ATLANTA – Forbes Travel Guide—the originator of the Five-Star hospitality rating system—announced a large-scale expansion of rating properties in exclusive destinations, including the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.

The company will unveil a new group of Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star, Four-Star and Recommended properties in the Americas, including Bermuda, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Grand Cayman, Nevis, Barbados, the Dominican Republic, St. Martin, Cancun, San Miguel de Allende, Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo, Los Cabos and Iguazu Falls as part of its global announcement of 2016 winners on February 22. At that time, it also expects to announce additional new destinations to be rated.

"We are happy to announce another important step in Forbes Travel Guide's global growth, as we bring our time-tested process for identifying the world's finest hotels to additional locations in the Americas," said Forbes Travel Guide CEO Gerard J. Inzerillo. "Forbes Travel Guide continues its uniquely selective process for recognizing the finest properties in each of the markets it rates, across a rigorous set of more than 800 standards of service excellence. Forbes Travel Guide's Ratings group works hard to identify the best of the best properties in each market to participate in the evaluation process, which continues to help consumers make the most informed travel decisions each year."

Alongside its aggressive expansion throughout the Americas, in 2015 the company announced its push deeper into Europe, with the addition of cities such as Paris, Cannes, Geneva, Berlin, Milan, Rome and Florence. This comes on top of the more than 150 markets in which the company currently rates hotels, restaurants and spas in the United States, Canada, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau.

Lourdes Hainlin, Forbes Travel Guide Vice President of Client Services for the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, added, "Having met with many of the finest hoteliers throughout the region in 2015, we are proud to expand our ratings, and our partnerships. We are excited that we will soon be announcing another select group of award winners, and additional markets to be rated in 2016."

Hainlin joined Forbes Travel Guide late last year, with more than 20 years of experience in various leadership roles in the hospitality industry. She is based in Miami and can be reached at [email protected].

About Forbes Travel Guide

Forbes Travel Guide is the originator of the prestigious Five-Star Rating system, and has provided the travel industry's most comprehensive ratings and reviews of hotels, restaurants and spas since 1958. Forbes Travel Guide has a team of expert inspectors who anonymously evaluate properties against up to 800 rigorous and objective standards, providing consumers the insight to make better-informed travel and leisure decisions. Forbes Travel Guide is the most prestigious standard for luxury hospitality worldwide, and is considered the "Gold Medal" of luxury hospitality. For more information about Forbes Travel Guide, visit www.forbestravelguide.com.

ForbesTravelGuide.com combines the objectivity and heritage of the Forbes Travel Guide Star Rating system with insightful recommendations from a hand-selected group of travel experts, tastemakers and Forbes Travel Guide inspectors. ForbesTravelGuide.com is the exclusive online destination for Forbes Travel Guide's list of Star-Rated hotels, restaurants and spas, and gives its registered members exclusive access to special offers and curated experiences from select Forbes Travel Guide partners.

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Michael Frenkel
Forbes Travel Guide