On the evening of September 15 in Paris, The World’s 50 Best Hotels revealed its 2026 ranking, and the headline belonged to Asia: Rosewood Hong Kong was named the world’s best hotel for a second consecutive year, ahead of Capella Bangkok and Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River. Read the full list from a Latin American vantage point, however, and a different story emerges: six hotels from Mexico and Brazil in the top 50, two of them in the top ten, and a string of category awards.
The six
- No. 6, Rosewood São Paulo. The highest-ranked hotel in Latin America this year, within the Cidade Matarazzo complex in the city’s Bela Vista neighborhood, where, according to Rosewood, restored early-20th-century buildings, including a 1922 chapel, meet contemporary architecture.
- No. 9, Chablé Yucatán, Chocholá. The wellness retreat’s list profile shows it collected The Best Hotel in North America 2026 and the Eco Hotel Award.
- No. 23, One&Only Mandarina, Riviera Nayarit.
- No. 25, Las Ventanas al Paraíso, Los Cabos, winner of the Highest Climber Award.
- No. 29, Copacabana Palace, Rio de Janeiro.
- No. 47, Maroma, Riviera Maya.
The awards are confirmed in multiple places. The official announcement, distributed via PR Newswire and republished by Business News Week, states that Chablé Yucatán (No. 9) wins the Bombay Sapphire Eco Hotel Award and that the WhistlePig Highest Climber Award goes to Las Ventanas al Paraíso (No. 25) in Los Cabos.
What the list rewards
The Latin American entries are strikingly varied. Chablé’s profile highlights a spa that 50 Best describes as “the first to be built around a cenote,” the natural underground pools of the Yucatán. Las Ventanas is summed up as “Mexican minimalism in the Baja desert,” with praise for its “always-evolving food-and-beverage concepts.” The Copacabana Palace, by contrast, is pure heritage: “Built in 1923, the hotel sought to bring an element of European-style glamour to Rio de Janeiro.”
Taken together, that is a resort built around Maya wellness traditions, a desert-meets-sea retreat, a century-old beach palace and an urban cultural complex in São Paulo. For travelers who still think of the region’s luxury hotels chiefly as beach escapes, the ranking is a useful corrective. That observation is ours; 50 Best does not group hotels by style.
Beyond the top 50
The extended 51 to 100 list, announced on September 1, adds depth. According to 50 Best, it includes Palacio Nazarenas in Cusco at No. 54, Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo in Panama City at No. 63, Hotel Esencia in Tulum at No. 64, Montage Los Cabos at No. 67, Four Seasons Tamarindo on Mexico’s Pacific coast at No. 74 and Hotel das Cataratas at Iguassu Falls at No. 77. New York appears there too, with The Fifth Avenue Hotel at No. 78, Aman New York at No. 87 and The Greenwich Hotel at No. 92.
The extended list “broadens the spotlight to a remarkable community of properties and the passionate people who bring them to life.” Faye Huggett, director of community, 50 Best, in the 51-100 announcement
How to use it
Rankings are voted opinions, not objective measurements, and the right hotel depends on the trip. As a shortlist for the season ahead, though, from São Paulo’s cultural calendar to winter on the Baja coast, the 2026 edition gives Latin America’s best hotels the global stage they have earned.
See all sources
- The 50 Best Hotels 2026: 1-50 list, The World’s 50 Best Hotels, 2026-09-15
- Rosewood Hong Kong Named No.1 in The 50 Best Hotels 2026 for the Second Consecutive Year, PR Newswire, 2026-09-15
- Rosewood Hong Kong Named No.1 in The 50 Best Hotels 2026 for the Second Consecutive Year, Business News Week, 2026-09-15
- Chablé Yucatán, The World’s 50 Best Hotels, 2026-09-15
- Las Ventanas al Paraíso, The World’s 50 Best Hotels, 2026-09-15
- Copacabana Palace, The World’s 50 Best Hotels, 2026-09-15
- Rosewood São Paulo, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, 2026-09-15
- The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2026 Announces the Extended 51-100 List, PR Newswire, 2026-09-01
- The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2026: the 51-100 list revealed, The World’s 50 Best Hotels, 2026-09-01
Lead image: illustrative photo by Frugal Flyer on Unsplash.
