Week #27: 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?.

Discover the Dubai hotel dubbed the “ultra-cool new kid on the block” by Conde Nast Traveller, an Art Nouveau hotel with history in Stockholm and a hotel giving a new lease of life to an old orphanage in New Orleans. The Langham launches in a former bank in Boston and, taking a trip to Venice, we reveal one of the hottest hotel openings in Italy this summer.

SLS Dubai | Opened 5 April 2021

DUBAI: Located in buzzing downtown Dubai, “ultra-cool new kid on the block” (Conde Nast Traveller Middle East) SLS Dubai offers unobstructed views of the sky-high Burj Khalifa. One of “50 new hotels” (Travel + Leisure) hospitality group sbe plan to open by 2022, “the SLS Dubai has it all” says Architectural Digest, “from a breathtaking infinity pool and a signature spa” to six floors of food and leisure at the top. Up “on the 74th floor” is Carna, a “butchery-cum-restaurant” (Conde Nast Traveller) from “the famed Italian butcher” (Time Out Dubai) Dario Cecchini. But “the jewel in the crown”, according to Conde Nast Traveller, is “day-to-night venue, Privilege” where a “kaleidoscopically hued” duck overlooks the pool. Dubai’s “acclaimed designer Paul Bishop” (Architectural Digest) combines “dazzling style” and “playful theatrics” (Conde Nast Traveller Middle East) in all 254 “sumptuously appointed” (Architectural Digest) hotel rooms.

Our favourite features: Two incredible infinity pools and stunning views over Dubai.

Villa Dagmar, Stockholm | Opened 6 May 2021

SWEDEN: In an old brick Art Nouveau building “in the heart of well-heeled ?stermalm” (Monocle) in Stockholm, Villa Dagmar offers guests “bright, light-filled interiors”, a “flower shop, a traditional Nordic spa” (Travel + Leisure) and “a quiet escape” (The i Paper). Sister hotel to “the ultra-luxe Hotel Diplomat” (Travel + Leisure), history permeates the 70-room hotel where famous author Axel Munthe, the doctor and alleged lover of Sweden’s Queen Victoria, was a long-time resident. “Jewel-toned velvet armchairs” (Travel + Leisure) are among the “hand-picked classic and contemporary furniture” (Monocle) while “a welcome line-up of refreshing cocktails” (Monocle) are served in the restaurant from “the duo behind the city’s Michelin-starred Aloe restaurant” (The i Paper).

Our favourite feature: The light-filled courtyard, home to a Michelin pedigree restaurant.

Hotel Saint Vincent | Opened 22 June 2021

USA: Opening “new doors for travelers to New Orleans” (Vogue), independent Hotel Saint Vincent gives a new life to an old orphanage. In the laid back Lower Garden District the Italianate hotel is the “next act for boutique hotelier Liz Lambert” (Wall Street Journal), who left her hospitality company, Bunkhouse Group, in 2019. She fell in love with the “intricate brickwork” and “handwrought iron balconies” (Wall Street Journal) of a “building that dates back to 1861” (Forbes). Newly rebranded company, MML Hospitality, has created “A Grand Italian Resort” (Wall Street Journal) with 75 rooms with “psychedelic marbled wallpaper” (Vogue), a restaurant, bar, cafe and a “swimming pool surrounded by Mexican Saltillo tiles” and “a decades-old grotto” (Wall Street Journal). Italian restaurant San Lorenzo serves “dreamy pavlova for dessert” (Vogue) while the ground-floor bar, in the orphanage’s chapel, “suggests debauchery” with its “collection of nude paintings,” writes Ella Riley-Adams in Vogue.

Our favourite features: Red velvet bed frames and ornate Italianate detailing.

The Langham, Boston | Opened June 2021

USA: In the former 1920s-era Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, a landmark hotel has reopened after “an extensive, multiyear renovation” (The New York Times) costing $200 million. In an article headlined: “Why There's Never Been a Better Time to Spend the Night in Boston” Travel + Leisure admired the hotel’s “landmarked Renaissance Revival building”. Creating a lighter feel, all 312 rooms are resplendent in “gauzy shades of blue and cream” (The Boston Globe) and come with “brand new marble bathrooms” (Luxury Travel Advisor). The penthouse features “a living room complete with a baby grand piano” (The New York Times) and guests can dip into the “glass-enclosed indoor pool” (Luxury Travel Advisor). Details include “emerald bankers’ lamps” (The New York Times), an extensive art collection plus original chandeliers and Wyeth murals. Light-filled Italian restaurant Grana can be found in “the former Federal Reserve Bank’s grand hall” (Eater), the Lincoln Ballroom has been revitalized while The Fed offers, “a lounge reminiscent of the city’s Jazz Age bars” (The New York Times).

Our favourite feature: Handsome hotel updated with treasures of its banking past.

