Week #12: New Hotel News

What's happening in the world of super cool new hotels? Check-out our latest five most noteworthy openings of 2021 as featured by the editors at HotelMap? & Roomcard?.

Raise a glass to the new Four Seasons set within a Napa Valley vineyard, enjoy laidback and soulful luxury in Ibiza, and explore a hotel set within the cactus-studded desert landscapes of Mexico. Our five top hotels this week also invite you to discover the vertical garden at the Rosewood in S?o Paulo and a meticulously restored medieval castle in Umbria.

Paradero Todos Santos | Opened 1 February 2021

MEXICO: “Adventure and luxury collide” (Conde Nast Traveler) at the new Paradero Todos Santos, where “the desert, the ocean and the mountains” (The New York Times Style Magazine) meet. The “sleepy surf hamlet of Todos Santos” (Forbes) welcomes a new 35-suite resort that's “a landscape project first and a hotel second” (Conde Nast Traveler). Spread across “five acres of untouched land” (Elite Traveler) and surrounded by “50,000 palm trees” (Vogue), the hotel is “80 percent landscape, 20 percent man-made structures” (Vogue). “Brutalist-inspired structures” (Conde Nast Traveler) by architects Ruben Valdez and Yashar Yektajo are softened by interiors that “evoke a sense of sanctuary” (Forbes). Design firm B Huber has created an “indoor-outdoor aesthetic” (Forbes), drawing on surrounding cactus-studded desert landscapes. Special experiences from surf lessons to a taco tasting tour are laid on, or you can simply take a “refreshing dip in the 130-foot-long infinity pool” (Conde Nast Traveler) next to the palm-shaded spa.

Our favourite feature: An infinity pool overlooking a forest of cactuses.

Rosewood S?o Paulo | Opens June 2021

BRAZIL: In S?o Paulo's upscale Bela Vista neighbourhood, a “plant-covered luxury hotel” (Dezeen) was proclaimed “already a landmark” by the Financial Times, before it even opened. Conceived “as a tribute to the atlantic forest that lines much of Brazil’s coast” (Design Boom), the vertical garden partly occupies Jean Nouvel’s distinctive 93-metre Matarazzo Park tower. French designer Philippe Starck was tasked with “bringing 21st-century boldness and modernity” (Dezeen) to the tower and former maternity hospital, transforming them into a hotel with 265 rooms and suites, and six bars and restaurants. The bathrooms, all “swirling marble” (Financial Times), are “stupendous” but its crowning glory, the rooftop pool, will surely be “the most photogenic in Brazil” (Financial Times).

Our favourite feature: Foliage growing through the facade and that rooftop pool.

Castello di Reschio | Opens May 2021

ITALY: On a wooded Umbrian hilltop next to the Italian city of Perugia, a family owned medieval castle with “golden turrets” (The Times) opens as a hotel after “years of laborious restoration” (The Telegraph). The Bolza family’s Reschio estate is many things - with its organic gardens, wild boar and deer, stables and Andalucian horses - “all of them are impressive” (Financial Times). Added to “one-of-a-kind private homes” (Forbes) is the hotel: 36 suites encompassing “sumptuous Italian fabrics” (Country & Town House), “ancient stone fireplaces” (The Telegraph), “soaring beamed ceilings and a mix of antiques and bespoke pieces”. A Roman-inspired spa fills the “dramatic vaulted stone cellar” (Country & Town House), an “'enchanted lake' pool is ringed by umbrella pines” (The Telegraph) and a pocket-sized chapel is perfect for intimate weddings and celebrations.

Our favourite feature: The 'enchanted lake' pool set in the rolling Umbrian countryside.

Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley | Opens Spring 2021

CALIFORNIA: Overlooking organic vineyards “and the Palisades mountains beyond” (Financial Times), the Four Seasons Napa Valley gives us "the only hotel in the area set fully within a functioning winery” (The Points Guy). The opening of the hotel is part of a “hotel boom across Napa Valley” (Luxury Travel Advisor). With a "farmhouse-chic aesthetic" (Architectural Digest), all 85 spacious rooms - and a home called The Estate Villa - come with “feature fireplaces” and “balconies with incredible views” (The Points Guy). Two outdoor pools, steam pods and a sunken whirlpool overlook neat rows of vines alongside an eight-room spa. High-end dining is supplemented by an “extensive wine program” by “celebrated winemaker” (Financial Times) Thomas Rivers Brown.

Our favourite feature: Immersive and expert wine experiences, from grape to glass.

OKU Ibiza | Opens 30 April 2021

SPAIN: On the Spanish island best known as the “white-hot clubbing capital of the Mediterranean" (Forbes), “brand new lifestyle brand” (Absolute Magazine) OKU Hotels launches its collection of “soulful five-star hideaways”. A“wellness destination for the international jet set” (Forbes), the “bohemian setting brings the outdoors in” (Luxury Travel Magazine). Just ten minutes from the "pristine turquoise water” (Forbes) of Cala Gracio bay the hotel has “the island’s largest swimming pool” (Luxury Travel Magazine) plus three additional swimming pools. As well as 184 rooms and suites there's a standalone four-bedroom villa with a private pool, ocean-view penthouses, six swim-up rooms, two restaurants and “an intimate spa” (Forbes). 

Our favourite feature: An enormous pool paired with boho-chic styling.

Previous New Hotel News editions:

Week #11: New Hotel News | Basketball courts become luxury suites in L.A, an oasis of peace arrives on a Greek party island and a new desert camp is set up in Saudi Arabia. Our five favourite new hotels this week also include a glamorous, grand palazzo in Palermo from Rocco Forte and the first hotel outside America by the buzzy NoMad brand.

Week #10: New Hotel News | Across the globe, from the Maldives to Montenegro, the Israeli desert to the African bush, we explore five stunning new hotels launching in 2021. Book your own private island, sleep under the stars in a baobab-shaped treehouse, dive into the One&Only's luxury spa, stay overnight in the Negev Desert and see the revamp of the Spanish hotel Cesar Ritz set up over 100 years ago.

Week #9: New Hotel News | This week we look at five of the best new hotels (including one owned by Pharrell Williams) opening across the globe this year. There may be a global pandemic but that hasn't stopped these new hotels from rising up. From a long list of over 120 new hotels set to open in 2021, we've chosen five hip new places to stay in New York, Paris, Nago and Miami – and reveal what the experts say about them.