Appellation Healdsburg Named No. 1 by Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards
Voted No. 1: What the Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards Mean to Us
Appellation Healdsburg has been named the No. 1 Resort in the Continental U.S. and the No. 1 Resort in California in the 2026 edition of the Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards — a two-category win, voted by the readers of Travel + Leisure, in the property’s first year of operations.
To win a World’s Best Awards category in a first year of opening is almost unheard of. To win two is something else entirely.
The recognition reflects what Appellation Healdsburg set out to do from the start: root itself in Sonoma County’s distinctive character, build alongside the legendary growers, artisans, and makers who define this place, and pair world-class hospitality with the warmth of being genuinely welcomed. It belongs to the team members who show up for guests every day, the partners across wine country who collaborate with us, and the community of Healdsburg that we are proud to call home.
We are deeply grateful to the readers of Travel + Leisure who voted, and to the editors who continue to champion hotels that lead with service, place, and craft.
A Recognition Rooted in Place
To open a resort in Sonoma wine country and be named the best in California and the best in the continental United States — by readers, not a panel — in the same year you open: that’s not something that happens by accident. It happens because of thoughtful intention, genuine service, and a deep sense of place.
Healdsburg gave us something to build toward. Its growers, its vintners, its bakers and ranchers and makers — the people who have been defining the character of this corner of Sonoma County long before Appellation arrived — those are the ones who made this recognition possible. We set out to root ourselves in their work, and to make sure every guest who walked through our doors understood what makes this land extraordinary.
The readers of Travel + Leisure felt that. And we are deeply grateful.
What Readers Voted For
The Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards are determined annually by the magazine’s readers, who rate hotels and resorts across criteria including rooms and facilities, location, service, food, and value. They are among the most respected reader-voted distinctions in travel and hospitality.
Travel + Leisure editor Maya Kachroo-Levine put the achievement in perspective:
“CONGRATULATIONS! This is huge. To win a WBA category in your first year of opening is, frankly, almost unheard of. I’m so happy for you all! It’s well-deserved. Between you and me, it’s the hotels with the very best service that top the categories — because that’s what really drives people to vote.”
— Maya Kachroo-Levine, Editor, Travel + Leisure
Service. That’s what moves people to vote. And service, here, means something specific: it means knowing that the wine in your glass was made by a neighbor, that the vegetables on your plate were grown a few miles down the road, that the person who checked you in genuinely loves this town. It means feeling welcomed — not just accommodated.
What It Means to Be a Best Resort in California
California sets a formidable standard. The state’s hospitality landscape is among the most competitive in the world: coastal retreats, desert escapes, wine country landmarks that have been defining luxury travel for decades.
To be named the best resort in California in a debut year reflects what Appellation Healdsburg was always designed to be: not a hotel that happens to be in wine country, but a resort that could only exist here. The live-fire kitchen at Folia Bar & Kitchen. Terroir Spa, drawing on the botanicals and rhythms of the surrounding land. Andys Beeline Rooftop, with its views over the vineyards that bring guests back night after night. The Crafted series that brings guests into direct contact with the artists, winemakers, and growers who call Sonoma County home.
Place defines us. The recognition reflects it.
What It Means to Be the Best Resort in the Continental U.S.
This one stopped us.
To be named the No. 1 Resort in the Continental U.S. in our first year of operations is, as Maya Kachroo-Levine noted, almost unheard of. It belongs to every team member who shows up each day with care, to every partner across wine country who has collaborated with us, and to the community of Healdsburg that has welcomed us as neighbors.
Appellation was built on the belief that luxury should be approachable, that the best hospitality feels less like a transaction and more like being genuinely welcomed into something. The World’s Best Awards are, at their core, a reader referendum on that feeling. We are honored that the readers of Travel + Leisure felt it here.
Thank You
To the Travel + Leisure readers who voted: thank you. Your voice is the most honest measure of what a place actually delivers.
To the team at Appellation Healdsburg: this is yours. To the growers, vintners, artisans, and neighbors who make Healdsburg what it is: this belongs to you too.
We’ll keep earning it.
*Photos courtesy of XYZ.