Forbes has continued to inspect and add hotels to their last at a rapid speed. They have added 107 new Five-Star hotels this year! There are now 268 Five Star Hotels, up from just 76 a few years ago! From the press release:
The inspectors of Forbes Travel Guide journeyed from Santa Barbara to the Seychelles to find its 2020 Star Award winners, an elite group of the world’s most luxurious hotels, restaurants and spas.
A record-breaking 107 new Five-Star honorees landed on the 62nd annual list, the result of an ambitious expansion. Forbes Travel Guide ventured to 16 countries—including The Bahamas, Cambodia, Egypt, Fiji, French Polynesia, India, Jordan, the Maldives, New Zealand, Scotland and South Africa—for the first time.
To uncover the most outstanding properties, Forbes Travel Guide’s incognito inspectors check into a hotel for a minimum of two nights, posing as ordinary guests and paying their own way. Then they test up to 900 objective, exacting standards—including whether a staff member greets them curbside within 30 seconds of arrival, whether clothing left around a room is folded neatly or draped and placed within immediate view after turndown service, and whether the staff uniforms demonstrated exceptional design. The ratings tabulate 75 percent of a hotel’s score based on its service, while the remaining 25 percent is determined by the quality of its facilities.
Here is the full list of all of the Five-Star Hotels:
We’ve heard for quite a while that Forbes Travel (formerly Mobil) has really ramped up their inspections of hotels, restaurants, and spas in an attempt to compete with AAA. They have just announced that they will now update their list twice a year, instead of just once each year. From their 
It may not come as a surprise that California — a sun-splashed magnet for celebrities and big-spending tourists — leads the nation with the number of hotels winning five-star ratings from Forbes Travel Guide. But winning the coveted rating is no easy feat. Only 58 hotels in the U.S. — 12 in California — were awarded the recognition this year, including, for the first time, the Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach.