Just three years on from the start of the pandemic, when lockdown was the norm and “adventure travel” meant a trip to the grocery store, real travel is back, stronger than ever. And nowhere is it stronger than in the luxury market right now. Five-star hotels, those temples of glamour, excellence, originality and occasionally excess, are bustin”™ out all over. But it”™s not only the big, five-star luxury brands: The smaller independents are also making travel waves. From New York City to New Delhi, from Riviera Maya to Rabat, here”™s a roundup of luxury hotel news:
From Hilton comes news of the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Now slated to reopen in April after its four-year, top-to-toe renovation, this will be a svelte, slimmed-down version of the legendary hostelry, with only 375 guest rooms (from 1,400) but boasting 375 new luxury condominium units. And across the pond in London, where plans for the hotel conversion of Admiralty Arch ”“ the historic cluster of buildings off Trafalgar Square, directly facing Buckingham Palace down The Mall ”“ have been on hold for a decade, Hilton has confirmed that the project is now going full steam ahead, with an opening expected in 2025.
Hilton has also just opened a luxury property in the Moroccan capital, Rabat (a city that sorely need upscale hotel inventory). Meanwhile, LXR, Hilton”™s newest luxury brand, which is quietly establishing its own sophisticated identity, has a slew of new properties in the pipeline, from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to Tel Aviv ”“ a city that may have been slow to bring luxury hotels to the market but is now playing catch-up fast. (A new Setai and Kempinski are already making waves on the Tel Aviv/Jaffa seafront.)
Marriott, in contention with Accor (see below) as the world largest hotel company ”“ it opens a new hotel approximately every 16 hours ”“ has hardly been burying its head in the sand either. In the snazzy Marriott pipeline for 2023 and beyond are a Ritz-Carlton in Portland, Oregon, and St. Regis properties ”“ “luxury without limits,” as Marriott describes them ”“ in Chicago and Riviera Maya, Mexico. Those, along with a new five-star Luxury Collection hotel in Barbados and new JW Marriott properties in Masai Mara, Kenya; Madrid; Goa, India; Munich; and Clearwater Beach, Florida, make it a busy time for the group. And there”™s been change of gear ”“ a coming of age, if you will ”“ for Marriott”™s W hotels, no longer quite the obstreperous, high-energy hotels they were but now just a little older and wiser. Look out for new Ws in Europe, specifically in Milan, Prague and Budapest, and closer to home in Manhattan”™s Union Square and Studio City, California.
If you love The Peninsula brand ”“ and honestly, how could you not? ”“ you probably already know about the new “Peninsula Promise.” The promise is a check-in time from 6 a.m. and checkouts up to 10 p.m., so far unparalleled in the industry. You”™ll be able to take advantage at the highly anticipated new Peninsula in London, right on Hyde Park Corner, minutes from Knightsbridge and Buckingham Palace, from early in 2023.
If you”™re heading to Asia, the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG), now part of the French giant, Accor, will be reopening The Regent Hong Kong, a grande dame hotel. And Regents are also coming to Bali and Shanghai. Meanwhile in Europe, the 2023 reopening of the Carlton in Cannes, France, will see it rebranded as a Regent, too.
Preferred Hotels ”“ the world”™s largest collection of independent hotels, representing more than 650 distinct hotels resorts and residences across more than 80 countries ”“ is welcoming six new member properties this year, among them The Claridges in New Delhi, a splendid period piece; the eco-friendly little gem that is Hôtel Dame des Arts on the Left Bank in Paris; and the much talked-about, just-opened Passalacqua, an historic, exquisite villa on the shore of Lake Como, Italy.
Then there are the strictly independents, with no affiliations, like Mykonos Cali, over in the eastern Mediterranean, named for the most prominent of the Muses, seven years in the making. Clinging to its hillside on the quiet side of the island, far from the madding Mykonos crowds, this stunning new resort comprises 40 suites and villas; a turquoise swimming pool that curves like an eel above the deep, blue sea; a pretty, private beach; and, of course, wonderful food, too. All as local and organic as can get, along with excellent eco-credentials and staff (call them “family”) who can”™t do enough for you.
Balearic burnout? Bored with Ibiza? You”™re not alone. But get this: The beautiful people have been drifting towards Formentera, the smallest of the Balearic Islands, with no airport (because airports are so uncool), just 30 minutes by ferry from Ibiza. The place to see and be seen ”“ although the island is much more low-key than Ibiza, and that”™s really the point of it ”“ is the new Five Flowers Hotel & Spa on Formentera, with its hippy-chic style, somewhere where wearing flowers in your hair would seem highly appropriate.
If private islands are your things, then the 800-acre Pine Cay in the Turks and Caicos (which cheekily likes to remind prospective guests that it is “10 minutes closer to the airport than Parrot Cay,”) will increase its 13 beachfront rooms to 18 this year. That slim increase might not register for larger properties, but it”™s big news for this truly exclusive hideaway, originally built in the 1950s. Easily accessible via Jet Blue from New York, it”™s then just a six-minute flight by private plane to the resort”™s private landing strip.
So up, up and away and here”™s wishing you happy and safe travels in 2023 and beyond.
For more, visit hilton.com; marriott.com; accor.com;ihg.com; peninsula.com; calimykonos.com; pinecay.com; fiveflowershotel.co.
