2026 world's best awards

6 Houston hotels declared 'World's Best' by Travel + Leisure

Trellis Spa soaking pools and garden at The Houstonian

The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa was deemed Texas' best resort for a second year.

Courtesy of The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa

Houston's top-tier hospitality industry is continuing its winning streak: six local hotels and resorts were lauded among the best hotels in the world, according to Travel + Leisure's 2026 World's Best Awards.

Travel + Leisure's annual World's Best Awards are the culmination of readers' choice surveys of the ultimate travel experiences around the globe, which include the top hotels, resorts, travel destinations, and more. The 2026 survey had more than 207,000 responses from T+L readers with over 661,000 votes across 10,088 accommodations, cruise lines, and other properties.

The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa won prestigious acclaim as the No. 1 resort in Texas for the second year in a row, affirming its reputation as Houston's "best-kept secret for discerning guests seeking a quiet hideaway."

The spacious 27-acre property contains five restaurants, a 280-room hotel, a 185,000-square-foot fitness club, a 26,500-square-foot full service spa, and so much more. According to T+L readers, the sprawling retreat "proves everything really is bigger in Texas."

Reflection pool at the Trellis Spa Trellis Spa visitors can relax by the pool indoors or outdoors.Courtesy of The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa

The Houstonian was additionally recognized among T+L's separate list of the 500 best hotels in the world in May 2026.

The full list of the best resorts in Texas are:

The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa, Houston
Camp Lucy, Dripping Springs
Horseshoe Bay Resort, Horseshoe Bay
Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa, Austin
JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, San Antonio

The best hotels in the U.S.
Houston's oldest-running hospitality property, The Lancaster Hotel, topped the list of the best hotels in Houston and it was declared the 10th best hotel in the country. Its shining performance in the World's Best Awards is an auspicious occasion for the hotel, which is currently celebrating its centennial.

"For 100 years, The Lancaster Hotel has been a defining presence in Houston hospitality," the hotel's website says. "In 2026, we proudly celebrate a century of welcoming guests with warmth, elegance, and impeccable service. Home to more than 200 works by noted contemporary Texas artists and situated in the heart of Houston's Theater District, The Lancaster blends historic character with modern refinement."

In a brief overview of The Lancaster, T+L praised the hotel's historic charm and its dedication to spotlighting Texas artists.

The five best hotels in Houston in 2026 are:

The Lancaster Hotel
The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston
Hotel Zaza Houston Museum District
Four Seasons Hotel Houston
Marriott Marquis Houston

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HISTORY CORRECTED

Houston documentary maker helps correct biased Texas historical marker

Photo by Virginia Diaz-Laughlin

Medrano stands in front of the Karankawa marker while filming 'Truly Texas Mexican.'

It's not often that a film has an impact past the box office, but one documentary has helped tell the truth about the Texas Gulf Coast's long-disparaged Karankawa people.

For years, the Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend and the Karankawa Tribe of Texas have fought for a corrected Texas Historical Commission marker in Corpus Christi. Houstonian Adán Medrano’s 2021 film, Truly Texas Mexican, helped finalize a push that will lead to a long-due correction on July 25.

The old marker was plainly offensive. Not only did it say the Karankawa people had "gained a reputation for savagery," but it repeated the long-discredited claim that they practiced cannibalism — a contention born out of the colonial need to justify violence against the tribe.

Medrano, a San Antonio native who currently lives in Houston, became part of the fight when he stood in front of the marker and made a direct appeal to correct the sign.

"I call upon the historians who live in Texas to come up and stand up and say, 'Take this down. This is a lie,'" he said during a scene in Truly Texas Mexican.

Two of them heard the call. Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi history professor Dr. Peter Moore and historian Dr. Tim Seiter of the University of Texas at Tyler joined the years-long Indigenous effort following the film's release. Led by the Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend and the Karankawa Tribe of Texas, the academics helped research and draft a replacement that honors them as one of Texas' first peoples.

The marker not only replaces racist mythmaking with scholarship and tribal knowledge, it presents the fact that Karankawa descendants aren't a historical footnote but a living community still present in South Texas today.

Medrano's advocacy here continues his work with the T exas Indigenous Food Project, a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating the Indigenous foodways of Texas and the Americas. But in many ways it is a continuation of a career devoted to amplifying voices rarely heard in popular culture. In 1976, he founded San Antonio's CineFestival, now the nation's longest-running Latine film festival.

At 10 am on July 25, representatives of the Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend and the Karankawa Tribe of Texas will unveil the corrected marker, joined by Medrano. Visitors can find it at 6001 Ennis Joslin Rd.

adan medrano film indigenous history history

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HISTORY CORRECTED

Houston documentary maker helps correct biased Texas historical marker