Week #19: 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 a restored colonial-style villa on Mexico’s west coast, see where Soho House has made its Caribbean debut and check out the Dubai hotel breaking not one but two world records. This week’s five eye-catching new hotels also open the doors to a luxury riverside hotel set in the stunning countryside of southern China and an achingly trendy aparthotel in Dalston, London’s answer to Brooklyn.

Address Beach Resort | Opened March 2021

DUBAI: Dubai’s “elliptical” (Design Boom) skyscraper, housing the Address Beach Resort, has “made a splash” (Time Out Dubai) and “broken two records”, says Guinness World Records. One for its “extraordinary outdoor infinity pool” which lies a “vertiginous” (CNN) 293.906 metres up and a second for the skybridge linking two 77-storey towers - breaking the record for “the highest occupiable skybridge floor” (Guinness World Records). Although the pool is only open to hotel guests, you can enjoy the same panoramic views of Palm Jumeirah and the Arabian Gulf from the hotel’s 77th floor rooftop restaurant, Zeta Seventy Seven. This “stunning” 217-room hotel “offers the best of both worlds” says Harpers Bazaar Arabia - the buzz of the city and a quiet day by the pool, with four to choose from.

Our favourite feature: Bragging rights for the tallest outdoor infinity pool in the world.

Soho Beach House Canouan | Opened 15 April 2021

CARRIBEAN: Soho House makes its Caribbean debut on the “silky sands” of an “idyllic Grenadine island” (The i Paper). The first of “no fewer than five House openings in 2021” (British GQ), this members-only House on the small island of Canouan launches ahead of new openings in Tel Aviv, Rome, Paris, Austin and Texas, joining the brand’s 27 Houses across the globe. The 40-bedroom hotel is part of “a recent flurry of luxury hotel activity” (Conde Nast Traveler) on the “teeny-tiny five-square-mile” (Evening Standard) island - named after a local word for land turtle. The place to see and be seen, this “beachside retreat” (Evening Standard) - and the island itself - is perfect for “paparazzi-shy celebrities” (Conde Nast Traveler).

Our favourite feature: Holidaying in the Caribbean like a paparazzi-shy celebrity.

Baja Club Hotel | Opened 15 March 2021

MEXICO: On Mexico’s west coast, by the legendary Sea of Cortés, Baja Club is a “32-room lifestyle hotel” (Luxury Travel Magazine) made up of a “restored colonial-style villa” (Luxury Travel Magazine). Set around a central courtyard, “the most striking addition”, according to The New York Times, is “a concrete spiral staircase” connecting the traditional 1910 hacienda to a new four-story extension housing guest rooms, a spa, pool and rooftop sunset bar. Located “smack on the beach” (Super Future) in downtown La Paz, near the recently renovated Malecon (beachfront walk), the hotel is perfect for diving, kayaking and watching the whale migration. Renovated by the Mexico City-based architect Max von Werz, this “swoon-worthy” (TripSavvy) hotel from Grupo Habita is “both an escape and conveniently central” (Luxury Travel Magazine).

Our favourite feature: Blending a 19th century Mexican hacienda with modern architecture.

LUX* Chongzuo, Guangxi Resort & Villas | Opened 2 February 2021

CHINA: Set against “awe-inspiring karst mountains” (Conde Nast Traveller) in southern China, this new LUX* hotel delivers “river-facing terraces and plunge pools” (Sleeper Magazine) that showcase the “breath-taking” (The Luxury Editor) natural surroundings. Just a ten minute drive from Vietnam, the hotel's 56 suites and villas blend into the landscape courtesy of “a natural colour palette” (Conde Nast Traveller) featuring stone, wood and accents of copper. Luxury elements include an “outdoor infinity pool” (Business Traveller), a spa, gym and kids club as well as two restaurants and three bars led by “award winning Executive Chef George Qu” (Meet the Leader). Stay here and you'll see natural wonders like the Detian Waterfall and “endangered white-headed langurs” (Conde Nast Traveller) and be given the opportunity to “drift down the picturesque Mingshi River” (Meet the Leader) on a bamboo raft.

Our favourite feature: Stunning surroundings and infinity pools that seem to run into the river.

Kingsland Locke, Dalston | Opens 17 May 2021

UK: A “key incubator of talent” (Forbes), London’s “achingly trendy” (Luxury London) Dalston is home to Kingsland Locke, the fourth London aparthotel from the Locke group. The millennial-friendly hotel combines 124 studio apartments with “complimentary co-working space” (Boutique Hotelier), a workout studio as well as a gin distillery and microbrewery. KRAFT Dalston is “the first permanent restaurant and bar by German Kraft Brewery” (AnOther Mag) - the place to go for German beer, gin and “fancy kebabs in an industrial chic setting” (Design My Night). Described as a “boutique hotel-style take on self-catering” by The i Paper, the hotel features interiors by East London-based studio Red Deer and comes with fully-equipped kitchens, high spec appliances and “custom-made green velvet sofas” (Boutique Hotelier). Hallways in “peachy-pinks” (Forbes) paired with planting and greenery live up to the trademarks of Locke hotels. Unique to this property is the large atrium space on the lower ground floor which becomes a bar area at night, with DJs supplying the soundtrack to your weekend.

Our favourite feature: Combining co-working with home comforts for young professionals.

Previous New Hotel News editions:

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. These are the top five hottest new hotels of 2021 we’ve highlighted this week.

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 São 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.