Paris is still one of the world’s top choices for a luxury getaway. It swept the board in the Forbes Travel Guide Star Awards 2016, gaining the most new five-star ratings for its hotels.
That’s an honor reserved for “outstanding, often iconic properties with virtually flawless service and amazing facilities.”
Forbes sends its undercover inspectors to check out hotels, restaurants and spas around the world. Some 156 hotels have a five-star rating, with 42 new additions this year. A total of nine luxury stays in the capital of France made the cut, including the Belle Epoque-era Peninsula Paris and the Plaza Athenee, which reopened in 2014 after a multimillion-dollar refurbishment.
Paris now ties with Macau, China, which also has nine hotels with five-star ratings, but only one new addition in 2016: the 35-story casino resort MGM Macau.
New York and London had one addition each – the Park Hyatt New York and London’s Goring Hotel, where Kate Middleton stayed the night before she married Prince William and became the Duchess of Cambridge.
Take a look through the gallery above to see some of this year’s new entries.
Hotels with a new five-star rating in 2016
Belmond Maroma Resort & Spa (Playa del Carmen, Mexico)
Coworth Park (London)
Dorado Beach, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve (Dorado, Puerto Rico)
Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa (Manalapan, Florida)
Esperanza, An Auberge Resort (Cabo San Lucas, Mexico)
Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues Geneva (Switzerland)
Four Seasons Hotel Firenze (Florence)
Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris (Paris)
Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake (Hangzhou, China)
Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler (British Columbia, Canada)
Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo (Guanacaste, Costa Rica)
The Goring (London)
Hotel de Russie (Rome)
Hotel Eden (Rome)
Hotel Hassler Roma (Rome)
Hotel Plaza Athenee Paris (Paris)
Hotel Savoy (Florence)
J.K. Place Roma (Rome)
La Reserve Paris (Paris)
The Langham, Chicago (Chicago)
Las Ventanas al Paraíso, A Rosewood Resort (San Jose del Cabo, Mexico)
Le Bristol Paris (Paris)
Le Meurice, Dorchester Collection (Paris)
Le Royal Monceau — Raffles Paris (Paris)
Mandarin Oriental, Guangzhou (Guangzhou, China)
Mandarin Oriental, Milan (Milan)
Mandarin Oriental, Paris (Paris)
MGM Macau (Macau, China)
Montage Deer Valley (Park City, Utah)
Montage Kapalua Bay (Lahaina, Hawaii)
Palace Hotel Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan)
Park Hyatt New York (New York)
The Peninsula Bangkok (Bangkok)
The Peninsula Paris (Paris)
The Peninsula Tokyo (Tokyo)
Portrait Firenze (Florence)
The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong (Shanghai)
The Ritz-Carlton, Cancun (Cancun, Mexico)
The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto (Toronto, Canada)
Sandy Lane Hotel (St. James, Barbados)
Shangri-La Hotel, Paris (Paris)
Wequassett Resort and Golf Club (Chatham, Massachusetts)