The World’s 50 Best Hotels returns to the city of London for an exciting third edition with a supercharged event programme that will include an extended 51-100 ranking for the first time as well as a brand-new special award and an expanded voting Academy. Here’s what you need to know about this year’s event.
Historic surrounds, a world-leading gastronomy scene and some of the most lauded hotels on the planet await at this year’s home of The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025: London.
Back for its third year, the renowned ranking will celebrate the finest stays across the world and gather a global community of leading hoteliers together in person for a multi-day event programme that will culminate in the sector’s most highly anticipated annual awards ceremony. Held on Thursday 30 October, this year’s ceremony takes place at London’s iconic Old Billingsgate on the banks of the River Thames.
By highlighting outstanding global hotel experiences, this year’s events and list will once again shape the aspirations of consumers, travellers and hoteliers alike, as well as spark conversation on the most pressing topics of today’s travel sector with the return of #50BestTalks: Unpacked, 50 Best’s hotel-focused thought-leadership programme. With an expanded roster for 2025, icons and pioneers of the hospitality world will take to the stage to share their wisdom and insight through an action-packed series of seminars and panel discussions.
Celebrating even more exceptional establishments
New for 2025, The World’s 50 Best Hotels will recognise more venues than ever before with the inaugural announcement of hotels ranked between 51st and 100th in the international ranking. This list will be revealed a few weeks before the live awards ceremony, shining the spotlight on even more destinations and even more hotels at the vanguard of the global hospitality scene.
The 2025 edition will introduce the extended 51-100 ranking and one new special award
In the spirit of celebrating even more talent, the list of special awards has also grown for 2025 with the addition of the Johnnie Walker Art of Design Award. This accolade celebrates how design in hotels goes beyond architecture to create a multi-sensorial experience for visitors, helping define the guest experience and often elevating the expected into the extraordinary.
Every hotel ranked on the 1-50 list and the inaugural extended 51-100 list will have the opportunity to be considered for the award. Every entrant will be judged on a set of design criteria including innovation, sensorial immersion, ecological longevity and all-encompassing aesthetics. Applications will be judged by a panel of hotel experts and senior 50 Best team members, with the overall winner being announced live at the awards ceremony.
The voting Academy
The list of The World’s 50 Best Hotels remains an egalitarian and transparent process for 2025, with any style of hotel in the world eligible to be ranked. To acknowledge the continued evolution of the global travel space, four new Academy Chairs have been appointed to recruit voters for The World’s 50 Best Hotels.
Four new Academy Chairs have been appointed as part of the expanded 2025 voting panel
Each Academy Chair has been selected as an expert on the travel scene in their region and is responsible for building a panel of diverse, gender-balanced voters from across their territory. To reflect the addition of four new Chairs and regions – which are: Africa; Latin America South; USA & Canada West; Central & Eastern Europe – this year’s list will be created by the votes of more than 800 anonymous experts from across the world.
There are no set criteria for voting – each panellist is simply asked to name their seven best stays from the previous two years in order of preference. There is no ‘pay to play’ element, and hotels cannot apply to be featured on the list. Read more about the voting process and discover more about the new Academy Chairs here.
Miss last year’s ceremony? Watch the highlights here:
The list of The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025 will be revealed at a live awards ceremony in London on 30 October. Bookmark the 50 Best Hotels website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube for the latest content on the best hotels in the world.
