
Best spa —
The Bulgari spa offers some of the most sought-after spa treatments, ice showers and steam rooms available. But the real crown jewel is a 25-meter colonnaded swimming pool with full body massage jets, finished with tiny gold leaf glass tiles.

Best culinary experience —
This two Michelin-starred restaurant is named after Napoleon's favorite emblem -- the bee -- but the food itself creates all the buzz. Its seasonal menu ranges from duck foie gras coated in chocolate and braised cheek of Iberian suckling pig to confit shoulder of milk-fed lamb. Bon appétit!

Best bar —
This classic bar dates back to 1948, but it reopened its doors in 2013. Guests sip $25 Bloody Marys in the vast wood-paneled room right off the hotel's lobby.

Best family program —
Sure, between the shopping, the pasta, the sweeping hotel lobbies and the wine, you might never get bored in Florence. But the Rocco Forte Hotel wants to make sure kids feel the same way. That's why they started offering the "Pinocchio Experience," a three-hour workshop where each child gets to personalize a piece of wood, just like the storied little puppet himself. It will later be delivered to the child's room as a souvenir to take home.

Sustainable tourism leadership —
The hotel, on 25,000 acres of land, beaches and lagoon, is part nature reserve, part unspoiled beach, and part working plantation. Expect to see wild boar while out for a bike ride, or giant tree frogs while having breakfast in the morning. Guests can stroll through the coconut plantation and organic farm, tour the animal sanctuary, and hold baby sea turtles at the turtle hatchery.

Most innovative guest experience —
In the heart of one of the largest uninterrupted deserts in the world, guests can ride on camels or mountain bikes over dunes, try their hand at archery, go land sailing or dune bashing through the desert and watch animals graze by the infinity pool.

Best achievement in design —
Guests can live like 19th century Russian royalty in this hotel. The lavish marble staircases, exterior pillars, gilded lobby and sky-high ceilings have been restored to their original 1820 beauty.

Hotel of the year —
The recently re-opened hotel, which was built in 1914, is set back into a courtyard. It's brimming with seven types of marble, a seven-story grand staircase, and a six-bedroom suite that uses its own private elevator and even has its own postcode.

One to watch —
The soon-to-open establishment reportedly will boast the biggest hotel rooms in New York City, starting at 475 square feet, as well as some of the best views of Central Park. The 118 guestrooms and 92 suites will be outfitted with remote control lighting and drapes, and the Nalai spa will have its own private terrace.


