The Most Expensive Hotel in the US Is Not Where You'd Expect

In February 2020, U.S. News announced its 10th annual new hotel rankings. The Four Seasons portfolio has five properties in the top 17 alone, which made the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World in the number five spot feel less than noteworthy.

That said, a new study has revealed that the that Disney World-based property Four Season Hotel is actually also America’s most expensive luxury hotel.

According to the study by luxury watch experts Chrono24, which analyzed Booking.com prices and reviews for 263 5-star hotels in the U.S. and ranked them according to their average cost per night, it costs an average of $1,733.10 per night to stay at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando — $257 more than the second most expensive hotel on the list,
Skylofts at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which costs an average of $1,457.33.

After the MGM Grand is The Towers at Lotte New York Palace in New York ($1,309.09/night); Pendry Manhattan West in New York ($1048.58/night), Equinox Hotel in New York ($988.63/night); The Canyon Suites at The Phoenician in Scottsdale ($911.24/night ); The Peninsula in Chicago ($907.97/night); The Langham in Chicago ($906.88 /night); The Ivy Hotel in Baltimore ($822.95/night); and, lastly, Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego ($810.96/night).

“When looking for a luxurious holiday destination, the hotel choice certainly plays a crucial role. Each of the hotels in this top ten offers a truly extravagant way to spend a vacation, with access to luxury spa treatments, fancy bars and restaurants,” a spokesperson for Chrono24 said. “It’s also fascinating to see how to the top ten works out geographically, with hotels in Maryland and Arizona alongside those in major tourist destinations like New York, California and Florida.”

Even in the properties in Maryland and Arizona kind of make sense to me, though.

You know which one doesn’t? The Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World. Or any hotel in Orlando for that matter. Four Seasons or not, why is anyone paying $1,733.10 to stay in central Florida? I can’t even begin to fathom it, when you could go…quite literally anywhere else. The answer is, of course, because it’s Disney and there are no lengths Disney adults will not go to…rich Disney adults, included. Or, rather, especially rich Disney adults.

Now, that’s not to say that the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort isn’t nice (it is inarguably nice), nor that Orlando isn’t worthy of a trip (on the contrary, I think there’s actually much more to the City Beautiful than just the mouse). Only that the fact that it is home to the most expensive hotel in the U.S. is really something. And, if we’re being honest with ourselves, also pretty predictable. If Disney World is their chapel, the Four Seasons Resort Orlando is a luxury parsonage of sorts — and can you really put a price tag on that? (Yes, you can.)