Eight hotels and two spas in Taiwan were among this year’s Forbes Travel Guide Star Award winners, including the Mandarin Oriental Taipei (文華東方酒店), the only resort in the country to receive a five-star rating.
Forbes Travel Guide on Tuesday published online a list of the winners, with 1,830 hotels, restaurants and spas worldwide given five stars, four stars or a “recommended” rating.
The guide’s inspectors stayed at candidate accommodations for three days and two nights, posing as ordinary guests, to assess up to 900 objective criteria such as decor quality and staff courtesy, it said on its Web site.
Photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Taipei
Mandarin Oriental Taipei general manager Karan Berry said he is honored that his establishment received five stars for the sixth consecutive year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the global tourism industry hard over the past two years, but Mandarin Oriental Taipei has stayed true to its values, providing customers with exquisite services without compromising on quality, Berry said.
Forbes Travel Guide’s five-star ratings are awarded only to “outstanding, often iconic properties with virtually flawless service and amazing facilities,” the Web site said.
Worldwide, 323 hotels received the rating this year.
Four hotels in Taiwan — the Regent Taipei (台北晶華酒店), Taipei Marriott Hotel (台北萬豪酒店), W Taipei and Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel Taipei (台北遠東國際大飯店) — received four-star ratings, which indicates that they are “exceptional properties, offering high levels of service and quality of facility to match,” the Web site says.
They were among 558 hotels worldwide to receive a four-star rating this year, Forbes Travel Guide said.
Grand Hyatt Taipei (台北君悅大飯店) and Humble House Taipei (寒舍艾麗) were rated “recommended,” which overall was given to 401 “excellent properties with consistently good service and facilities,” it said.
Although no restaurants in Taiwan made the list, The Spa at the Mandarin Oriental Taipei and the Wellspring Spa at Regent Taipei received four-star ratings.
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