HONG KONG — Rosewood Hong Kong has done something no hotel has managed since The World’s 50 Best Hotels ranking began: hold on to the No. 1 position for a second consecutive year.
The 65-storey Victoria Harbour landmark was named The World’s Best Hotel 2026 at an awards ceremony in Paris on September 15, retaining the crown it first won in 2025 and also taking the title of Best Hotel in Asia.
But Rosewood’s repeat victory may be only part of the bigger story.
Bangkok took both the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Hong Kong placed two hotels inside the global top eight. Singapore’s Raffles Hotel, meanwhile, fell from fifth last year to No. 17.
And while Europe placed the most hotels on the overall 2026 list, Asian properties continued to dominate its very top.
The result suggests the global luxury-hospitality race is no longer centered almost exclusively on Paris, London, New York or Italy’s resort destinations.
Increasingly, some of the hotels everyone else is chasing are in Hong Kong, Bangkok and other Asian cities.
Rosewood Hong Kong makes history with back-to-back wins
The 2026 victory caps an unusually consistent run for Rosewood Hong Kong.
It ranked No. 2 in the inaugural 2023 list, slipped slightly to No. 3 in 2024, climbed to No. 1 in 2025, and has now retained that position in 2026.
That makes Rosewood Hong Kong the first hotel to successfully defend the top spot since the ranking was launched.
For a property that only opened in March 2019, the rise has been remarkably fast.
The hotel occupies a prime waterfront position at Victoria Dockside in Tsim Sha Tsui, overlooking Victoria Harbour.
Designed by acclaimed interior designer Tony Chi, Rosewood Hong Kong has 413 rooms and suites, 186 residences and 11 restaurants and bars, alongside its Asaya wellness complex and harbour-facing pool.
The World’s 50 Best Hotels cited the property’s design, food and beverage offerings and extensive wellness facilities among the features behind its continued recognition.
The win is also being framed as a win for Hong Kong
Rosewood Hong Kong managing director Hugo Montanari said the previous award had helped not only the property itself but also Hong Kong as a destination following the pandemic.
He told CNA Luxury that the recognition helped put the city “back on the map.”
That claim comes as Hong Kong continues rebuilding its tourism and international-business activity after years of pandemic restrictions.
There are signs that recovery is progressing.
Hong Kong visitor arrivals reached 3.72 million in June 2026, up 6.9% from a year earlier, while retail sales increased 4.6% year on year that month, according to government figures reported by Reuters.
Hong Kong has also been seeing renewed activity in finance and corporate investment, with Reuters reporting more than 400 companies expanding or establishing operations there during 2026.
Against that backdrop, having the world’s No. 1-ranked hotel provides the city with another high-profile marketing asset.
And Rosewood was not Hong Kong’s only winner.
Hong Kong put three hotels inside the top 50
The city had three properties in the 2026 top 50:
- No. 1 — Rosewood Hong Kong
- No. 8 — Upper House Hong Kong
- No. 46 — The Peninsula Hong Kong.
Two more Hong Kong properties appeared in the expanded No. 51-to-100 ranking: Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong at No. 59 and Four Seasons Hong Kong at No. 86.
That means five Hong Kong hotels were recognized across the broader top 100.
For a geographically compact city competing with much larger tourism markets, that is a significant concentration of internationally ranked luxury properties.
But Bangkok is becoming the city Hong Kong has to watch
Rosewood may have taken No. 1, but Bangkok arguably delivered the most formidable city-wide performance near the top of the ranking.
Capella Bangkok rose to No. 2, while Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok at Chao Phraya River ranked No. 3.
Mandarin Oriental Bangkok came in at No. 10, while the recently opened Aman Nai Lert entered at No. 48.
That puts two Bangkok properties immediately behind Rosewood Hong Kong and three Bangkok hotels in the global top 10.
Capella Bangkok had itself been crowned the world’s No. 1 hotel in 2024 before falling to No. 3 in 2025 and climbing to second this year.
The rivalry is becoming difficult to miss.
In 2026, the three highest-ranked hotels in the world were all in Hong Kong or Bangkok.
Singapore suffered a striking drop
The ranking delivered a more mixed result for Singapore.
Raffles Singapore fell from No. 5 in 2025 to No. 17 in 2026, a drop of 12 places.
It remained the only Singapore hotel inside the top 50.
Capella Singapore, which ranked No. 33 in 2024 but disappeared from the top 50 in 2025, returned on this year’s extended list at No. 97.
