Phillip Isakpa

Apart from Lake Como in Italy and Paris in France, the world’s top ten hotels in 2024 are located outside the usual suspect cities of Europe and North America, a list of the world’s best 50 hotels released recently has shown.

Passalacqua in Lake Como, Italy, occupying second position, and Cheval Blanc in Paris, France, occupying fourth position, are the two Europe based hotels that broke into the glorious and luxurious list of the global 10 best hotels as featured in the annual William Reed the ‘World’s 50 Best Hotels in 2024’.

Details revealed by the top ten list include Asian dominance of the luxury hotel segment.

It notes that the ranking which are based on the answers of anonymous voters from across the world, including travel journalists, hoteliers, and seasoned luxury travellers, showed eight out of ten best hotels in the world in 2024 are in Asia, with Capella Bangkok, located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, as the first name on the list.

Besides being the home country to most luxury hotels, Asia also has the fastest-growing hotel industry, outgrowing even the global market. According to a Statista insights survey, the region`s hotel sector will grow by 21 percent and hit over $182 billion value by 2029. The North American and European markets will increase by 20 percent and 15 percent in this period, generating $151 billion and $131 billion in revenue, respectively.

A report by Stocklytics made available to Business a.m., showed that eight out of the ten best hotels are in Asia with North America, especially the United States and Canada, having not a single hotel in that bracket.

The top-performing US hotel is The Carlyle, located on New York’s Upper East Side, ranked 30th on the top 50 list.

The release of the data comes amidst information that the global hotel industry is expected to gross $426 billion this year, with more than a third of that value coming from Asia.

The Asia region, expected to top in revenues, is also the location of some of the most luxurious hotels in the world, outperforming those in the United States and Europe by a large margin.

According to the Stocklytics report, for years, Asia has been the single largest player in the global hotel industry in terms of revenue and the number of users, and there are many reasons for that.

It noted that a growing middle class, with increased disposable income, has been fueling both domestic and international tourism, while destinations like Thailand, Bali, and Japan continue to attract millions of visitors each year. Medical and wellness tourism is also thriving, particularly in Thailand and India. At the same time, business hubs in cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo drive demand for business hotels and MICE tourism, it stated.

The report noted that in response to the influx of tourists, Asia had been investing heavily in new hotels, both for luxury travellers seeking high-end experiences and budget travellers looking for affordable accommodation, adding that many of these in the first category are among the best hotels in the world.

Using the World’s 50 Best Hotels list, it noted that Asia convincingly dominates this year`s edition, with 19 hotels appearing in total, four of which are in Thailand’s Bangkok. In comparison, Europe has 13 listed hotels in France, the United Kingdom, and Italy, while North America has only nine properties featured.

The World’s Best Hotels in 2024

Highest-ranked hotels featured on William Reed`s Best 50 annual list:

1. Capella Bangkok, Bangkok

2. Pasalacqua, Lake Como

3. Rosewood Hong Kong, Hong Kong

4. Cheval Blanc, Paris

5. The Upper House, Hong Kong

6. Raffles Singapore, Singapore

7. Aman Tokyo, Tokyo

8.Soneva Fushi, Maldives

9. Atlantis The Royal, Dubai

10. Nihi Sumba, Sumba Island

Asian hotels to gross $850bn in next 5 years

With luxury and budget hotels in Asia counting more visitors than ever, the region`s hotel revenue will explode in the following years. According to Statista, the Asian hotel industry is expected to gross almost $850 billion in the next five years, $150 billion more than hotels in North America and $220 more than those in Europe.

Also, the number of people visiting Asian hotels each year will jump by 70 percent in this period, rising from 560 million to 950 million, making nearly half of all hotel visitors worldwide.