The 364-room hotel was ranked after Four Seasons George V in Paris but on par with the Peninsula in Hong Kong and the Oriental in Bangkok by the jury of people from Virtuoso, CBS News, Forbes Life, National Geographic, travel agents and operators.

It is one of 21 awards that the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi has won in 2010, a record for the luxury hotel on Ngo Quyen Street, Hoan Kiem District in the capital city.

“Really, in the hotel’s long history, this year has been unprecedented,” said Kai Speth, general manager of the hotel. “With recent accolades from such prestigious publications as Conde Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and from organizations like PATA, we’ve been moved to a new echelon entirely.”

Besides being honored as one of the world’s top four city hotels, the prestigious North American lifestyle magazine also trumpeted the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi as one of Southeast Asia’s top three hotels, together with the Peninsula in Hong Kong and Oriental in Bangkok.

Cigar Aficionado, which is popular in the United States and claims a readership of 1.9 million, commented that “If you’re going to stay in a colonial grand hotel, you have to pull out all the stops. The Metropole does that and has a perfectly central location.”

Speth named two deciding factors behind the hotel’s international recognition as the owners recently concluded a US$25 million refurbishment that balanced the hotel’s storied heritage with room enhancements, an avant-garde new restaurant, Angelina, and a spa, the first in its history.