Though we hesitate to wade into any regional rivalries, we’re comfortable declaring that Toronto is Canada’s biggest, busiest, most cosmopolitan city. It’s only fitting, then, that its top-end luxury hotels should be absolutely first-rate. Among the usual suspects when it comes to this sort of thing is Ritz-Carlton, but the Ritz-Carlton Toronto is an unusual one — the design is rather more modern than you’ll find in more typical examples of this venerable luxury brand, while the top-flight service and faultless comforts you expect are all exactly as they ought to be.

You can only make a riad hotel so big. But if you’re stuck for size, you can join them together — La Sultana, for example, combines four traditional Marrakchi courtyard mansions into one contiguous complex, and in so doing creates one of the medina’s most complete luxury hotels. In some towns 28 rooms and suites would still fall decidedly on the small side, but here numbers like that make La Sultana one of the biggest players in town.

Key to the appeal of a riad hotel is the contrast between its city surroundings — in this case a busy neighborhood at the edge of the Medina — and the serene atmosphere within the riad’s walls. Behind a heavy carved wooden door on the rue Sidi Mimoun lies La Villa des Orangers, a pair of early 20th-century residences surrounding a pair of tranquil courtyards, one with an eighteen-meter heated pool, the other with a babbling fountain and a scattering of sofas and armchairs.

If any hotel in Marrakech truly lives up to its billing as an oasis in the city, it’s the Selman. Spread across some fifteen acres to the south of the medina, it’s a splash of green amidst the arid desert landscape, its grounds dotted with sparkling pools and fountains — and as if it didn’t already seem like something of a mirage, there’s even a family of thoroughbred Arabian horses leading lives of extraordinary leisure as they roam the hotel’s pastures. Generally we pass lightly over the question of accommodation for a hotel’s non-human inhabitants, but when the horses sleep in stables designed by Jacques Garcia to resemble Indian and Andalusian palaces, as they do at the Selman, we have to assume it reflects well on the prospects for the bipedal guests.

First, a point of clarification: Bay of Many Coves is the name of both the hotel and the body of water alongside which the hotel is located. If the shores here were crowded with resorts, you can imagine the sort of who’s-on-first confusion that might ensue — fortunately, this is one of those New Zealand hotels where your room comes with a generous, serene expanse of the natural world and practically no one to share it with. No danger of your helicopter, seaplane or ferry arriving at the wrong hotel on the Bay of Many Coves; there’s just one here, and like its setting, it’s a stunner.

The Six Senses eco-resorts are consistently ranked among the very best in southeast Asia, and Six Senses Laamu is the undisputed champion of its particular location. Sure, it happens to be the only five-star resort on the Laamu atoll — an extremely secluded and unspoiled place, even by Maldivian standards — but that doesn’t means it triumphs solely through lack of competition. When it comes to bringing impossibly high-end hospitality experiences to the white sands and turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean, the Six Senses group isn’t known for doing things halfway.

Quite a departure from the standard Australian lodge hotel — Thorngrove Manor is a fantasy version of a European castle, complete with turrets, towers and rough stone walls. The interiors carry on in the same baroque vein, with antiques, artworks and architectural details at every turn. Yet in spite of the historical theme, Thorngrove is a thoroughly modern luxury hotel, and deep down has more in common with today’s five-star boutiques than with any drafty old fortress.

The Maldives are an oddity, a vast archipelago of a thousand tiny islands seemingly tailor-made for tourism — and this particular island, home to Soneva Fushi, is perhaps the archetypal Maldives destination. Here a spectacular soft white sand beach rings a modest expanse of jungle and looks out into the impossibly blue Indian Ocean, over crystal-clear waters home to some of the world’s best diving and snorkeling.

Not so very long ago the Maldives were where you went to spend an unthinkable sum on an extravagantly luxurious overwater bungalow, while the Standard hotels were who you called if you wanted a stylish night out in one of a few major American cities. In other words, the opening of a Standard Maldives is big news, heralding a change not just for the Standard brand but for the Maldivian hotel scene as well.

The Maldives comprise some 1,190 islands, and it only seems as though there are 1,190 luxury resorts — few of them, however, are on the level of the Soneva hotel group, whose Soneva Fushi is among the most rarefied luxury resorts in the world. And the newest one, Soneva Jani, is eminently worthy of the name. It’s hard to compare them in terms of extravagance, but where Fushi is known for its dry-land beachfront villas, Jani is comprised mostly of overwater villas, the sine qua non of Maldivian luxury hospitality.

Before they turned it into a hotel, owners Nabil and Zoe Debs lived in this spectacular house in Beirut’s vibrant, bohemian Gemmayze neighborhood — it’s been in the family for generations, but it’s a bit much for one couple, frankly, spread out as it is across four distinct buildings (and incorporating some Roman ruins). Now it’s a high-end boutique hotel, and the Arthaus name isn’t bestowed lightly; the hotel’s permanent collection is an impressive one, and exhibitions and art-world events are regular features here.

The Western Mediterranean and the Greek side of the Aegean Sea are justifiably famous, but often overlooked is Turkey’s Bodrum Peninsula, home to landscapes and seascapes that are every bit the equal of their western neighbors. It’s a matter of local pride, and of course within Turkey this place is rated extremely highly — Allium Bodrum Resort & Spa, in the harborside town of Yalikavak, joins a dizzying array of ultra-luxe resort developments. What sets this one apart isn’t so much the location or the concept but the execution: Allium exhibits a tastefulness and a thoughtfulness that’s far beyond the norm.

The vast, pyramid-like Parklane isn’t exactly a boutique hotel, but it’s proof that large-scale luxury hospitality can still delight. It’s set on a lushly gardened parcel of land on the south coast of Cyprus, a few minutes outside of Limassol, and it’s likely some guests never venture off the property — this is a fully self-sufficient resort experience.

When we first encountered Six Senses, all those years ago, we were skeptical, having made do all our lives with just the usual five senses. Given their fantastic taste in locations, however, and their equally fantastic knack for effortless top-flight luxury, it quickly became clear that the brand had earned its sixth sense, and possibly even a seventh. Now, however, with the advent of the Six Senses Zil Pasyon, on a private island in the Seychelles, we’re fully prepared to grant them eight, nine, or even ten senses — whatever it takes to keep the luxury flowing.

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