🗝️ The Upgrade | Weekly by Anne Marie Brown
26. The Price of Prestige
Travelers -
Ciao from Rome! I’m in the “eternal city” for a couple of nights before heading to Umbria to lead an annual poetry and yoga retreat with poet Christi Steyn. Fun fact - the city’s nickname goes back to ancient Roman writers, with the poet Tibullus using it in the first century BC. The idea was that the city would outlast empires and time itself.
Co-leading this retreat is one of the great joys of my job, because it unites my two passions - travel planning and writing. Last year, we stayed at an estate in Ireland. The year prior, we went to Greece. This year, it’s La Dolce Vita in Italy!
It’s been years since I’ve been to Rome, and this time around, I spent a night at the relatively new Six Senses property. If you know anything about my maximalist nature and love for historical hotels, then you know a hotel with brand new construction and minimalist interiors is not usually my jam. However, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed my stay at the Six Senses. I’ve written up a short Room Report about my stay, including my new Hotel Scorecard, which will be an interactive feature of The Upgrade for you readers in coming weeks. I’m going to skip the Lobby Bar section this week as this is quite a long article as it stands already.
I’ve been working on this week’s article for a while, and hope I don’t tread on any industry publication’s toes (I’m looking at you, T+L), because I really do love reading Condé Nast and Travel + Leisure. The industry awards economic engine behind the Best Of awards lists is something that has caught my eye for years, so I wanted to write about it.
Ciao and happy travels,
Anne Marie
🗝️ Pre-Departure — Hospitality Hot Takes
The Price of Prestige: Inside the Business of Travel Awards
There has been much kerfuffle in the online discourse surrounding this year’s hospitality awards season. These “Best Of” lists spawn endless debate, hand wringing, and celebration from the travel industry and travelers alike.
For a few weeks if not a couple of months, these hospitality publications catapult themselves, and the hotels that either rise to or fall from grace within their glossy pages, into the center of discussion. As famed showman P.T. Barnum is rumored to have said, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” The discussion is the point.
Amidst the hand wringing, we ask ourselves, “Who are these awards for?” A comment on another Substack took a rosy view, noting that these awards provide hotels an opportunity to celebrate their teams.
While that is undoubtedly true, no business is altruistic, and these lists also generate ancillary revenue for the publications that issue them. I know you love an Upgrade rabbit hole, so here we go.
My thesis around these awards: different methods produce different winners, the 50 Best voting rules favor big city hotels with press budgets and don’t categorize their ranking by hotel type, and reader survey-based awards disproportionately favor hotels with large room counts. Finally, many of these publications tote the fact that their awards are not pay-for-play, they do serve as an economic engine driving licensing, award ceremony dinners/galas, and sponsorships.
Do awards drive purchasing decisions?
Some advisors say they have never seen a client request a hotel simply because it made a list, but I have, and after the 50 Best and Michelin Key lists came out this year, I received at least four emails asking for properties that appeared on them. Hotels post the accolades on Instagram, websites, and email signature lines, sending a parade of celebratory notes from sales directors through my inbox as a luxury travel advisor. With AI search pulling from what’s published online, Answer Engine Optimized (AEO) prestige from these awards matters more every year.
I truly don’t believe anything nefarious is going on behind the curtain, but I do think these awards have a trust problem that is becoming more glaring each year. Each of these lists carries structural pressures that shape what they say about taste and popularity.
Not Every Award Means the Same Thing
Each of these lists is compiled via different types of voting methods. Editors or inspectors choose some winners, readers choose others. Some programs require a paid application, others calculating winners from guest review scores. Unless you spend an unjustifiable amount of time and money on trade news, travel, and hotelresearch like I do, you probably haven’t examined the methodology behind each one.
Methodology 1) Reader surveys
Think of these awards as campaigning for hotel industry prom king and queen, where everything comes down to vote volume. Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast fall in this category.
The upside of reader survey awards is that readers vote without comped stays or press trips swaying the voting pool. The downside is that hotels with more guests collect more votes, so larger room counts and bigger marketing budgets can push past smaller boutique properties. While there are exceptions, (Passalacqua is tiny and has an extensive trophy case), plenty of much larger hotels dominate these lists.
This year more than 207,000 Travel + Leisure readers cast over 661,000 votes across 10,088 properties, which is an enormous undertaking. I do like that T+L sorts by category (resorts, city hotels, inns, safari lodges) and scores each on rooms, location, service, food, and value.¹ The 50 Best does not sort, and Sonja Stojcevski, who writes Hospitality Beyond the Deck, noted in my subscriber chat for The Upgrade that hospitality has grown too varied for one generic list to say much.² Different hotel categories have such distinct KPI’s (key performance indices) that ranking them against each other is like comparing apples to tacos.
