Amex’s addition of Leading Hotels of the World as a transfer partner has me daydreaming once again about booking incredible hotels with points. That led me to realize that it’s been two years since I last examined a “best hotels in the world” list to see which ones could be booked with points (see my 2024 post here). To me, it’s exciting to see how points can take us to some of the most aspirational places in the world. In this post, I’ve identified a subset of the top 50 hotels in the world that can be booked with points at a good value.
The World’s 50 “Best” Hotels
No “best of” list can possibly be right. There’s simply no way to fairly compare. You can try using traveler review scores, but those are frequently manipulated by the hotel and always biased by each reviewer’s unique perspective and circumstances. You can ask experts, but do you know anyone who has visited all possible candidate hotels? No. It’s not possible. If it were somehow possible to send one unbiased person to all possible hotels, it still wouldn’t be fair. Unique circumstances can easily make the difference between a stay being great or poor. Things happen: power outages, union strikes, heat waves, crime, crowds, parties, political upheaval, personnel problems. There are countless situations that are beyond a hotel’s control that can profoundly affect a stay for better or worse.
Even though these lists are inaccurate, they’re better than nothing. They identify hotels that many people want to go to (even if only because those hotels appeared on those lists). So, I think that finding which of these can be booked with points is worthwhile. I used to use Travel & Leisure’s annual rankings, but those are based on reader surveys. I don’t like using reader surveys because it becomes a popularity contest rather than an indicator of quality. Plus, hotels often try to manipulate those surveys by encouraging guests to vote for them. So, instead, I turned to “The World’s 50 Best Hotels,” which has an expert voting system that sounds like a much better way of doing things (read about this here). For this post, I used their list of The World’s 50 Best Hotels.
Outsized points value only
Most hotel points offer the possibility of getting outsized value. For example, Marriott Bonvoy points are worth, on average, about 3/4th of a cent each (details here). That said, it’s not unusual to get over 1 cent per point value at some hotels. That’s an example of getting outsized value. I included all hotel points in this analysis, but not fixed value rewards like GHA Discovery Dollars, since there’s no way to get outsized value from them.
With bank points and other transferable points, I looked for opportunities to get more than 1.5 cents per point value when booking with points. This meant, specifically, that I looked at hotels that were bookable through Chase’s The Edit where Sapphire Reserve cardholders get Points Boosts that make their points worth 1.65, 2.0, and sometimes even 2.5 cents per point towards these hotels.
Surprising findings
After investigating all 50 hotels, the biggest surprise is how many points programs were missing. But first, let me detail what I found:
- Chase’s The Edit: 31 of the top 50 hotels can be booked through this program. Sapphire Reserve cardholders will get at least 1.65 cents per point value booking this way (except when Chase overprices those properties, which does sometimes happen).
- Leading Hotels of the World: 8 of the top 50 hotels can be booked with Leaders Club points.
- Marriott Bonvoy: 4 of the top 50 hotels can be booked with Bonvoy points.
- Accor ALL: 2 of the top 50 hotels can be booked with Accor ALL points.
- World of Hyatt: 2 of the top 50 hotels are Mr & Mrs Smith properties that can be booked with Hyatt points.
Now, back to the missing point programs:
- Hilton & SLH: In my 2024 post, two of the top hotels in that list were bookable with Hilton points. This time, there weren’t any Hilton or SLH hotels in the list. For the record, here are the hotels that were in the 2024 list:
- #9 Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi (South Malé Atoll)
- #40 Flemings Mayfair SLH (London, UK)
- Points Bookable Preferred Hotels: Many Preferred Hotels can be booked with either Choice Privileges points or I Prefer points. The few Preferred Hotels in this list, though, weren’t bookable with either points. Last time there was one in the top 50 and 2 more in the top 100 that were bookable with Choice points:
- #36 The Leela Palace Bengaluru (Bangalore, India)
- #62 The Leela Palace New Delhi (India)
- #65 The Leela Palace Udaipur (India)
- Hyatt: In the current list, there were a couple Mr & Mrs Smith properties bookable with Hyatt points, but there were no true Hyatt properties. In 2024, there were two in the top 50 and 3 more in the top 100:
- #4 Park Hyatt Siem Reap (Cambodia)
- #40 Hyatt Regency Koh Samui (Thailand)
- #75 Alila Hinu Bay (Salalah, Oman)
- #81 The Standard, Hua Hin (Thailand)
- #97 Alila Villas Uluwatu (Indonesia)
- IHG: There weren’t any IHG hotels in the current list. In 2024, four IHG hotels made the top 50:
- #7 Regent Hong Kong
- #15 Six Senses Fort Barwara (Rajasthan)
- #40 Regent Beijing
- #46 Hotel Indigo Bali Seminyak Beach (Bali)
There are great hotels available through each of the programs listed above. The fact that those hotels didn’t make this particular Top 50 list is nothing more than an interesting accident of misfortune for those programs.
