Australia and the world's best hotels for 2020 named in TripAdvisor awards

The best hotels in Australia and the world, according to the world's biggest travel site, TripAdvisor, have been named in its annual Traveller's Choice Awards.

Pinetrees Lodge, on Lord Howe Island, came in at No.1 for the Australia and Pacific region. The family-owned lodge has existed since 1858 and completed a five-year major renovation in late 2019.

Although it's not cheap, with rooms from $436 per person per night (including island airport transfers and all meals), Pinetrees has a laid back feel. There's no Wi-Fi and no locks on the doors and guests don't need to dress up for dinner, despite the lodge's focus on fine food.

Pinetrees also topped TripAdvisor's list in 2017 and 2018. Australia's second top-ranked hotel, in third place for the region, was Sydney's Ovolo Woolloomooloo, which came in at No.1 in 2019.

The Ovolo sits on Finger Wharf, one of the oldest timber wharfs in the world. Originally built in 1915 as a facility for wool export, many of the original features of the building remain, with exposed beams, timber flooring and bale chutes. The centre of the building is an open space with the 100 rooms running down either side across five levels. (Read our review here)

Hobart's MACq 01 Hotel, which opened on the city's waterfront in 2017, was ranked in fifth place behind the Four Seasons Bora Bora. The 115-room hotel offers "informal luxury" and bills itself as a "storytelling hotel", with characters from Australia's distant and recent past assigned to each room, from Indigenous warrior Manalagena who resisted British occupation, to Robyn Moore, the voice of Blinky Bill.

For those looking to dream about the days when we'll be able to travel internationally again, the number one hotel in the world was Viroth's Hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The hotel, with rooms from about $A240 a night, also topped the list in 2018 and ranked third last year.

Viroth features airy, modern rooms, a chic restaurant, large pool and spa. It's in the bustling town centre, which is the gateway to the Angkor Wat temple complex.