Issue #01-22: New Hotel News from HotelMap™

What’s happening in the world of super cool new hotels? Check out our latest five most noteworthy openings of 2022 as featured by the editors at HotelMap™ & Roomcard™.

From high-rise luxury in New York to an eco retreat in Indonesia, we highlight the best new hotels opening in 2022. Every month we select five hotels making headlines across the globe and reveal what the experts are saying about them. This week, take a look at the brand new Fifth Avenue Hotel, the hotel set to make Capri the summer hotspot of 2022, and London’s most hotly anticipated hotel opening of the year.

Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York | Opens Autumn 2022

USA: “New York: Get Ready For a Luxury Hotel Boom” says Vogue, leading with the brand-new 153-room Fifth Avenue Hotel opening in the upmarket NoMad district this autumn. In fact, “forty-eight hotels” (Wall Street Journal) are expected to open in the Big Apple in 2022. But this “seven-year, $200 million restoration” (Vogue) stands out for its “four chic restaurants” and “Gilded Age” interiors according to Architectural Digest, featuring it in their “15 Most Anticipated High Design Hotel Openings of 2022”. A combination of “a restored historic bank” (Forbes) and “soaring new 24-story skyscraper” (Robb Report), its “lavish, jewel-tone design scheme” (Vogue) comes courtesy of Martin Brudnizki, famous for his designs at Annabel’s and The Ivy.

Our favourite feature: Ornate, maximalist interiors in the heart of New York.

Conrad Tulum Rivera Maya | Opened January 2022

MEXICO: Mentioned in Forbes’ “20 Most Anticipated Luxury Hotel Openings For 2022” Conrad Tulum “ushers in a new era of luxury” (HospitalityNet) to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Eight miles from “the absolutely gorgeous beach town” (BlackBook Magazine) of Tulum, the new 349-room resort “overlooks a secluded bay amid a tropical forest” (The Points Guy). The sophisticated design includes a “jaw-dropping macrame installation in the lobby” (Robb Report) while nature-inspired rooms reflect ”the bohemian nature of Tulum” (The Points Guy). There’s an in-house Shaman who performs ancient rituals and the stand-out spa is ”nestled within the lush mangroves” (Robb Report). Five restaurants and as many pools plus entertaining spaces - perfect for beachside weddings - complete the package.

Our favourite feature: Luxury near Mexico’s beautiful beach town of Tulum.

Raffles London at The OWO | Opens Winter 2022

UK: “London’s most anticipated opening of the year” (The Telegraph) takes up residence in “the grand former War Office building in Whitehall” (Financial Times) where Winston Churchill “commanded the British armed forces” (House Beautiful) during WWII. ”The capital's first Raffles property” (Forbes) occupies a landmark building that’s the birthplace of Ian Fleming’s James Bond; “no other building has featured in as many 007 films” (Financial Times). Many ”original architectural details” (Forbes) have been retained in the “wholesale transformation” (The Telegraph) by New York-based designer Thierry Despont. Blending “modern style with the original Edwardian Baroque architecture” (Wallpaper*), the hotel has 120 rooms, “a dizzying 11 restaurants and bars” (The Telegraph), ”an immersive spa” (Forbes) and “a 720-person ballroom” (Country Life).

Our favourite feature: Follow in the footsteps of very British characters.

Cap Karoso | Opens July 2022

INDONESIA: Among “The big hotel openings of 2022” flagged by the Financial Times is Cap Karoso, an “eco focussed retreat in surfing honeypot Sumba” (Conde Nast Traveller). A “passion project from French adventurers” (Net-a-Porter) Fabrice and Evguenia Ivara, it’s designed to ”blend into the backdrop” (Net-a-Porter). “Set on the long, eminently photogenic beach” (Financial Times), the resort revolves around a ‘village’ with “high thatched roofs paying tribute to local villages” (Tatler Asia). Social and communal spaces include the chef’s-table restaurant, beach club, spa, main pool and open-air cinemas. With its own “seven-acre organic farm” (Forbes) this is “next-level barefoot luxury” (Tatler).

Our favourite feature: The French-meets-Flores design & sense of community.

Hotel La Palma | Opens Summer 2022

ITALY: “Set to make Capri the summer hotspot of 2022” (Tatler) is Hotel La Palma, the latest opening from the “owners of the fabled Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc” (Financial Times). Oetker Collections' first Italian outpost is a remake of “Capri’s first-ever hotel” (Conde Nast Traveller), opened 200 years ago in 1822. As part of the “extensive face lift” (Tatler), the “whitewashed” (Forbes) hotel has a “newly built pool deck” (The Telegraph), spa and “glamorous rooftop restaurant and bar” (Tatler). The “50 rooms, downsized from 80” (The Telegraph) have been upgraded by designer Francis Sultana “with marble and bronze bathrooms” (Bloomberg). But ”a real highlight... is their new La Palma beach club” (Tatler), just a short drive along Capri’s coast. “About as high-end and haute as it gets” says Ianthe Butt in The Independent.

Our favourite feature: Get in with the in-crowd in Italy.

Previous New Hotel News editions:

Week #52: New Hotel News: From over 2,500 new hotels that launched in 2021 Roomcard highlighted the 215 most likely to become icons of the future. See our final five of the best news hotels to open in 2021.

Week #51: New Hotel News: See the “complete reimagination” of a resort long considered one of the finest in the Caribbean, the first five-star hotel in Antwerp and a historic mansion in the Beverly Hills of Mexico City. A new Portland hotel welcomes guests via an art gallery in the lobby and a new luxury hotel opens in Courchevel.

Week #50: New Hotel News: Ski from a new luxury boutique hotel in Italy, discover next-level wellness in paradise and a sociable hotel a short hop from the Rocky Mountains. An unusual and ambitious hotel brings shepherd’s huts to rural Staffordshire and a vertical garden adds greenery to Philipe Starck’s latest hotel in Paris.

Week #49: New Hotel News: Floral murals flourish at a new hotel in Palm Springs, terrazzo tiles upgrade a grand Slovenian hotel and ME opens a new five-star in Barcelona. Statement bathtubs fill up a former palace in Portugal and Craig Burkinshaw - who founded Audley Travel - beckons us to the beach with “the coolest new holiday park”, says The Telegraph.

Week #48: New Hotel News: Bulgari unveils its latest jewel-like hotel, New York gets a hotel that’s both stylish and affordable plus Richard Branson’s celebrity hideaway opens up to a wider audience. The first W hotel in Italy is unveiled and the world’s best spa, Chiva Som, bring luxury health and wellness to Qatar.