Methodology 2) Pay for play
These awards aren’t pussy footing around, and state upfront that they are there to make money. Travel Weekly’s 2026 Magellan Awards charge suppliers $1,170 to $1,420 per entry, with a separate fee for each category and the seal included with the win.³ The awards honor design, marketing, and services, so a gold seal describes a campaign and the judges rarely, (perhaps never), evaluate a stay.⁴
Methodology 4) Review data
Tripadvisor picks Travellers’ Choice winners on the quality and quantity of reviews over 12 months, with no application required.⁵ The structural problem with review-data awards is that quantity is part of the formula, so the winners tend to be the hotels that can put the most guests through their doors and collect the most reviews from them. A 600-room resort generates far more reviews in 12 months than a 20-room lodge. Hotels train staff to ask for reviews, place QR codes in rooms, and email guests after checkout will outscore an equally well-run property with happy guests and no system for capturing their feedback. This gives me the ick.
The pool of reviewers becomes bifurcated, because you miss the middle. Reviews skews toward guests who are very happy or very unhappy, guests rate against what they paid, so a $250 hotel and a $2,500 hotel can both score a 4.8 on very different expectations. Additionally, a 12-month window punishes a hotel in a renovation or a slow season through no fault of its quality.
Methodology 5) Inspection
These are structured as secret (or not so secret) shopper awards, and include the Michelin Keys, 50 Best, and Forbes as examples in this category. Forbes Travel Guide says it requires no fee, business relationship, or commission from rated properties. However, in the same breath, Forbes sells the winners partnership programs, assessments, and consulting.⁶ Michelin openly accepts payment from tourism boards to help fund their restaurant guide, and in 2019 Visit California paid it $600,000 to expand inspector coverage for its restaurant guide, with both sides saying the money has no connection to who appears.⁷ ⁸
Michelin launched its Keys in 2023, and the guide now covers about 7,000 hotels in 120 countries, with roughly 35% holding one to three Keys and full-time anonymous inspectors paying their own way, review hotels on five published criteria.⁹ The question becomes whether those criteria are the same we, as travelers and not professional inspectors, would look for in a stay.
Bella Darden, who writes Mind Holiday, tested the system against her own stays and landed on transparency as her main issue. Since Michelin will not say how many nights a rating requires, how many inspectors visit, or how a Key is ultimately awarded, readers are asked to accept that a hotel has earned a Michelin Key based on little more than trust and fairy dust. She also cites an analysis that found three-Key hotels scored lower with guests on average than one-Key hotels, with only 12 of 39 hotels studied making the top 50 by guest satisfaction.¹⁰
The methods produce different winners: T+L readers named Patina Osaka, which opened in May 2025, the best hotel in the world for 2026, while the 50 Best ranks it No. 33, and only one hotel sits in both top 15s, Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, with Capella Bangkok at No. 2 on the 50 Best and No. 80 on T+L.¹¹ ¹²
The Same Hotels Keep Showing Up
Who takes the top five changes with the year and the voting method, but the same hotels keep appearing. I’m not sold on consistent excellence as the explanation. The writer behind The Ben Edit called much of the 50 Best top 20 “very generic luxury city hotels.”² Darden counts 36 of the 50 as city hotels and 40 as part of a multi-property group,¹⁰ and Rosewood Hong Kong, Four Seasons Bangkok, Capella Bangkok, Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, and The Upper House all ranked in the top eleven in 2023, 2025, and 2026.¹² ¹³ ¹⁴
My problem with the 50 Best list comes down to voter composition. The voters are not publicly listed, but Yolanda Edwards, a former Condé Nast creative director and an early North American Academy Chair for the 50 Best, has written in this article that each of 13 regions has a chair who recruits anonymous voters (writers, influencers, hoteliers, and luxury travelers, but “no one in PR or travel agencies”). Edwards notes that each voter gets seven ranked votes on hotels they have stayed at in the last two years, with about 850 voters taking part in 2025.¹⁵
I travel a lot for my job and for pleasure. It would not be a stretch for me to stay in seven luxury level hotels in a given year, but that’s the case for the majority of my clients. Someone who stays at seven qualifying hotels in two years is most likely a hotelier, a travel writer, or a frequent business traveler, all of whom spend much of their year in city hotels.
Because press trips and comped nights count toward eligibility while voters do not appear to follow specific scoring criteria, I find the comped stays problematic.¹² From my experience, even when I’m paying full rates at luxury hotels, if the hotel knows I’m a travel advisor, they bring out the bells and whistles. Press trips and FAM trips (familiarization trips), are next level displays of a hotel’s best behavior.
