travel awards

7 Houston hotels and spas earn stars in 2025 Forbes Travel Guide

The Post Oak Hotel earned Houston's only five-star rating.

Photo courtesy of The Post Oak Hotel

The prestigious Forbes Travel Guide, a global rating system for luxury hotels, restaurants, spas, and ocean cruises, has recognized 28 Texas properties on its 2025 awards list, including seven in Houston.

The 67th annual list spans nearly 2,200 properties around the world, with three levels of ratings: Five-Star, Four-Star, and Recommended. To determine the ratings, inspectors visit every hotel, restaurant, spa, and cruise ship in person, visiting anonymously as a typical guest to review the quality and condition of each property and its overall guest experience. Participants pay a fee to be considered, but no one can buy a rating.

Two Houston properties earned five stars this year: The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston and the Post Oak's luxurious spa.

The other Houston honorees include:

Hotels:

Four Seasons Hotel Houston, 4-star
Hotel Granduca Houston: 4-star
The Houstonian Hotel Club & Spa: 4-star
The St. Regis Houston: 4-star

Spas:

Trellis Spa at the Houstonian Hotel, Houston: 4-star

New for 2025, Forbes Travel Guide unveiled its inaugural cruise restaurant ratings.

"Behind every Forbes Travel Guide Star Award lies a thousand small gestures: the concierge who tracks down a hidden café beloved by locals, the chef who sources ingredients from a generations-old farm, the spa therapist who crafts custom aromatherapy blends from native flowers," the report said.

The 2025 list has many repeat honorees from 202 4.

The Ritz-Carlton Dallas hotel was the only other five-star Texas property, and the singular new Texas property in this year's guide is The Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Las Colinas in Irving, which earned a Recommended rating.

Congrats go to the Ritz-Carlton Dallas. Ritz-Carlton, Dallas

Other (non-Houston) Texas properties that made the 2025 list, by category:

Restaurants:

Garrison, Austin: 4-star
Fearing's, Dallas: 4-star
The Mansion, Dallas: 4-star

Hotels:

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 Ritz-Carlton Dallas: 5-star
The Joule, Dallas: 4-star
Hall Arts Hotel Dallas, Curio Collection by Hilton: Recommended
Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas: Recommended
The Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Las Colinas: Recommended (new)
Hotel Emma, San Antonio: Recommended
Mokara Hotel & Spa, San Antonio: 4-star

Spas:

Fairmont Spa Austin: 4-star
The Spa at Four Seasons Austin: 4-star
Verbena Spa at Austin Proper Hotel: 4-star
The Ritz Carlton Spa, Dallas: 4-star
The Spa at the Joule, Dallas: 4-star
Mokara Spa, San Antonio: 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.

hotels forbes forbes travel guide restaurants spas houston

Fashion on display

Rare Halston fashion exhibition now on display in West Texas city

Halston: Inventing American Fashion exhibit Ellen Noël Art Museum

Photo courtesy of Ellen Noël Art Museum

An colorful eveningwear grouping takes advantage of Ellen Noël Art Museum's curved walls.

A rare exhibition honoring fashion pioneer Halston has popped up in an unexpected place: West Texas. Houston fashionistas who are fans of the designer can hop a flight (or drive eight hours) to Odessa’s newly revamped Ellen Noël Art Museum to view "Halston: Inventing American Fashion."

Halston’s minimalistic fashions are rarely the subjects of retrospectives, although the designer’s dramatic life story recently had a pop-cultural resurgence through a 2021 Ryan Murphy miniseries. "Halston: Inventing American Fashion" assesses the talent that made him a household name.

Known now for outfitting 1970s icons like Liza Minelli and Bianca Jagger, Halston changed the international reputation of American sportswear as part of the famous 1973 “Battle of Versailles” fashion show, holding his own against Paris’ most lauded couturiers. His uniquely louche style still influences contemporary brands like Marc Jacobs, Zac Posen, and Tom Ford, who was briefly the creative director for a revised Halston label.

The mannequins in the Odessa display are outfitted with 75 ensembles from flowing Ultrasuede daywear to more dramatic draped gowns. The pieces “illustrate how Halston revolutionized fashion by prioritizing comfort, confidence, and modern femininity,” according to a release.

Although Odessa may seem an odd choice for the show, Halston had deep Texas connections. After he moved on from hat making, Amarillo millionaire Estelle Marsh was his sole backer willing to fund his first Madison Avenue boutique.

$Ellen No\u00ebl Art Museum, Odessa, new facade.$ The new facade at Ellen Noël Art MuseumPhoto courtesy of Ellen Noël Art Museum

$Halston: Inventing American Fashion exhibit Ellen No\u00ebl Art Museum$

Photo courtesy of Ellen Noël Art Museum

An colorful eveningwear grouping takes advantage of Ellen Noël Art Museum's curved walls.

And the recently completed renovation of Odessa's Ellen Noël Art Museum has some of the designer’s signature sleek. Designed by architect R.J. Lopez, the renovation includes new galleries and improved circulation, but the centerpiece is a striking transparent façade, replacing the original brick of the 1985 building.

“The renovation project has been over 10 years in the making and in the construction phase for the past two years,” says the museum’s buildings manager, Steve Patton, via a release. “The completion of the project has resulted in an incredible facility that is a shining star in West Texas, offering programs and exhibits that will be a destination point for people all over the world!”

"Halston: Inventing American Fashion" will run through March 22. Admission to the Ellen Noël Art Museum is free.

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