Press Release: Travel + Leisure
May 25, 2000
NEW YORK, NY -- The results of Travel + Leisure’s fourth annual World’s Best Service survey are revealed in the
June Special Hotels Issue, on newsstands June 6th. Travel + Leisure readers rated their favorite hotels around
the world according to service.
This year brings some interesting findings. Half of the Top 10 hotels with best service overall are in Asia—three
in the top five. Number one, The Peninsula, Hong Kong, wasn’t even in last year’s Top 10! The overall list also
includes a relatively young property in the Caribbean, the Ritz-Carlton, San Juan Hotel in Puerto Rico. Though
last year it didn’t make the World’s Best Service list at all, it now finds itself in the company of older classics
such as Italy’s Villa d’Este and the U.S. winner, the Greenbrier. In the breakdowns by region, there were only
two repeat winners from last year: Ritz-Carlton, Sydney and Ritz-Carlton Kapalua in Maui. Together, Four Seasons
and Ritz-Carlton hotels account for one-fourth of the properties on the entire list.
Editor in Chief Nancy Novogrod says, “Great service can make the difference between an acceptable experience and
a transcendent one—it can affect your entire trip. Whether it’s the standard policy at a well-run hotel or the
kindness of an individual staff member, service that exceeds expectations always makes a wonderful and lasting
impression.”
| 1 | The Peninsula, Hong Kong | 94.0 |
| 2 | The Oriental, Bangkok | 93.2 |
| 3 | Ritz-Carlton, San Juan Hotel, Spa Casino, Puerto Rico | 91.4 |
| 4 | Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong | 91.3 |
| 5 | Villa D'Este, Cernobbio, Italy | 91.2 |
| 6 | Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, Maui | 91.0 |
| 7 | Four Season Hotel, Singapore | 90.4 |
| 8 | Amandari, Bali (tie | 89.9 |
| 8 | Four Season Resort Hualalai, Hawaii | 89.9 |
| 10 | The Greenbrier, White Suplhur Springs, West Virginia | 88.8 |
| 1 | The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia | 89.8 |
| 2 | Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas | 89.5 |
| 3 | Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, California | 88.3 |
| 4 | Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, Atlanta | 86.3 |
| 5 | Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles (tie) | 86.2 |
| 5 | Inn at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach, California | 86.2 |
| 7 | Four Seasons Olympic, Seattle (tie) | 86.0 |
| 7 | The Phoenician, Scottsdale, Arizona | 86.0 |
| 7 | Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco | 86.0 |
| 10 | The Pierre, A Four Season Hotel, New York | 85.8 |
| 1 | Villa d’Este, Cernobbio, Italy | 91.2 |
| 2 | Hotel Plaza Athenee, Paris | 89.5 |
| 3 | Hotel Cipriani Palazzo Vendramin, Venice | 89.4 |
| 4 | Le Sirenuse, Positano, Italy | 89.2 |
| 5 | Hotel Ritz, Paris | 89.0 |
| 6 | Hotel de Crillon, Paris | 88.9 |
| 7 | Four Seasons Hotel, Milan | 88.3 |
| 8 | Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France | 87.0 |
| 9 | Hotel Villa San Michele, Fiesole, Italy | 86.7 |
| 10 | The Connaught, London | 86.0 |
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HAWAII CARIBBEAN, BERMUDA, and the BAHAMAS ASIA AFRICA and the MIDDLE EAST MEXICO, CENTRAL and SOUTH AMERICA AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, and the SOUTH PACIFIC |