Note too that I didn’t look to see which hotels are available through programs like Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts® (FHR) because there is no way to get outsized value with your points when booking these. I expect, though, that most of the hotels in the list are available through FHR and it’s worth considering booking through that program if you have an Amex Platinum card that offers a $300 rebate every six months.
The Edit by Chase Travel℠: 31 Hotels
31 of the top 50 hotels can be booked through The Edit by Chase Travel℠. At this time, this means getting at either 1.65, 2.0, or 2.5 cents per point value. The exact “Points Boost” available to any given hotel can vary over time, or can depend upon whether you have a consumer or business card. At the time of this writing, though, I looked up each of the hotels with my consumer Sapphire Reserve card and found the following Points Boosts:
- 14 Hotels: 1.65
- 12 Hotels: 2.0
- 1 Hotel (Hôtel du Couvent): 2.5
- 4 Hotels: I couldn’t easily find availability so I don’t know the Points Boost value
If the above ratio holds going forward, I think you can expect to find 2.0 cents per point value, or better, about half the time. That said, hotels booked through The Edit are sometimes far overpriced and so your true point value, compared to booking through other channels, may be significantly less.
Here are the hotels in the top 50 list that are bookable through Chase’s The Edit:
#2) Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River, Bangkok, Thailand
#3) Capella Bangkok, Thailand
#4) Passalacqua, Lake Como, Italy
#5) Raffles Singapore
#6) Atlantis The Royal, Dubai, UAE
#8) Chablé Yucatán, Chocholá, Mexico
#9) Four Seasons Firenze, Florence, Italy
#10) Upper House Hong Kong
#11) Copacabana Palace, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
#13) Royal Mansour, Marrakech, Morocco
#15) Bulgari Tokyo, Japan
#16) Claridge’s, London, UK
#19) Le Bristol, Paris, France
#20) Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, Dubai, UAE
#21) Cheval Blanc Paris, Paris, France
#22) Bulgari Roma, Rome, Italy
#27) Hôtel du Couvent, Nice, France
#29) The Connaught, London, UK
#31) Raffles London at The OWO, London, UK
#32) The Emory, London, UK
#33) Maroma, Riviera Maya, Mexico
#35) The Lana, Dubai, UAE
#36) Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, Monaco
#38) The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, India
#39) One&Only Mandarina, Riviera Nayarit, Mexico
#42) Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles, USA
#43) The Mark, New York, USA
#45) The Tokyo EDITION, Toranomon, Tokyo, Japan
#47) Estelle Manor, Witney, UK
#49) Hotel Sacher Vienna, Austria
#50) Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Bali, Indonesia
Leading Hotels of the World: 8 Hotels
Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) properties can be booked with LHW’s Leaders Club points, usually for a value of 8 cents per point. Amex Membership Rewards points transfer 4-to-1 to Leaders Club, which gives a usual value of 2 cents per Amex point. Similarly, Citi ThankYou Rewards points transfer 5-to-1 to Leaders Club, which gives a usual value of 1.6 cents per Citi point.
Here are the hotels in the Top 50 list that are bookable with Leaders Club points.
- #3) Capella Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand
- #8) Chablé Yucatán, Chocholá, Mexico
- #13) Royal Mansour, Marrakech, Morocco
- #26) Hotel Il Pellicano, Porto Ercole, Italy
- #30) La Mamounia, Marrakech, Morocco
- #36) Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, Monaco
- #48) Grand Park Hotel Rovinj, Rovinj, Croatia
- #49) Hotel Sacher Vienna, Austria
See also:
- Family-friendly Leading Hotels of the World
- Sampling Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) thanks to Citi ThankYou Rewards
- How to book Leading Hotels of the World with points (Video)
Marriott Bonvoy: 4 Hotels
Here are the hotels in the Top 50 list that are bookable with Marriott Bonvoy points:
- #27) Hôtel du Couvent, Nice, France
- #45) The Tokyo EDITION, Toranomon, Tokyo, Japan
- #46) HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO, Japan
- #50) Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Bali, Indonesia
Accor ALL: 2 Hotels
Here are the hotels in the Top 50 list that are bookable with Accor ALL points:
- #5) Raffles Singapore
- #31) Raffles London at The OWO, London, UK
World of Hyatt / Mr & Mrs Smith: 2 Hotels
Below are the Mr. & Mrs Smith hotels in the Top 50 list that are bookable with Hyatt points. Note that Hyatt points usually deliver poor value towards Mr. & Mrs. Smith hotels, but it is sometimes possible to get as high as 1.6 cents per point value.