Raffles executives nevertheless emphasized the competitiveness of the ranking and the achievement of having two Raffles-branded properties in the top 50: Raffles Singapore at No. 17 and Raffles London at The OWO at No. 28.
The result illustrates how volatile the ranking can be even for globally famous properties.
A hotel does not necessarily have to decline in quality to fall several positions; other properties can receive more votes in a particular year.
Here are the world’s top 10 hotels for 2026
The official top 10 were:
- Rosewood Hong Kong — Hong Kong
- Capella Bangkok — Bangkok
- Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River — Bangkok
- Atlantis The Royal — Dubai
- Passalacqua — Lake Como
- Rosewood São Paulo — São Paulo
- Mandarin Oriental Qianmen — Beijing
- Upper House Hong Kong — Hong Kong
- Chablé Yucatán — Chocholá
- Mandarin Oriental Bangkok — Bangkok
One correction worth noting: CNA Luxury’s article contains an apparent typo in one paragraph describing Rosewood São Paulo as No. 7. Both CNA’s own published ranking farther down the page and the official 50 Best release place it at No. 6, with Mandarin Oriental Qianmen at No. 7.
Europe won on quantity, Asia dominated the summit
The broader list tells a slightly different story from the top positions.
Europe placed 21 hotels in the global top 50, compared with 18 from Asia, according to the organizers.
North America had six, South America and Africa each had two, and Oceania had one.
France and Italy each contributed six properties, while the United Kingdom had four.
Yet the highest positions leaned strongly toward Asia.
Hong Kong took No. 1.
Bangkok took Nos. 2 and 3.
Beijing placed seventh.
Hong Kong appeared again at No. 8.
Bangkok returned at No. 10.
So while Europe had the deepest representation overall, five of the global top 10 hotels were in Hong Kong, Bangkok or Beijing.
Atlantis The Royal made one of the biggest moves near the top
Dubai’s Atlantis The Royal climbed to No. 4, strengthening the Middle East’s presence among the highest-ranked properties.
The hotel was also named Best Beach Hotel for 2026.
Italy’s Passalacqua, which won the inaugural World’s Best Hotel award in 2023, ranked fifth this year and retained both Best Hotel in Europe and Best Boutique Hotel, the latter for a third consecutive year.
Elsewhere, Patina Osaka at No. 33 received the Best New Hotel award, while Las Ventanas al Paraíso in Mexico climbed 19 places to No. 25 and received the Highest Climber award.
Rosewood itself had a very big night
Rosewood Hong Kong’s victory was part of a broader showing by its parent brand.
Rosewood Hotels & Resorts received the Most Admired Hotel Group Award, while several of its properties landed high in the ranking.
Besides Hong Kong at No. 1:
Rosewood São Paulo ranked No. 6, Hôtel de Crillon in Paris reached No. 14 and Las Ventanas al Paraíso placed No. 25.
Rosewood São Paulo was also named Best Hotel in South America.
That performance suggests Rosewood’s Hong Kong win is not an isolated success but part of a broader rise by the luxury-hotel group.
But what does “world’s best hotel” actually mean?
This distinction matters.
The ranking does not use a fixed checklist of room size, Michelin stars, prices, customer ratings or inspection scores.
Instead, The World’s 50 Best Hotels is determined by anonymous voting from an academy of more than 800 hospitality experts, including experienced travelers, hoteliers, educators and journalists from different regions.
The academy is organized through regional chairs, with the voting body designed to maintain geographic diversity and gender balance.
Deloitte independently adjudicates aspects of the voting process.
So Rosewood Hong Kong’s title should be understood as No. 1 in this particular global industry ranking, not an objectively measurable declaration that every traveler would consider it superior to every other hotel.
Luxury, after all, remains intensely subjective.
For some travelers it means a historic palace.
For others it is privacy, design, food, service, views or access to a city.
What makes Rosewood’s achievement unusual is that hundreds of industry voters have now put it at the top two years running.
The bigger story is Asia’s luxury-hospitality strength
Rosewood Hong Kong’s repeat win looks even more significant when viewed alongside Bangkok’s rapid rise.
The luxury-hotel hierarchy is becoming increasingly competitive.
Traditional European properties remain powerful.
Dubai continues climbing.
Japan keeps adding highly ranked hotels.
But Hong Kong and Bangkok are now occupying a disproportionate share of the ranking’s most visible positions.
And that creates a much bigger question than whether Rosewood Hong Kong can celebrate another trophy.
It is whether the global center of gravity for ultra-luxury hospitality is continuing to shift toward Asia.
Rosewood has held the crown for another year.
Keeping it in 2027 may be considerably harder.
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