{"id":161158,"date":"2026-02-12T06:03:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T06:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/161158\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T06:03:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T06:03:35","slug":"hotel-emma-earns-new-awards-in-2-prestigious-lists-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/161158\/","title":{"rendered":"Hotel Emma earns new awards in 2 prestigious lists for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Antonio’s grand Hotel Emma was recognized in U.S. News and World Report’s prestigious list of the best Texas hotels in 2026, and it was awarded a four-star rating in Forbes Travel Guide’s 2026 Star Awards.<\/p>\n

Hotel Emma was honored as the No. 2 best hotel in Texas<\/a>, and it additionally ranked No. 31 in U.S. News’ separate ranking of the best hotels in the U.S.<\/a> for 2026. <\/p>\n

The publication’s Best Hotels rankings annually examine over 31,000 hotels and resorts across more than 400 destinations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Bermuda, and Europe to “help travelers find the hotel that suits their needs.” Hotels are ranked based on industry awards, star ratings, and online guest reviews.<\/p>\n

Hotel Emma last reigned as Texas’ best hotel for two consecutive years in 2024<\/a> and 2025<\/a>, but was overshadowed in this year’s batch of rankings by Houston’s grandiose Post Oak Hotel.<\/p>\n

According to its U.S. News profile<\/a>, Hotel Emma takes the crown as San Antonio’s best hotel because it “stands out among travelers for its cool culture” and its historic background. The hotel also provides several on-site eateries and is located near several others in the Historic Pearl district.<\/p>\n

“Foodies can take advantage of the on-site concierge for recommendations in the area, or they can grab some house-butchered meats at Larder, enjoy small plates at Sternewirth, or sample the creative American cuisine at Supper,” the profile said.<\/p>\n

Other San Antonio hotels that made it among U.S. News’ top 50 best hotels in Texas include:<\/p>\n

No. 12 \u2013 Thompson San Antonio RiverwalkNo. 14 \u2013 Mokara Hotel & SpaNo. 28 \u2013 Signia by Hilton La Cantera Resort & SpaNo. 30 \u2013 JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & SpaNo. 43 \u2013 Omni La Mansion del Rio<\/p>\n

San Antonio hotels recognized in Forbes Travel Guide’s 2026 Star Awards
Forbes Travel Guide recognized 25 Texas properties in its 2026 Star Awards<\/a> rankings, with three San Antonio hotels and spas earning either four-star or recommended ratings.<\/p>\n

To determine the ratings, anonymous inspectors visit every hotel, restaurant, spa, and cruise ship in person, visiting as a typical guest for a minimum of two nights to review the quality and condition of each property and its overall guest experience. According to the rankings’ methodology, inspectors pay their own way, and no one can buy a rating.<\/p>\n

Hotel Emma maintained its “recommended” status for 2026, and The Mokara Hotel and Mokara Spa were both awarded four-star ratings for 2026. <\/p>\n

These are the other Texas properties that made the 2026 list, by category: <\/p>\n

Restaurants: <\/p>\n

Garrison, Austin: 4-starFearing’s Restaurant, Dallas: 4-starThe Mansion Restaurant, Dallas: 4-star<\/p>\n

Hotels: <\/p>\n

Archer Hotel, Austin: 4-starAustin Proper Hotel, Austin: 4-starCommodore Perry Estate, Austin: 4-starFairmont Austin, 4-starFour Seasons Hotel Austin, 4-starThe Ritz-Carlton Dallas: 5-starThe Ritz-Carlton Dallas, Las Colinas: RecommendedRosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas: RecommendedThe Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston: 5-starFour Seasons Hotel Houston, 4-starHotel Granduca Houston: 4-starThe Houstonian Hotel Club & Spa: 4-star<\/p>\n

Spas: <\/p>\n

Fairmont Spa Austin: 4-starThe Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Austin: 4-starVerbena Spa at Austin Proper Hotel: 4-starThe Ritz-Carlton Spa, Dallas: 4-starThe Spa at the Joule, Dallas: 4-starThe Spa at the Post Oak Hotel Houston: 5-starTrellis Spa, Houston: 4-star<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio’s grand Hotel Emma was recognized in U.S. News and World Report’s prestigious list of the best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[65952,5226,65951,426,542,82,84,83,6208,17506],"class_list":{"0":"post-161158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-forbes-travel-guide","9":"tag-hotel","10":"tag-hotel-awards","11":"tag-rankings","12":"tag-reports","13":"tag-san-antonio","14":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","15":"tag-san-antonio-news","16":"tag-travel","17":"tag-us-news-world-report"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}