The Deer Path Inn, an English Tudor-style hotel nestled along tree-lined streets of the North Shore was just named the No. 1 resort hotel in the Midwest by Travel + Leisure Magazine, a press release said.
The accolade, part of the magazine’s “World’s Best Awards” for 2024, marks the fifth time the historic, 57-room Lake Forest hotel nabbed the top spot, the release went on to say.
It’s not the only award The Deer Path won for 2024. According to the release, the hotel earned the No. 6 spot on Travel + Leisure’s list of “Best Resorts in the Continental U.S.” It also landed at No. 66 in the magazine’s report on “Best Hotels in the World” for 2024 — one of only 16 U.S. hotels to make the list of 100.
Voting for the “World’s Best” awards comes from reader surveys, editors said. For 2024, more than 186,000 readers weighed in, with approximately 700,000 votes across 8,700 properties.
According to magazine, hotels were first classified based on their locations and amenities. They were then rated on criteria including rooms and facilities, service, food, value and more.
From there, readers could rate hotels based on each characteristic, ranging from “excellent” to “poor,” editors said.
According to the results, The Deer Path Inn earned a near-prefect reader score of 98.11. More than five points behind the Deer Path was Larsmont Cottages on Lake Superior, in Two Harbors, Minnesota, with a reader score of 93.75.
“The moment you arrive at Deer Path Inn, it’s clear that this hotel is different,” the hotel’s winning entry reads. “It’s set in a Tudor manor house dating to 1929 and has an old-world charm that may trick you into believing you’re in England, not a suburb north of Chicago. In fact, as one reader so aptly explained, ‘the Deer Path Inn makes guest[s] feel like they are visiting the fine home of a British relative.'”
That familiar feeling is one reason locals also love it.
Last year, Deer Path manager James Barnett told NBC Chicago that nearly half of the the hotel’s reservations come from Illinois zip codes.
“You don’t have to go far to feel like you’re on vacation,” said Stephie Blum, a Northbrook resident who visited the Inn in October. “It always makes me feel like I’m away, even when I’m not. They know your name, they greet you when you come in.”
That personal touch is part of the art of Innkeeping, Barnett said.
At the Inn, life slows down: it’s a place where dinner reservations are only taken over the phone, which leads to better communication with guests, Barnett said. Details and personal connections matter – all the way down to the rubber ducks that are hand-placed on a guest’s bathtub tray before they arrive.
“We want to make it feel like it is a home away from home, so we try to learn about guests, and put special items in their room that make them feel like they’re still at their own home,” Guest Services Manager Shelby Trkla said.
The feeling of hospitality also extends into The Deer Path’s charming room packages, which range from a “Local’s Only” neighborhood scavenger hunt, to “A Good Book & A Spot of Tea” — a generous package that includes bedtime tea service with English-inspired bedtime snacks, a lavender mocktail, and a curated “Sleepy Sips” playlist, books selected by the Lake Forest Book Store and more.
This summer, The Deer Path Inn’s programming extends to a series of British picnic-inspired “Summer Soirees” as the hotel celebrates its 95th anniversary, a spokesperson said.
“There’s a thoughtfulness, and more attention,” Barnett added. “That comes back to the idea of an Inn – a warm, welcoming refuge. A smaller place, with personal service. That’s what people crave when they come here. It’s a step away from the everyday.”