The Forbes Travel Guide 2025 has given 24 hotels in Macao a five-star rating, making the SAR the location with the world’s greatest number of five-star hotels for the third consecutive year.
The winners are all part of Macao’s casino-resorts, and include five properties each from Sands China, Galaxy, and Melco, and three each from MGM, Wynn and SJM.
New awardees include Studio City’s Epic Tower and Galaxy’s Raffles, which helped the city to edge past last year’s total of 22 five-star awards.
The JW Marriott was another new inclusion on the list, with Forbes designating it as a “recommended” hotel.
The Four Seasons Hotel Macao was not only awarded a five-star rating, but also became the first hotel in the city to earn the Responsible Hospitality Verified badge, an environmental classification that it shares with 100 other properties from around the world.
[See more: International hotel guests surged by almost 60 percent in 2024]
In addition to hotels, the Forbes ratings, which are in their 67th edition this year, also recognise luxury restaurants, spas and cruises. Some of the new Macao-based winners in these categories included the spas at Epic Tower and Palazzo Versace.
Overall, Macao had 79 properties listed by Forbes in 2025 – six more than the year before. By comparison, neighbouring Hong Kong boasted only 7 five-star hotels on the list.
Meanwhile the runner-up to Macao for the most five-star hotels was London, with 20 entries – 1 less than in 2024. The UK capital had been the champion before being overtaken by Macao in 2023.
The 2025 edition of the Forbes Travel Guide consists of over 2,100 properties from 90 countries. Some 336 five-star hotels and 79 five-star restaurants were listed this year.
According to its organiser, the winners of the award are decided through on-site evaluations that are conducted anonymously by “expert inspectors” who judge a property based on “hundreds of exacting standards.”
