California resorts make a five-star triple play in Forbes Travel Guide’s 2018 rankings

Three California resorts received a luxury trifecta of five stars — for hotel, restaurant and spa — from the Forbes Travel Guide, which on Tuesday announced its prestigious star rankings for 2018.

The Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego, Meadowood Napa Valley in St. Helena and Montage Laguna Beach in Laguna Beach were three of 13 properties around the world to be triple five-star winners, according to a news release.

Eight of the 13 are in the U.S., including the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas and Wynn Las Vegas as well as the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo.; the Cloister in Sea Island, Ga.; and Ocean House in Watch Hill, R.I.

The Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, which opened last year at 9850 Wilshire Blvd., received five stars. Beverly Hills has the second-highest number of five-star hotels (6) after New York (7).

Globally, hotels in the Middle East did well (four new five-star-ranked hotels) and South America received its first five-star ranking for the Belmond Hotel das Cataratas inside Iguaçu National Park in Brazil.

And Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando scored its first five-star restaurant with Victoria & Albert’s.

More than 1,600 hotels, restaurants and spas received five-star, four-star or recommended rankings in 2018.

The guide, which turns 60 this year and started out as the Mobil Travel Guide, inspects and rates properties in 50 countries in the U.S. and South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific area, Africa and the Middle East.

This year, the guide added new destinations, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the Middle East, and Hokkaido and Okinawa in Japan.

For the rankings, the guide’s inspectors assess hotels, restaurants and spas for service and quality of its facility. Read more about Forbes’ standards and star makers.

You can read the guide’s full rankings here.

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