The top category was given to just 154 properties globally for 2016, with the list including 42 additions, with all hotels reviewed under stringent conditions by anonymous inspectors looking at more than 800 criteria.

In the Four-Star category, 101 new hotels were added to the list, while 57 hotels made it into the Recommended category for the first time.

Paris has been included in the ratings for the first time, with nine hotels in the city gaining Five-Star status. The French capital joins Macau as the two destinations that hold the most top-rated Forbes hotels in a single location.

Italy was also included for the first time, with eight hotels earning Five-Star status.

First established in 1958, Forbes Travel Guide now rates hotels in 29 countries throughout The Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region but is in one of its biggest ever growth stages and expects to double its size again in the next year with expansion into the Middle East and Africa.

It has been expanding its reach since the arrival in 2014 of chief executive Jerry Inzerillo, an industry veteran who has previously headed up many of the world’s best-known hotels and hospitality brands.

Inzerillo has instigated an overhaul of all standards used to rate hotels and implemented the global growth of the company, including the opening of a Europe and Middle East office in London, headed up by Chris Fradin.

However, Inzerillo was keen to point out that Forbes would never be about numbers, with only a finite number of true luxury hotels in the world.

“We mustn’t grow too quickly – but we do need to have a universe of hotels globally that we are rating. We would probably like to get to a position where we are rating just 300 or so hotels worldwide that are truly worthy of our top Five-Star Award,” he told TTG.

“Then there are other fantastic hotels of course – we think there are probably around 1,000 Four-Star hotels and then around 1,500-1,700 what we call Recommended hotels. So, getting to a list of 3,000 overall worldwide would be a good place to be.”

He said that Forbes would always ensure there were options in any one destination so that travellers could stay to suit their budget.

“Wherever we rate, we make sure there is a Recommended and a Four or Five-Star so people have the choices,” he said.

There are now more hotels in London, such as The Goring, on the list, along with some expansion in the UK, with hotels such as Coworth Park now included.

Inzerillo said: “I am so proud of the hotel community in London – this is where some of the world’s finest hotel standards originate from, along with a real dedication to service. They have welcomed the idea of Forbes rating hotels here wholeheartedly.”

Inzerillo said consumers and the industry needed a global star rating benchmark now more than ever.

“Our mission is to guarantee the quality – then it’s up to the consumer to decide the style and location they are looking for. That filter is up to them, but they will know that when a hotel is on the Forbes list, so many factors have already been checked and taken into account for them,” said Inzerillo.

“And when it comes to hoteliers – they know that the people running Forbes Travel Guide and our rigorous review and ratings process are innkeepers to their core and are doing this for the good of the industry as a whole,” he added.

He said that with the commoditization of travel, the growth of OTAs and the proliferation of review sites, consumers had almost too much information at their fingertips, but few genuine benchmarks of which hotels represented quality and value.

“These properties set an unimpeachable standard of excellence in hospitality at a moment when the proliferation of voices claiming to provide unbiased ratings online is exploding,” he said. “With our rated properties, there is no ambiguity, no doubt: based on a stringent set of standards developed and refined over six decades, our ratings are now accepted and embraced worldwide.”

He also stressed how important travel agents were to Forbes Travel Guide as it grows.

“We love agents – let me get that out there. They know their clients, and we love that,” he said. “We give the agents trustworthy independent data – we’re recommending the very best hotels which means they can rely on us as a consistent source. We are very ‘pro’ agents – pro the right kind of agents.”

“In a world of huge OTAs where hotels have become commoditized, we know there are still true travel agents out there who would value what we do and the hotels we rate. I think there’s real potential for a deeper affectionate affinity between us,” he said.