Macau and Hong Kong Fare Well in Travel Awards

Photo: Conrad Macao features among Forbes Travel Guide 2015 Star Award Winners

The 57th list of worldwide winners of the prestigious Forbes Travel Guide 2015 Star Award Winners has just been released. With the addition of a handful of new countries they have expanded to this year, the list features 115 five-star hotels, 55 five-star restaurants and 48 five-star spas.

Of the 16 countries that Forbes includes, Macau and Hong Kong fared pretty well,

with Macau boasting 23 five-star establishments, which is the most of any destination in the world.

In Hong Kong, the following hotels received five stars: Four Seasons Hotel; InterContinental Hong Kong (read our review here); Island Shangri-La; Mandarin Oriental; The Landmark Mandarin Oriental; The Langham; The Peninsula; and The Ritz Carlton.The five-star restaurants in Hong Kong are: Amber in the Landmark Mandarin Oriental; Caprice and Lung King Heen in the Four Seasons; Mandarin Grill + Bar along with Pierre and the Krug Room in the Mandarin Oriental; and Spoon by Alain Ducasse in the InterContinental. The five-star spas are: The Mandarin Spa in the Mandarin Oriental; The Oriental Spa in The Landmark Mandarin Oriental; The Peninsula Spa by ESPA; The Ritz-Carlton Spa by ESPA; and The Spa at Four Seasons.

Here in Macau, there were also eight hotels that received the five-star distinction, which is quite impressive considering Macau is a mere fraction of Hong Kong’s size. The five-star hotels are: Altira; Banyan Tree; Conrad; Crown Towers; Encore at Wynn (read our review here); Four Seasons; Mandarin Oriental; and Wynn Macau (read our review here). Macau actually tops Hong Kong when it comes to five-star restaurants, with these nine receiving the top honor: Aurora and Tenmasa, both in Altira; Belon in the Banyan Tree; Golden Flower in Encore at the Wynn; Michelin-starred restaurant Wing Lei (read our review here) and Il Teatro (read our review here) in the Wynn; Jade Dragon and The Tasting Room (which also have Michelin stars) in Crown Towers; and Vida Rica in the Mandarin Oriental. Five-star spas in Macau include two of our favorites, The Spa at Encore and The Spa at Wynn (read the reviews here and here) as well as these four other spas: Altira Spa; Banyan Tree Spa; The Spa at Crown; and The Spa at Mandarin Oriental.

With over half a dozen new hotels scheduled to open in the next couple of years, including The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott and St. Regis, we have a feeling that Macau will continue to be at the top of that list for quite some time.

For a full list of the Forbes five- and four-star ratings see here.

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