As a result, the hotels that can host the most press trips are the ones most likely to show up in the votes; Ben Schlappig of One Mile at a Time points out that a 795-room hotel hosts far more invited guests than a 24-room one.¹² Bella Darden, who has taken press trips herself, says hotels treat hosted guests better because they have something to gain.¹⁰
Meanwhile, Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge in Canada and Tierra Patagonia in Chile, which are quite small and rarely host comped or press stays, each hold Three Michelin Keys and neither is on the 50 Best list.¹⁶ ¹⁷
Following the Money
A reader asked in The Upgrade subscriber chat how many winners are advertisers and called the arrangement “pay-for-play in editorial clothing.”² Most publications would categorically deny it, but I think a hotel written about favorably is more likely to advertise in that publication’s future issues, and the awards open several other revenue streams. Colin Nagy of Skift writes that these lists will never be entirely objective and calls them “often commercial tools” for selling branded awards and gala tickets or driving page views when winners share them,¹⁸ and winning a list starts a second sale. Let’s take a look at all the ways a publication makes money on these award lists.
Licensing. Proving you won often means paying to use the badge, and T+L licenses its award logos and headlines through PARS International, which prices each package to the buyer and also sells reprints and PDF e-prints.¹⁹ The one public price I found came in 2023, when Savannah’s airport commission approved $50,395 for a T+L World’s Best Awards logo license before the results were out.²⁰
Galas and fees. Winning an award is cause for a celebration, and of course a hotel needs to have a table at the dinner in which they accept an award. I can guarantee that a sous vide steak and anemic green bean plated dinner does not line up with the price of the seat sold to accompany it at these galas.
Displaying the award. Of course when a hotel wins an award, their leadership wants to show the world. World Travel Awards sold a 2023 Asia & Oceania gala Bronze package for £1,000 and a Silver package with a full-page ad for £2,000, with a wall plaque costing £650 more.²¹
While this article is largely about the hotel ranking lists, the travel advisor and other industry awards also follow a pay-for-play model. For example, separate from its hotel lists, T+L began charging advisors $4,000 to appear on its A-List in 2018, payable after selection.²²
Sponsorships and bookings. As affiliate programs make it easier to compete with OTAs, these lists are getting into the booking business. The 50 Best Hotels lists partners including American Express Travel and SevenRooms,²³ and Michelin owns the booking site Tablet and earns commissions on hotel bookings, Darden notes.¹⁰ ²⁴
Distribution. This one is my inference since I have no circulation data, but I suspect hotels on a list are more likely to buy the awards edition and hand it out to guests.
What Winning Costs the Winner
Winning is great for team morale, and it can also change who walks through the door and their expectations, causing strain on a team that may not be prepared for. Colin Nagy describes new interest and search visibility alongside a guest base that shifts from die-hard fans to people checking off what is hot right now, who may be harder to please and less likely to return,¹⁸ and when Passalacqua earned its No. 1 crown in 2023 the award “took the metaphorical phone off the hook.”¹³ ¹⁸
What Travelers Should Pay Attention To
Commercial activity around awards does not automatically create a conflict of interest, since a publisher can run a rigorous editorial process while selling sponsorships and a reader survey can produce useful results even when hotels campaign.
The issue is whether you know which type of recognition you are looking at and how much weight it should carry in your decision. In a past issue of The Upgrade, I noted that travel has become a question of who to trust. Trust was also a buzzword that came up frequently at Skift’s Global Forum this year.
Finally, I say consistently that who owns your hotel matters. When looking at the hotels on these awards lists, I was curious what the ownership breakdown is between owner/operator and family owned, sovereign capital, franchise, private equity, etc. I traced ownership across the top 50 of the 50 Best and the T+L World’s Best list for Master Key, and discovered that nearly three-quarters of the 50 Best turned out to be family-controlled, seven hotels trace to a government or a crown, and 17 of T+L’s 50 have undisclosed local owners.²⁵
TLDR
Making money from these awards is not inherently bad. These publications are businesses, and the awards let teams celebrate a win in an incredibly difficult industry while also putting hospitality at the center of conversation each time a list comes out with much fanfare. The awards also provide content for those of us who rely on staying relevant to our travel clients, (I used one of the lists to make an IG post this week).
I simply caution my Upgrade readers, before you book based on a list, look at who voted, whether comped stays counted, and think about the economic engines driving these lists.
A list can narrow your options, but it cannot tell you whether a hotel suits the way your family likes to travel, or what you are looking for from a specific stay. That’s where working with an advisor who knows your personal travel preferences becomes important.
And, because hotels pay me a commission after you travel I have a financial motivation too, weigh my opinion the way I have weighed everyone else’s.