- #8) Chablé Yucatán, Chocholá, Mexico
- #47) Estelle Manor, Witney, UK
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If this were anyone other than FM, I’d suspect this of being clickbait. This top 100 list seems just cooked up, not even close to being objective.
Also: it’s true you can’t use amex points very well to do an all-points booking, but is that the question? The point is the FHR credits, no? Some people might combine points and FHR, i.e., you knock $300 off the a $550 price, then you can book it for 25k if you choose to use points. It might not be the best use of points, but if you’re going to say how many were on the Edit, you should say how many on FHR.
Btw out of curiosity, I asked Claude – Claude had trouble scraping the FHR list but thinks 90-97 of the hotels on the list are bookable by FHR. I glanced at a couple locations and they did seem largely FHR-bookable but that was just a random quick impression.
Anyone notice the blind spot?
These best of lists are useful to review. You might find one of interest to dig deeper into. However, I find these are often other people’s idea of luxury or Instagram Envy. A cheeseburger in Paradise works for me. I find crafting a AI query of what I am looking for can find a diamond in the ruff but be sure to followup researching whatever AI recommends.
#8 Is bookable both through Hyatt Mr. And Mrs. Smith and LHW. That’s very interesting
I will say that this list somewhat reminds me of the USA Today ranking that ranked Chaumette Winery in Ste. Genevieve, MO as the “best winery restaurant” in the USA in 2022. Having eaten at a number of “winery restaurants” including Chaumette, there is no way that ranking was correct. This list seems to be the same. A lot of these selections simply don’t make sense to be the best in the world.
Like SkyTrax ratings, these ratings are likely pay-to-play. FM ought to crowd-source its own list. Have readers select the top X in various cities. That would seem to be more relevant. And, have it as a resource as opposed to just an article.
“You have said the actual truth”
Love this article!
@Greg thanks great post – you obviously invested a lot of time crafting and gathering data for this post.
Looking at the properties on 2024/2026 (Top 100) definitely a very personal POV – only a hand full from both years make my bucketlist- visted a few and head scratchers of why they make the list.
The 2024 list the St. Regis Bora Bora – but after reading Nick’s 2025 Tahiti trip report we’ve pivoted and now staying at Conrad/Westin BOB instead.
I didn’t read the link to who/how they determined the list.
I think the FM team – after years of reading blog post’s and thru that getting to know and understand likes/dislikes/values and methodology behind each team members calcus is a far better yardstick of hotel reviews.
I think the T&L list rankings lead to disappointing stays from unrealistic expectations based on rank especially if one paid cash.
Similar thing with 101 Worlds best Steakhouses – I’ve ticked off several high ranking ones – thanks to Amex Resy/CSR dining/InKind credits/FHR $100~$150 property credits.
I think same can be said for some of the aspirational Int’l F/J cabins and F/J Lounges – they all can have exceptional or awful service/experiences.
Thankfully pretty much a vast majority of our experiences excellent and mediocre have been relatively inexpensive due to points or “coupon”.
It is a strange list (it actually goes to 100 hotels). I tried to research it when I was staying at The Tasman in Hobart and the hotel advertised that was on the Top 100 list. I asked at the hotel and no one had a clue how the ratings worked (they said some people came to the hotel and left and the next thing they knew they were on the list). The Tasman is a decent Marriott but can’t understand how they made the list. Similarly, I stayed at the Park Hyatt Siem Reap, which was fine but 4th best hotel in the world and best hotel in Asia—truly hard to believe.
Yeah, specifically #4 for that PH in Cambodia feels waaaay off. I mean, better value (even after the recent devaluations) to burn Hyatt points there instead of paying thousands of dollars in cash for Amansara, but, still… #4 in the World? Psh. C’mon.
Relooked at my pictures. The Tasman was actually in the top 50 in 2024. Tasmania is fantastic. The hotel’s rooms are very nice but the hotel itself is just slightly better than your basic Marriott. Not Ritz or St. Regis. Not even Marriott Marquis. Less than $300 a night. Enjoyed my stay, but they were as confused as I was about how they were listed as one of the top 50 hotels in the world.
Surprised to see Hotel Du Couvent in the top 50 list. I just stayed at this property last week (Wasnt expecting Nice summer to be this hot). Good redemption value for Chase point boost, but the property is super overrated IMO. Historic property but the facilities in the room and rest of the property are super basic in the name/excuse of keeping the monastic feel. It is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea.
Also worth noting, I’m having issues with Marriott recognizing the spend for this property correctly and I dont know if it is related to the point boost feature. I have opened an issue with Marriott.