Suite ranking

4 Houston luxury hotels check into new Conde Nast Traveler awards

Tilman's Post Oak is still the best hotel in Houston, according to Conde Nast Traveler readers.

Photo courtesy of The Post Oak Hotel

In February, U.S. News & World Report ranked Tilman Fertitta’s luxe Post Oak Hotel No. 13 overall in its 50 Best Hotels in the USA 2021 — and No. 1 in Texas.

The opulent Post Oak still retains its status as best in Houston in a new ranking, but, an Austin inn has been named top in Texas by said outlet. Conde Nast Traveler just handed that title to the Fairmont Austin.

On October 5, Conde Nast Traveler released the results of its 2021 Readers’ Choice Awards. Aside from The Post Oak, three other local hotels appear among the top 20 properties in Texas:

The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa, Houston
Hotel ZaZa Houston Museum District
Hotel ZaZa Houston Memorial City

Since it opened, the Post Oak has remained Texas’s only Forbes Double Five-Star rated hotel. The 10-acre property in the heart of Post Oak boasts 38-stories, 250 guestrooms and suites; 20 executive residences; and an elegant 35,000-square-foot conference facility, including the largest ballroom in Uptown Houston.

Meanwhile, a massive, 5,000 square-foot, two-bedroom Presidential Suite offers private elevator access, media room, exercise room, and secluded terrace. Another draw is the clubby, private Oak Room, where Houston’s elite mix and mingle.

Guests can check out the two-story Rolls-Royce showroom and on-site Bentley and Bugatti Post Oak Motors dealership. VIPs can jet away in the hotel’s private helicopter.

For this year’s Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards, the magazine surveyed hundreds of thousands of readers from April 1 through May 31. Readers rated hotels on these criteria: rooms, service, food, design, location, value, and activities and facilities.

Here’s the full list of the top hotels in Texas:

Fairmont Austin.
Hotel Crescent Court, Dallas.
Archer Hotel Austin.
Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas.
Virgin Hotels Dallas.
HALL Arts Hotel, Dallas.
Hotel ZaZa Dallas Uptown.
Commodore Perry Estate, Auberge Resorts Collection, Austin.
The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston.
Hotel Vin, Autograph Collection, Grapevine.
Hotel ZaZa Austin.
The Stella Hotel, Bryan.
The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa, Houston.
The Joule, Dallas.
Hotel Valencia Riverwalk, San Antonio.
Hotel Emma, San Antonio.
Hotel ZaZa Houston Museum District.
Hotel Saint George, Marfa.
Hotel ZaZa Houston Memorial City.
Lone Star Court, a Valencia Hotel, Austin.

go rural

Tiny West Texas town tops Airbnb's 'off-the-map' destinations to visit

Matador, Texas, Airbnb, best rural destinations

Photo courtesy of Airbnb

Welcome to Matador, Texas.

More Texas travelers are shying away from tourist traps for their vacations and instead embracing the calming roadside with increasing interest in rural areas of the state, according to Airbnb, and one tiny Texas city in the Panhandle is generating buzz atop a brand-new list of under-the-radar rural destinations in America.

The vacation rental marketplace's inaugural "Off-the-Map" list features 20 rural destinations across the country where short-term rentals are bringing in "new opportunities for local tourism."

"From coastal fishing villages to Cajun bayou towns and alpine mountain escapes, America Off-the-Map invites travelers to discover something new and helps support local economies and communities across the country," the report said.

Matador, a small town about 80 miles northeast of Lubbock and 530 miles from Houston, was named the No. 1 hidden gem vacation destination in Texas. The report described Matador as a part of Texas that tourists "haven’t found" yet, which is what makes it all the more rewarding as an undiscovered treasure.

"Welcome to the seat of Motley County – where the wind is constant, the skies are enormous, and the history is deeper than the caprock beneath your boots," the report said.

Visitors can explore the Motley County Historical Museum, which explores the building's history as the Traweek Hospital that was originally built nearly a century ago. The museum also sheds light on Native American history, the life of ranchers, and other historical facts about the town and county.

Local restaurants like Chelle's Garden or TC's Ponderosa in nearby Dickens are good spots for travelers to eat like a local, while the Coffee Mill and Mercantile in Quitaque is the place to be for breakfast, lunch, and a cup of joe.

Matador is also less than an hour away from the newly expanded Caprock Canyons State Park and Trailway, a popular Texas state park known for its roaming bison herd and bat colony.

According to Airbnb's website, there are over 130 short-term rentals in Matador and the surrounding Motley County area, with some homes available for $172 for an overnight stay in April 2026.

travel airbnb panhandle vacations