The 2023 rendition of the prestigious Forbes Travel Guide is out, and 26 properties in Texas have made the list.

This is the 65th annual Forbes Travel Guide, which a release describes as the only independent, global rating system for luxury hotels, restaurants, and spas, worldwide. Bow down to the Forbes Travel Guide, bow down.

Ratings are broken into three categories: Five-Star, Four-Star, and Recommended, Five-Star being best. The list, which comprises 1,956 properties around the world, runs heavy on hotels (1378) and spas (314), with only 259 restaurants. And for the first year, the list also includes ocean cruises.

In Texas, the list included five restaurants, 12 hotels, and seven spas.

In a reprise of 2022, only three properties in Texas earned five stars: Tilman Fertitta's Post Oak Hotel in Houston (and its spa), Carte Blanche restaurant in Dallas, and the Ritz-Carlton Dallas hotel.

These are the properties in Texas that made the 2023 list, by category:

Hotels:

• The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston: 5-star
  
• The Houstonian Hotel Club & Spa: 4-star
• The St. Regis Houston: 4-star
• Four Seasons Hotel Houston: 4-star
• Adolphus / Dallas: Recommended
• Archer Hotel Austin: 4-star
• Austin Proper Hotel / Austin: 4-star
• Commodore Perry Estate Auberge Resorts Collection / Austin: 4-star
• Fairmont Austin: 4-star
• Four Seasons Hotel Austin: 4-star
• The Joule / Dallas: 4-star
• Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek / Dallas: 4-star
• The Ritz-Carlton Dallas: 5-star
• Mokara Hotel & Spa/ San Antonio: 4-star

Restaurants:

Photo courtesy of The Post Oak Hotel

Once again, Tilman Fertitta's Post Oak Hotel scored 5 stars.

• Carte Blanche / Dallas: 5-star
• Fearing's / Dallas: 4-star
• Garrison / Austin: 4-star
• The Mansion / Dallas: 4-star
• French Room / Dallas: Recommended

Spas:

• The Spa at the Post Oak Hotel Houston: 5-star
  
• Trellis Spa Houston: 4-star
• Fairmont Spa Austin: 4 star
• Mokara Spa / San Antonio: 4-star
• The Ritz Carlton Spa Dallas: 4-star
• The Spa at Four Seasons Austin: 4-star
• The Spa at the Joule / Dallas: 4-star

The Forbes Travel guide started in 1958 as Mobil Travel Guide, a guidebook for US motorists. They created the original Five-Star rating system for hospitality in the US.

To determine the ratings, Forbes Travel Guide's inspectors visit every hotel, restaurant, spa, and cruise ship in person, visiting anonymously as a typical guest. Participants pay a fee to be considered, but no one can buy a rating.