Hualalai resort dominates rankings

The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on Hawaii island took top honors in four categories in the TripAdvisor 2013 Travelers’ Choice Hotel awards: best overall in the U.S. and in the world and best luxury hotel in the U.S. and in the world.

Three other hotels in Hawaii made the list of top 25 U.S. hotels overall. They are the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea at No. 2; the Four Seasons Resort Lana‘i, The Lodge at Koele at No. 6; and the Ko‘a Kea Hotel & Resort in Poipu, on Kauai, at No. 19. These three were also on the list of top 25 U.S. luxury hotels.

TripAdvisor, an Internet travel site, said it selects the top hotels based on millions of travelers’ reviews posted to its site over the past year.

The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai had 887 reviews on its Trip­Advisor page Wednesday, and 764 of those ranked it as excellent, the top score. Room rates at the hotel, which opened in September 1996, range from $745 a night to $1,545 a night this July, according to Travelocity.com.

Recent reviews of the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai include one from dantanman of Golden, British Columbia, Canada, who said of the resort, "This ranks as my best stay at any property in the world so far."

Jennifer J. of Grantville, Pa., wrote, "My husband and I travel with his company to exotic locations every year and this was one of the absolute best in the past 17 years." And paedsrn of Ontario, Canada, wrote, "My husband and I have travelled all over the world and experienced many great hotels, but this is by far the best hotel experience we have ever had."

While not all reviews are gushing and some bear critical observations, many of the reviews — both positive and negative — receive responses from Chris White, director of marketing, or Florian Riedel, resort manager.