Two Hotels In South Africa Make The Cut In The World’s Top 50 for 2024!

Singita Kruger National Park and Mount Nelson in Cape Town have once again been recognized on the global stage, securing the 44th position on the list of the world’s top 50 hotels for 2024.

This ranking comes as the founders of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and Bars pivot towards exceptional accommodations for the second consecutive year, with the Capella Bangkok earning the coveted title of the world’s best hotel.

The Best Hotel On Earth

For the second year running, the organizers of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and World’s 50 Best Bars lists have expanded their focus to the world’s most exceptional hotels, and this year, the Capella Bangkok has taken the top spot as the best hotel in the world.

The title of World’s Best, however is a subjective one, rather than a scientific determination. To arrive at its results, the World’s 50 Best team asks its 600 anonymous jurors to rank the seven best hotels they’ve stayed in over the last 18 months.

The system inherently prioritizes easily accessible locations, major cities, and well-promoted new hotels, as there are no regulations preventing jurors from accepting complimentary stays. This enables establishments with substantial marketing budgets to attract numerous influencers and media personnel on familiarization trips, thereby generating a large pool of potential voters. (Bloomberg, however, does not accept such invitations.) – OR SO THEY SAY….

In comparison, while the most well-traveled voters may have set foot in the Eiffel Tower’s gift shop, it’s safe to say that few have hugged a zebra on safari or tangoed with a penguin in Patagonia recently. This leaves a tiny fraction of voters who can confidently cast their ballots for those hidden gems off the tourist maps.

In theory, a global panel of jurors should help, but none are required to cast even a single vote for hotels in their home regions.

That in some ways explains the results. Much of the list was familiar from last year’s edition, proving that influential travel pros feel the need to see the highest-ranked places they have not yet visited, creating a sort of echo chamber of positive opinion.

That made the biggest surprises the most far-flung resorts, like Kokomo Private Island, in Fiji (No. 50); Suján Jawai, in Rajasthan, India (No. 43); and Six Senses Zighy Bay, in Oman (No. 45).

The geographic distribution was also similarly unchanged. If last year sub-Saharan Africa and South America were represented with one measly entry apiece, the 2024 list did only marginally better, with only two hotels in sub-Saharan Africa ranking (Singita Kruger National Park and Mount Nelson, a Belmond Hotel) and one in South America (the Rosewood São Paulo).

This year, the centre of gravity remained firmly in Asia, where the weak yen has driven interest in Japan and the upcoming season of The White Lotus has helped extend a travel boom in Thailand (the two countries claimed a total of seven hotels on the list, with Asia now claiming even more hotels than it did last year).

Retaining Top Rankings

The life of a hotel owner is a stressful one – especially when they’re trying to stay ahead of the competition. It’s like a never-ending game of hotel roulette, where one wrong move could send them plummeting down the rankings. And to make matters worse, those big brand hotels are like the greedy giants, always muscling in on the independents’ space.

Still, the knock-on effects can’t be underestimated, especially in cities like Cape Town where consumers may have a hard time choosing between a wealth of five-star options.

For consumers the list may be little more than a confirmation of their existing hotel bucket list. If the original goals of the World’s 50 Best list, according to its executives, were to spark discovery and media buzz, this year’s list cements the fact that the latter far outweighs the former.

The World’s 50 Best hotels in full:

1. Capella Bangkok (The Best Hotel in Asia)
2. Passalacqua, Lake Como, Italy (Best Boutique Hotel Award)
3. Rosewood Hong Kong
4. Cheval Blanc Paris
5. The Upper House, Hong Kong
6. Raffles Singapore
7. Aman Tokyo
8. Soneva Fushi, Maldives (Lost Explorer Best Beach Hotel Award)
9. Atlantis the Royal, Dubai (Highest Climber Award)
10. Nihi Sumba
11. Claridge’s, London
12. Mandarin Oriental Bangkok
13. Raffles London at the OWO, London (Highest New Entry Award)
14. Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River
15. Hôtel de Crillon, Paris
16. Chablé Yucatan, Chocolá, Mexico (The Best Hotel in North America)
17. Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Antibes, France
18. Belmond Maroma, Riviera Maya, Mexico (Flor de Caña Eco Hotel Award)
19. Four Seasons Firenze, Florence
20. Borgo Santandrea, Amalfi Coast, Italy
21. Desa Potato Head, Bali
22. Bulgari Tokyo (Nikka Best New Hotel Award)
23. The Lana, Dubai
24. Rosewood São Paulo (The Best Hotel in South America)
25. The Calile, Brisbane (The Best Hotel in Oceania)
26. The Siam, Bangkok
27. Park Hyatt Kyoto
28. Mount Nelson, Cape Town (The Best Hotel in Africa)
29. One & Only Mandarina, Riviera Nayarit, Mexico
30. The Carlyle, New York City
31. La Mamounia, Marrakech, Morocco
32. Four Seasons Madrid
33. Capella Singapore
34. Four Seasons at the Surf Club, Miami
35. Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles
36. Eden Rock, St. Barths
37. Aman New York
38. Royal Mansour, Marrakech, Morocco (No. 3 Gin Art of Hospitality Award)
39. Amangalla, Sri Lanka
40. Le Bristol, Paris
41. Gleneagles, Scotland
42. Castello di Reschio, Umbria, Italy
43. Suján Jawai, Rajasthan, India
44. Singita Kruger National Park, South Africa
45. Six Senses Zighy Bay, Oman
46. The Connaught, London
47. The Brando, Tetiaroa, French Polynesia
48. Hotel Esencia, Tulum, Mexico
49. The Tasman, Hobart, Australia
50. Kokomo Private Island, Fiji