When I first joined Andrew Harper, it was a big deal when a new Four Seasons opened. Now, some two decades later, the company has about 135 hotels and resorts around the world, with more openings in the works. It can be hard to keep up! Various other once-tiny luxury brands have started to balloon. Rosewood now has about 40 hotels, Aman has expanded to 34 (or 38, if you count the five Amankora hotels in Bhutan individually), the Auberge Collection numbers 30 properties, and Belmond is up to 28. By my reckoning, the above companies have more than 30 hotels and resorts scheduled to open between now and the end of 2027.

We’re excited to review as many of them as we can, but a high-end brand name doesn’t guarantee a Harper recommendation. Four Seasons’ Sensei Lanai, Auberge’s The Woodward, Rosewood Vienna and Belmond’s Castello di Casole all earned very high ratings (and places in our Editors’ Choice Awards), but the Four Seasons New Orleans, Auberge’s Mauna Lani, Rosewood Villa Magna and Belmond’s Copacabana Palace did not make the grade.

With such rapid expansion, not all the debuts will be winners. If a major brand’s hotel isn’t up to our standards, you can count on us to say so. The companies sometimes protest, but that’s how we work.