More than a dozen hotels and spas in Chicago earned 2024 Forbes Star Awards as part of the magazine's highly anticipated Forbes Travel Guide, with three locations earning a coveted five-star designation.
Additionally, one hotel spa in the suburbs made Forbes' list for 2024 with a four-star rating.
According to Forbes, its star-rating system for hospitality, created in 1958, is the only independent global rating system for luxury hotels, restaurants, spas and ocean cruise ships.
"We verify luxury," the magazine said. "Our highly trained inspectors visit every property we rate, evaluating based on up to 900 objective criteria. Our hotel stays span a minimum of two nights."
The Forbes Star Awards are broken down into three categories, ranging from the highest rating, "Five Stars," to "Recommended."
Five-star properties deliver an "outstanding experience and consistently offer a highly customized level of service," Forbes said. Four star properties are "exceptional, offering high levels of service and quality of facility to match."
Recommended properties, Forbes said, are "excellent" and have "consistently good services and facilities."
In Chicago, three hotels earned five-star ratings from Forbes for 2024: The Langham Hotel, at 330 N. Wabash St.; The Peninsula Chicago, at 108 E. Superior St., and the Trump International Hotel & Tower, at 401 N. Wabash St.
According to Forbes, the Peninsula Chicago is the longest-running five star hotel in the city.
Three Chicago hotels earned four stars from the guide: Four Seasons Hotel Chicago at 900 N. Michigan, Park Hyatt Chicago at 800 N. Michigan Ave., and the Waldorf Astoria Chicago at 11 E. Walton St.
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The following five hotels in Chicago also landed on Forbes Travel Guide's "Recommended" list:
- Lowes Chicago Hotel, 455 N. Park Dr.,
- Pendry Chicago, 230 N. Michigan Ave.,
- The Ritz-Carlton Chicago, 160 E. Pearson St.
- Thompson Chicago, 21 E. Bellevue St.
- Viceroy Chicago, 111 N. State Street
Six spas at Chicago area hotels also earned accolades in the guide. The spa at the new St. Regis Chicago, at 401 E. Wacker Dr., earned five stars, with spas at the Trump, Waldorf Astoria, Peninsula, and Langham hotels each earning four stars.
In the suburbs, the Arista Spa and Salon at the Hotel Arista in Naperville, at 2139 City Gate Lane, also earned four stars. The hotel itself earned a spot on Forbes Travel Guide's "Recommended" list as well.
You can see the full list award winners for the 2024 Forbes Travel Guide here.
