Our Standards
What actually gets covered here
"Luxury hotel" gets applied to almost anything with a rain shower. We hold every property in this guide to a fixed rubric before it's published — and we exclude entire categories deliberately, rather than cover everything and let the rating do the sorting.
Brand optional
Affiliation with Aman, Four Seasons, or any other group does not decide inclusion — and neither does "flagship" status. Independent one-offs and secondary properties in the same ultra-luxury class are covered on equal footing. If the hotel clears the rubric, it belongs in Hotel Flock.
A property must clear all five to be listed
- Independently verified 5-star-equivalent service — Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star, Michelin Key, or a clearly recognized ultra-luxury positioning (brand tier or standalone).
- Named architectural or design pedigree, historic landmark status, or an equivalent sense of place — flagship status within a group is irrelevant; the property itself must clear the bar.
- A room count and guest density consistent with genuine space and privacy — we favor properties that don't process guests at volume.
- A verifiable nightly rate consistent with ultra-luxury positioning, checked in shoulder season, not just peak-week list price.
- Every fact — opening date, room count, architect, ownership — checked against primary sources before publication.
What we deliberately leave out
- All-inclusive resorts. That's our sister site Resort Flock's beat, not ours — we don't duplicate coverage across the Flock network.
- Pay-to-rank or sponsored placements of any kind, in reviews, scores or Best Of lists.
- One-hotel destination or category pages. We don't publish a "Best Of" or destination guide until at least three qualifying properties exist.
- Unverified claims. If we can't confirm a fact, we say so rather than repeat a press release.
- Upper-upscale or lifestyle hotels that market as luxury without clearing the ultra-luxury rate, density, and service bar — brand affiliation alone is never enough.
For how we translate this rubric into the numeric score on every hotel page, see How We Rate Hotels.