Hometown Glory
Staying golden: One Houston hotel cracks prestigious Condé Nast best in theworld list
- Hotel Sorella's trees sparkle for the holidays.Photo by Bill Olive
- Soft violet light bathes poolside cabanas.
- The swank Monnalisa Bar overlooks the hotel pool.
Only a few hotels have what it takes to transcend their industry and become a destination themselves, like The Peninsula in Chicago, the Beverly Wilshire or the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
What do properties like these have in common? For one thing, they are all perennial favorites on the prestigious Condé Nast Traveler Gold List.
One Houston hotel that could soon join their ranks is Hotel Sorella at CityCentre. Sorella has been named to the 2012 Condé Nast Gold List for the second year in a row. Gold List properties are scored by Traveler readers on rooms, service, location, design, food and activities, and just more than 500 hotels, resorts and cruises worldwide make the list.
The full Gold List will appear in the January 2012 issue of Traveler. Hotel Sorella's score of 93.2 makes it the second-best hotel in Texas behind Rosewood Crescent Hotel in Dallas. Sorella scored highest in rooms and design, and lowest in activities (really, at CityCentre?) and location (OK, "close to all major highways" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement).
Overall Texas had eight hotels ranked, including Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Lake Austin Spa Resort and four San Antonio properties.