Travel + Leisure’s 14th annual “World’s Best Awards” has named Charleston the #4 US City for the second year in a row! Most recently, Charleston has ranked #6 in 2007 and #4 in 2006.

What cities beat out Charleston? New York City, San Francisco and Chicago have held the top three spots for the last few years, but our little city is thrilled to rank amongst the biggest cities in the country!

Other categories where Charleston was represented include:

Top 50 US/Canada Resorts: #16 Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Top 50 Large City Hotels in US/Canada (100 rooms or more): #22 Charleston Place

Top 10 Small City Hotels in US/Canada (Fewer than 100 rooms): #6 Planters Inn

So how does Travel + Leisure come up with this list? A questionnaire is developed by the editors and was posted online for three months. Respondents were asked to rate hotels, islands, spa, cruise lines and more on things like value, service, location ambiance and customer service. Respondents next rated the candidate from 1 to 5 (excellent). Ratings were then averaged and an overall score was created, and a minimum number of responses was necessary for a candidate to be eligible for inclusion in the World’s Best Awards listings.