🗝️ Room Report — Six Senses Rome
Before running a poetry and yoga retreat in Umbria, I splurged on one night here for the Roman Baths spa to recover from jet lag. I stayed solo without my kids.
Six Senses Rome opened March 16, 2023, in the Palazzo Salviati Cesi Mellini, between the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. The palazzo began as a cardinal’s palace in the 15th century, and this is the brand’s first hotel in Italy. IHG bought Six Senses from Pegasus Capital in February 2019 for $300 million in cash, and it runs the hotels while other investors usually own the buildings. Here, Orion Real Estate Fund V owns the redevelopment.
Rooms
Upgraded to a Super Deluxe, huge for a city hotel.
I heard nothing from the street and slept until noon.
Light switches are complicated, and the phone buttons did not reach the front desk.
Spa
I booked for the spa, and the Roman baths delivered. They are included in your room rate.
Go in the morning. Afternoons get crowded.
Food and Beverage
Breakfast earned full marks.
Lunch at Bivium was slow. A photo shoot was running, nobody was at the host stand, and 30 minutes passed before anyone took my order.
Extra Credit
I booked through our hotel booking portal. I got champagne, a note from the GM, a 1pm check-in, and the upgrade.
No swimming pool, but the Roman baths have three plunge pools.
The lobby bar is more zen garden restaurant than cozy martini den.
The Upgrade TLDR
Score: 83.3 out of 100, a strong stay. I would send a client here.
Best for: travelers resetting after a long flight who want the baths, large rooms, and a peaceful, organic, modern feel.
Skip it if: you want a traditional, historical Italianate hotel. The decor felt Aman-esque. It’s not a lively bar scene, and it accommodates kids but isn’t kid-friendly.
October is still high season in Rome, so don’t expect shoulder season rates.
Sources
Hilton, “Travel + Leisure’s 2026 World’s Best Awards Spotlight Hilton’s Luxury and Lifestyle Brands and Properties.”
The Upgrade subscriber chat, Substack, reader comments (Stojcevski, Gross, The Ben Edit).
Travel Weekly Magellan Awards, About and Contact pages.
Travel Weekly, “Entries open for the 2026 Magellan Awards,” March 25, 2026.
Tripadvisor, “Travellers’ Choice Awards: What is it and how does it work?”
Forbes Travel Guide, Media Center and Partner Services pages.
San Francisco Chronicle, “Tourism board gives $600,000 to Michelin for new California guide.”
Sacramento News & Review, “Culinary ambitions.”
MICHELIN Guide, “MICHELIN Guide Unveils Its 2026 MICHELIN Key Selection” and “The MICHELIN Guide 101,” September 15, 2025.
Bella Darden, Mind Holiday, “The hotel rating industrial complex is broken,” September 2026.
Hotel Online, “Travel + Leisure Announces 2026 World’s Best Awards,” July 7, 2026; Osaka Highlights, “Patina Osaka named the ‘World’s Best Hotel.’”
One Mile at a Time, “The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2026 List Published: The Winners, And My Take On The Rankings,” September 15, 2026.
Time Out Hong Kong, coverage of the World’s 50 Best Hotels 2023, September 2023.
The World’s 50 Best Hotels, 2025 results list (PDF).
Yolanda Edwards, Club Yolo, “Travel Awards Season,” November 6, 2025.
MICHELIN Guide, Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge, Three Keys. https://guide.michelin.com/jp/ja/hotels-stays/tofino/clayoquot-wilderness-resort-bedwell-river-12128
MICHELIN Guide, Tierra Patagonia Hotel & Spa, Three Keys. https://guide.michelin.com/gb/en/hotels-stays/torres-del-paine-national-park/tierra-patagonia-hotel-spa-6617
Colin Nagy, Skift, “Congrats, You’re the ‘World’s Best’ Hotel. Now Comes the Hard Part,” September 27, 2024. https://skift.com/2024/09/27/congrats-youre-the-worlds-best-hotel-now-comes-the-hard-part/
PARS International, Travel + Leisure licensing and reprints.
City of Savannah, City Council agenda item 34, logo licensing agreement with PARS International, July 27, 2023.
World Travel Awards, Asia & Oceania Gala Ceremony 2023: Tickets.
Travel Market Report, “Travel + Leisure A-List Controversy Is a Slippery Slope for Travel Media,” March 29, 2018.
The 50 Best Hotels, “Our Partners.”
Gulf Business, coverage of the MICHELIN Key launch; MICHELIN Guide, Hotels page.
Anne Marie Brown, The Upgrade Master Key
Good piece. The only thing I really use those lists for is finding new hotels that haven’t binged on my radar. But I usually just ignore all the big chains and look at the outliers to see if they ring my bell. This year not much interested me on the 50 Best but I did do a deep dive on Patina Osaka.