These are the Hotels Travelers Love Most

Forget about official star ratings to get the low-down on top hotels. Booking websites such as Hotels.com tout their guest-generated reviews as more genuine and telling than those created by professional and secret lodgings’ appraisers. Find out what real travelers like by discovering who won Hotels.com’s Loved by Guests Award.

Hotels.com bestows a Loved by Guests Award on lodgings its customers rave about. More than 608 properties across the U.S. received a Loved by Guests Gold Award, more than in any other country. With 171 awards, the United Kingdom came in as the country with the second-highest number of gold sleeps. This doesn’t necessarily mean that these nations’ lodgings are better than those in other countries. The results may simply reflect the users’ predilection for travel within the U.S and the U.K.Hotels.com sifted through more than 25 million guest-generated comments to crown 2,500 hotels in 87 countries with top honors. “The Loved by Guests awards celebrate those top-notch hotels that guests really loved and wanted to tell everyone about,” says Taylor L. Cole, APR, travel expert for Hotels.com. “We’re finding reviews are becoming more powerful than ever and in fact many travelers are preferring to book based on guest reviews rather than official star rating. Think of how many times you’ve chosen a hotel because you’ve been scrolling through reviews on your smartphone and read about its comfy beds and fantastic breakfast.”

The Top 3 U.S. Cities that Earned Loved by Guest Gold Awards

· New York: 15 Gold winners, including The Mark, Hotel Giraffe, The Library Hotel, Baccarat Hotel and Residences, The Peninsula and 1 Hotel Central Park.

· Houston: 14 Gold winners, including SpringHill suites, Hotel Ganduca, and the Houstonian Hotel.

· Chicago: 13 Gold winners, including the Sono Chicago, Langham Hotel and the Talbott Hotel.

Among the top U.S. beach hotels winning Loved by Guest Gold Awards

· Florida: Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort, Hollywood; Lago Mar Beach Resort, Fort Lauderdale; 1 Hotel South Beach, Miami Beach; Marco Beach Ocean Resort, Marco Island.

· Hawaii: Halekulani, Honolulu, Oahu; Napili Kai Beach Resort, Lahaina, Maui; Fairmont Kea Lani Maui, Wailea, Maui; Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, Wailea, Maui; Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort, Koloa, Kauai.

· California: Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara; Beach house Hotel at Hermosa Beach, Hermosa Beach; Malibu Beach Inn, Malibu; Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach, Huntington Beach