It’s now spring-for-travel season, and a fresh hotel ranking just dropped—all about the experience. The 2026 Dianping’s “Must-Stay Hotel List” was unveiled on April 8, featuring 1,418 hotels across 205 cities nationwide. Hangzhou landed 54 on the list, the most of any city in China, and it claimed the No. 1 spot in the “leisure-centered hotel” category. Zhejiang as a whole saw 188 hotels make the cut—the highest among all provinces.
A lineup of classic resort-style hotels continues to shine here. Wang’s Villa, Xixi Hotel, Qiandao Lake New Century, and Wonderland Resort have all made the list for seven years running, becoming true mainstays of the local staycation scene. The winners in Hangzhou span 11 categories, with “Instagrammable views,” “family-friendly,” and “leisure-centered” taking the top three spots—perfectly hitting the mark for today’s diverse travel needs.
The list added 91 new cities compared to last year, bringing hidden gems like Chaozhou, Xiangxi, Altay, and Jinzhong into the spotlight for the first time—giving a major boost to the growing “off-the-beaten-path” travel trend. Organized around three questions—“whom you stay with,” “where to stay,” and “what to do”—the list is split into 12 niche categories including “direct access to scenic spots,” “core of the city,” “cultural experiences,” and “pet-friendly stays,” helping travelers easily find exactly what they're looking for.
“Traveling to a city just for a hotel” is fast becoming a thing. In Zunyi, Guizhou, the newly listed Grand Miao Resort offers a stunning canyon view right from the window, plus 46 immersive Miao’s cultural experiences. In Mi’le, Yunnan, the Hotel Mi’Le MGallery Collection blends stays with an art-town vibe seamlessly that it’s turned this once-transit town into a dedicated destination for cultural travel in southern Yunnan.
One standout this year: the list’s review process got a tech upgrade with AI-powered analysis helping sift through millions of real, verified user reviews and up-to-date physical-world data to filter out fake feedback and dig deep into what makes each hotel special. According to the editor, “every genuine piece of feedback left by our users is a key clue for us to uncover a hotel’s unique strengths. We want people to see choosing a hotel not just as ‘finding a place to sleep,’ but as stepping into a different way of life.”