Lauded lodging

7 Dallas hotels lauded among Texas’ best in prestigious U.S. News ranking

Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas

The Four Seasons is the highest-ranked DFW hotel on the list.

Courtesy photo

Seven Dallas-area luxury hotels are sitting high on U.S. News & World Report’s new list of the best hotels in Texas.

The Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, Irving (No. 4); Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek (No. 6); Ritz-Carlton, Dallas (No. 7); The Joule (No. 12); Hotel Crescent Court (No. 17); Hotel ZaZa Dallas (No. 18); and HALL Arts Hotel (No. 25) all have made the prestigious list.

Several also made the cut for best "resorts" in Texas (see below.)

San Antonio's glittering Hotel Emma, the crown jewel of the city's Pearl district, has been deemed one of the best hotels in the country, ranking as the No. 7 top hotel in the U.S. and the No. 1 Texas property. The 146-room riverfront property, which opened in 2015, repeatedly appears at or near the top of rankings for the state’s best hotels and has become a bucket-list destination for Texas travelers.

It was the only Texas hotel to make the national top-25 list.

“Hotel Emma stands out among travelers for its cool culture. This is largely brought on by the hotel’s history as a former brewery,” says U.S. News, referring to the property’s previous life as the largest brewery in Texas.

“Visitors marvel at the refined industrial elements featured throughout — particularly in the lobby — and are equally impressed with the quality of the accommodations,” U.S. News says in its overview of Hotel Emma. “Guests report rooms to be exceptionally styled and comfortable, thanks to amenities like 48-inch flat-screen TVs, plush beds with Frette linens, and luxury bathrobes. And the food is just as much of a staple here as beer used to be.”

Here are the top 25 U.S. News-ranked hotels in Texas:

Hotel Emma, San Antonio.
Commodore Perry Estate, Auberge Resorts Collection, Austin. Also ranked first among Texas resorts.
The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston.
Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, Irving. Also ranked second among Texas resorts.
The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa. Also ranked third among Texas resorts.
Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas. Also ranked fourth among Texas resorts.
The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas.
JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa. Also ranked fifth among Texas resorts.
Hotel ZaZa Houston Museum District.
Hotel ZaZa Houston Memorial City.
Archer Hotel Austin.
The Joule, Dallas.
Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa. Also ranked sixth among Texas resorts.
Miraval Austin.
Four Seasons Hotel Houston.
The St. Regis Houston.
Hotel Crescent Court, Dallas.
Hotel ZaZa Dallas.
Mokara Hotel & Spa, San Antonio.
Four Seasons Hotel Austin.
The Lancaster Hotel, Houston.
Hotel Granduca Houston.
Fairmont Austin.
Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa, near Bastrop. Also ranked seventh among Texas resorts.
HALL Arts Hotel Dallas, Curio Collection by Hilton.

“The travel industry has faced many disruptions over the past two years, highlighting the need to support and recognize hotels that continue to maintain excellent standards,” Zach Watson, senior travel editor at U.S. News, says in a news release. “The 2022 Best Hotels rankings offer a dependable guide for travelers to use when organizing their next trip, whether that’s in a few weeks or later in the year.”

So, what is the best hotel in the country? That honor goes to The Peninsula Chicago.

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Holiday Travel News

American Airlines briefly halts flights nationwide for technical issue

Photo courtesy of American Airlines

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American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday due to a technical issue just as the Christmas travel season kicks into high gear.

American flights were cleared to fly by federal regulators about one hour after a national ground stop order was issued by federal regulators.

Just before 8 am Dallas time, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered all American Airlines flights grounded in the U.S. at the airline’s request. American had reported a technical issue affecting its entire system with millions traveling for the holiday.
The ground stop, according to the time stamps on the FAA's orders, lasted exactly one hour.

American has not expanded on what technical issue grounded the flights and the airline did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The groundings couldn't come at a worse time for the millions of travelers expected to fly over the next 10 days. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 40 million passengers over the holidays and through January 2.

Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations even more disruptive than during slower periods. Even with just a brief outage, the cancellations have a cascading effect that can take days to clear up.

In December 2022, Southwest Airlines stranded 2 million travelers, and Delta Air Lines suffered a smaller but significant meltdown after a worldwide technology outage in July caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.

Southwest was ordered to pay a $35 million fine as part of a $140 million settlement to resolve a federal investigation into the Christmas debacle of 2022.

Excluding the settlement, the nation’s fourth-biggest airline by revenue said the meltdown cost it more than $1.1 billion in refunds and reimbursements, extra costs and lost ticket sales over several months.

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