Only 23 hotels in the world made Forbes Travel Guide’s brand-new 2025 Hotel Icons List — and four of them are right here in New England.
Forbes created Hotel Icons List to spotlight properties that are more than just luxurious. To make the cut, a hotel must be over 100 years old, run continuously under the same name, and hold a coveted Forbes Five-Star rating today.
In a field spanning Tokyo, London and the French Riviera— New England landed nearly one-fifth of the global icons.
Two of them sit on Cape Cod’s beloved shoreline: Chatham Bars Inn and Wequassett Resort & Golf Club, each celebrating a century of hospitality in their own distinct way.
The hotel was ranked best waterfront hotel by USA Today’s 10Best (Courtesy/Chatham Bars Inn)
The hotel was ranked best waterfront hotel by USA Today’s 10Best (Courtesy/Chatham Bars Inn)
The hotel was ranked best waterfront hotel by USA Today’s 10Best (Courtesy/Chatham Bars Inn)
The hotel was ranked best waterfront hotel by USA Today’s 10Best (Courtesy/Chatham Bars Inn)
The hotel was ranked best waterfront hotel by USA Today’s 10Best (Courtesy/Chatham Bars Inn)
Chatham Bars Inn, Cape Cod
Chatham Bars Inn opened in 1914 as a luxury hunting lodge and quickly became a summer haven for America’s elite — Henry Ford and Princess Juliana among them.
Today it still carries that legacy of coastal grandeur, with its shingled cottages, sweeping lawns, and a stretch of shoreline.
Yet the charm isn’t just aesthetic.
Forbes highlights the resort’s impeccable service, polished amenities, and the sense that the inn has carefully preserved its heritage without ever feeling dated.
Wequassett Resort & Golf Club, Cape Cod
A few miles away, Wequassett Resort & Golf Club is celebrating its 100th birthday with a fresh chapter of its own.
A recent $12 million renovation modernized its guest rooms and cottages without sanding down the character that’s defined the resort since its early days along Pleasant Bay.
Guests return generation after generation for its lush waterfront setting, warm New England hospitality, and access to Cape Cod National Golf Club.
Its restaurant, twenty-eight Atlantic, remains the Cape’s only Forbes Five-Star dining experience.
Across the border in Rhode Island, the other two New England honorees — Ocean House and Weekapaug Inn — bring their own flavor of coastal legacy.
Ocean House, Rhode Island
Ocean House in Watch Hill features a grand Victorian-style hotel perched high above the Atlantic rich with character and yellow clapboards.
While the building was rebuilt in the early 2000s, the reconstruction was “painstaking,” recreating the original 1868 resort right down to the architectural details.
Today it’s one of the world’s few properties to hold Forbes Five-Star ratings for the hotel itself, its spa, and its fine-dining restaurant.
Weekapaug Inn, Rhode Island
Nearby, the Weekapaug Inn offers a quieter side of New England luxury.
Founded in 1899 and tucked between a salt pond and a barrier beach, it offers just 33 rooms and a deep connection to the natural world that surrounds it.
Guest itineraries often revolve around birdwatching, stargazing, beach walks and boating — all guided by the inn’s resident naturalist.
Taken together, these four hotels are more than high-end vacation spots.
They are living institutions — properties that have survived wars, economic swings, changing tastes, and more than a century of New England winters.
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