Every autumn the big trend forecasts land, and every autumn they say roughly the same things in slightly different fonts. Mood boards. Buzzwords. A survey of 30,000 people who mostly want a cheaper flight. Useful, sure. But they rarely tell you where the travellers we write for are actually spending their time and money.

There is expensive, and then there is a nightly rate with more digits than most people’s annual salary. At the very top of the hotel world, nobody is really selling a room any more. They are selling an entire floor, or a pool hanging over a city skyline, with butlers who know how you take your coffee before your plane has landed.

Two years running at the top of the world’s most closely watched hotel list. Here is what the title buys you, what it costs and how long you need to stay for the journey to make sense.

From Mumbai street-food canteens to Arc de Triomphe fine dining, Paris has finally found its spice.

A former soap factory in Karaköy, a rooftop that takes in Galata Tower and Sultanahmet in one sweep, and a kitchen that cooks beautifully, as long as you don’t ask it to improvise.

The tricky part? Choosing. Switzerland’s grandest hotels are no strangers to small guests, and between lakeside palaces, ski-in chalets and city hideaways, it’s easy to get lost in the brochures.