate highly are (in alphabetical order): Airelles, Althoff Collection, Bulgari, Capella, Cheval Blanc, JK Place, La Reserve, Maybourne, Montage, Nikki Beach, Pendry, Soneva, Virgin Limited Edition.
READ MORE:
- Travel Spain: How the pandemic saw Madrid transform into a luxury tourism destination
- INTERVIEW: Meet Quique Dacosta, the chef behind Deessa restaurant at Madrid’s Mandarin Oriental Ritz
- Weekend in Madrid: Five reasons why Spain’s arty capital should be drawing you in this spring
