Some of the most influential hospitality rankings in the world are produced in a homely office park in Crawley, an exurb of London. There amid the square bushes, under a stream of jets taking off and landing at Gatwick Airport, sits the headquarters of the 50 Best brand. “We want to become the reference point for the best travel experiences across the world,” says William Drew, the head of content for 50 Best, which in addition to its restaurant rankings publishes lists of hotels, bars, and vineyards. Drew, 53, is a cheerful former journalist who edited men’s magazines, including FHM and Arena, during the early aughts. “I got very lucky,” he says. “I managed to get out of that.”

Travel lists used to be the province of old-school, ad-stuffed glossy publications like Travel Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler. These days, lists have spread beyond travel magazines and seem to be offered by everyone and everything: bloggers, TikTokers, ChatGPT. Virtually every magazine has a travel list, from Esquire to Architectural Digest to Men’s Journal. The lists themselves have splintered into sub-lists and mini-lists. Forbes now publishes something called the “Verified Air Travel Awards,” which issues citations in 22 separate categories celebrating “airport experiences.” But the most important creator of lists among them all has quickly become 50 Best. “I don’t know how they got their cachet so quickly,” one public-relations executive told me. Travel planners say they are increasingly asked to build itineraries around 50 Best. “People pick a destination because of it,” says Melissa Biggs Bradley, a former travel editor who now runs a boutique travel-planning company called Indagare. Getting on a prominent list, like the World’s 50 Best Hotels, is “a complete game changer,” I was told by a hotel general manager. “It totally fills up beds. And any way you can tilt the odds in your favor, one does, because it really does affect the bottom line.” One publicist, whose agency has shifted focus from articles to lists, says, “Hotels would rather be on a list than get an eight-page cover story.”

The judges at 50 Best wield a lot of power, but unlike the writers of signed reviews from legacy travel publications, they work anonymously. Experts........

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