By: Mike Stutter | From: San Antonio Express News
San Antonio earned its first Michelin Guide honor Thursday when Hotel Emma at Pearl was awarded two Michelin Keys, the guide’s benchmark for honoring great hotels across the world.
The Michelin Keys awarded Thursday are the first Michelin honors given in Texas. Keys recognize excellence in hotels in the same way Michelin stars define the world’s best restaurants, with one, two and three Michelin Keys carrying the same weight as one, two and three Michelin restaurant stars. The guide will publish its first survey of Texas restaurants later this year, featuring spots in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Fort Worth and Dallas.
The Key ratings for hotels represent “a very special stay” for one Key; “an exceptional stay” for two Keys; and “an extraordinary stay” for three Keys.
Hotel Emma joined 20 Texas hotels earning Michelin Keys for the first time, announced by Michelin Guide CEO Gwendal Poullennec in an Austin ceremony. Seventeen Texas hotels earned one Key, including seven in Austin, four in Dallas, three in Houston and one each in Fort Worth, Galveston and El Paso.
No Texas hotel earned three Keys, and only three earned two-Key status: Hotel Emma in San Antonio, Bowie House in Fort Worth and the Commodore Perry Estate in Austin. In total, Michelin awarded new Keys to 288 hotels in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The guide awarded Keys to 124 U.S. hotels earlier this year, the program’s very first year.
BEST DAY AT THE PEARL: Mike Sutter’s guide
Matthew Lauzon, hotel manager at Hotel Emma, credited the staff for earning the award, an honor given by anonymous Michelin inspectors based on, as the guide says: “excellence in interior design and architecture; individuality, reflecting personality and authenticity; quality and consistency in service, comfort and maintenance; an open door to the destination; and an ability to deliver an extraordinary experience for its price.”
“Every day, we’re living and breathing that Five Diamond — now Michelin Key — level of performance,” Lauzon said. “We go in with the mindset of, ‘This is who we are, and this is what we do.’ ”
The hotel also has been recognized this year as one of TripAdvisor’s national “Best of the Best” and U.S. News & World Report’s Top 25 best hotels in the country.