Ca’ di Dio, Venice | Opens July 2021

ITALY: The historic palazzo Ca’ di Dio “sits proud on the Riva degli Schiavoni” says The Telegraph, detailing “The hottest hotel openings in Italy you should know about for an amazing summer holiday”. Venice’s newest five-star hotel has been designed to “showcase local style” by “prominent Spanish architect” (Forbes) Patricia Urquiola. Its 66 rooms offer “an oasis of calm” (Forbes), “an easy stroll along the waterfront from bustling St. Mark’s Square” (Luxury Travel Advisor). Most rooms are “suites facing the lagoon” (Forbes), two of which have a large roof terrace overlooking the San Marco Basin. A converted “ecclesiastical compound” (Forbes) originally built in 1272, now its "two internal courtyards house a bar and restaurant” (Forbes), there’s a “full wellness program” (Forbes) at the spa and a side canal entrance allows for “direct docking of boats and water taxis” (Sleeper). Part of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, Ca’ di Dio is the first from Voi Hotels, a collection of “exclusive properties” (Sleeper) known as V-Retreats.

Our favourite feature: Water taxis direct to your five-star door.

Previous New Hotel News editions:

Week #26: New Hotel News | This week’s top five highlights an arty new hotel in Puglia, smart lodgings in Bath and the Ritz-Carlton making a splash in the Maldives. The all-American motel gets an upgrade and a boutique hotel with a minimalist design opens on Milos in Greece.

Week #25: New Hotel News | Andaz opens a new hotel in the Bali, Stockholm based Nobis Hospitality Group brings Scandi style to Spain and Mama Shelter comes to Bahrain. The former home of the Sex Pistols becomes a?rock’n’roll hotel and hip US group Life House transforms a railway terminal into a hotel.

Week #24: New Hotel News | Southern Thailand gets a new eco hotel with a farm-to-table philosophy, a clifftop hideaway comes to Santorini while Wild Rice Retreat brings a centre for arts and wellness to Wisconsin. A luxury hotel launches in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and in Paris’ business district a playful hotel invites guests to relax in pink marble bathrooms.

Week #23: New Hotel News | A romantic new hotel near Bali’s famous Tanah Lot temple, a tropical hotel in Sri Lanka and Helsinki’s historic central station gets a new railway hotel. One family revives historic buildings in Transylvania and in North America a new hotel sets up a vast Roman-style spa.

Week #22: New Hotel News | Waterfront bungalows in Mozambique, new nature-inspired cabanas from Habitas in Mexico and an ultra-glamorous Six Senses hotel in Ibiza. A grand dame hotel revived in artsy Santa Fe and a boutique hotel on a bridge overlooking one of Africa’s largest game reserves - they’re all in this week’s top five new hotels.

Week #21: New Hotel News | Sustainable and stylish, a luxury hotel opens in the Maldives, the world’s first 3D-printed resort becomes a reality and a beachside hotel launches on Lombok. Opera inspires a new hotel in Hanoi and a 17th-century inn is given a top-to-toe makeover by mother-and-daughter duo Olga and Alex Polizzi.

Week #20: New Hotel News | Catherine Deneuve’s former French retreat, a buzzing new hotel in downtown Manhattan and a 17th-century wisteria-clad coaching inn in the Cotswolds. See the Cretian beach retreat Conde Nast Traveler recommends for sundown this summer and discover a secluded luxury hotel in California’s Wine Country.

Week #19: New Hotel News | A restored colonial-style villa on Mexico’s west coast, the Caribbean debut by Soho House and the Dubai hotel with two world records. This week’s five eye-catching new hotels also reveal a luxury riverside hotel in southern China and a trendy aparthotel in Dalston, London’s answer to Brooklyn.

Week #18: New Hotel News | Discover the hotel group giving all-inclusive holidays a high-end makeover, a minimalist hotel with a private beach in Oman and a villa in Croatia surrounded by a thousand olive trees. The best five new hotels this week also reveals a new wellness centre in Italy and one of the biggest UK hotel openings outside the capital.

Week #17: New Hotel News | An off-the-grid Indonesian retreat adds a new private island, a labour of love revives an Italianate-style mansion in North Carolina and Six Senses sets its first foot in Brazil. This week’s top five also includes a wellness retreat on an unspoilt Greek island and a curvaceous brick-built boutique hotel on Mexico’s southern coast.

Week #16: New Hotel News | Sleek newcomer The Londoner sets up the deepest habitable hotel in the UK capital, trendy London brand The Hoxton launches a new hotel in Rome and a secluded countryside hotel settles into a picture-postcard Spanish island.

Week #15: New Hotel News | A new Colonial-era hotel in Puerto Rico’s capital, Japan’s first ‘castle hotel’ and the most hotly anticipated hotel to launch in Los Angeles this year are highlighted in this week’s top five new hotels to open in 2021 across the globe.

Week #14: New Hotel News | This week’s five alluring new hotels include the first of a new brand by the founder of the Aman group, one of the world’s highest infinity pools atop a towering new hotel in Dubai and a cool coastal retreat in Santa Barbara.

Week #13: New Hotel News | Japan’s latest hotel taps into the health benefits of volcanic hot springs, an iconic Italian hotel is given a Parisian makeover and Ibiza’s little sister gets a grown up hotel by Pacha. New Yorkers can escape to a riverside retreat and a former boot factory in Bristol becomes a new arty hotel.

Week #12: New Hotel News | 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.

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.