Editor Hamish Kilburn takes a look at the design-savvy hotels opening this February that are expected to arrive and steal the show…
Following Hotel Designs’Â special feature last month, where we explored the hottest hotels opening throughout 2023, it’s time to kickstart our VIP arrivals series that will run throughout the year taking a monthly glance at the hotels appearing on the global hotel design scene.
To launch our in-depth hotel development editorial series, February will not be short of new and spectacular hospitality hotspots, with openings coming in thick and fast from Paris, Morocco, Thailand, London, Switzerland and more.
Aleenta Retreat Chiang MaiÂ
Image credit: Aleenta Retreat Chiang Mai
Aleenta Retreat Chiang Mai will be located between the ancient city of Chiang Mai and the famous Vipassana meditation centre, the Wat (temple) Umong Forest, surrounded by vast and awe-inspiringly beautiful natural countryside.
Sheltering 44 guestrooms and suites, a swimming pool, bar and lounge area, restaurant, spa and wellness centre, the hotel tastefully combines traditional Thai design with modern facilities, with each villa being crafted from traditional teak wood, manifesting a sustainable design concept whilst celebrating the essence of rejuvenation.
With innovative holistic wellness at its core, Aleenta Retreat Chiang Mai will offer the discerning traveller an extensive menu of wellness retreats with tailormade programs to help guests reach their individual health goals. The in-house doctor, nurse and ‘master healer’ at Aleenta Retreat Chiang Mai will be on-hand to assist guests in achieving optimum wellness and balance in life, through holistic approaches encompassing diet and nutrition, mental wellbeing, physical fitness and medical guidance.
Maison Delano Paris
Image credit: Accor/Ennismore
Poised in the heart of the fashion district, located at 4 rue d’Anjou, the Delano brand’s debut property in Paris, Maison Delano Paris, will be sheltered in a former 18th century private mansion. The Paired-back Parisian design of the 55-key hotel, imagined by Ennismore Design Studio, has helped to transform the grand building into a charming and chic boutique hotel, which will make its entrance onto the European hotel scene in February.
Art’otel Battersea, London
Image credit: art’otel
A new hospitality experience – one that fuses together art, architecture and design – is about to arrive in London. Introducing art’otel Battersea, which promises a vibrant, surreal and playful hotel experience, complete with bold colours, original hospitality concepts and unique art currated by signature artist, Jaime Hayon.
Aside from sophisticated guestrooms, the hotel will also feature JOIA, its signature restaurant on the 15th floor, which will frame unparalleled views over the former powerstation and London skyline. What’s more, the hotel will be home to a heated rooftop pool, giving guests a 360-degree perspective over the city below.
Six Senses Crans-Montana, Switzerland
Image credit: Six Senses Hotels, Resorts & Spas
Six Senses is on top of the world right now – quite literally, in fact, with its new hotel and spa located in the Swiss Alps. Six Senses Crans-Montana is a ‘playground’, as the brand puts it, where ‘vitality meets serenity’. The ski-in, ski-out hotel will shelter 78 chalet-style Terrace Rooms and one- and three-bedroom suites, as well as a spa that will blend high-tech biohacking with high-touch therapies.
The opening is just another ripple in the brand’s aggressive hotel development strategy, which follows the arrival of Six Senses Ibiza. But there’s more to come. The luxury brand is not taking its foot off the gas with other hotels expected to emerge soon in New York, Loire Valley, Rome, Austria, Iceland and London. Not to mention what is arguably its most challenging project to date; creating a new far-remote, carbon-neutral wellness destination in Norway, Six Senses Svart, that we are hoping will open in 2024.
Caravan Dakhla by Habitas, MoroccoÂ
Image credit: Habitas
From one environmentally and socially conscious brand to another, Habitas is a hospitality on a mission having just opened its second property in Morocco. The 24-key Caravan Dakhla is focused on reconnecting with nature through the pursuit of adventure. Habitas’ newest home will embrace its locality offering guests immersive experiences both in and out of the water bringing a unique vibe to the region through its key pillars of adventure, music, wellness, food, art & culture and learning.
Le Grand Mazarin, Paris
Image credit: Le Grand Mazarin
I’m sorry, but we are not quite done with Paris yet in this round-up. Ever since the small yet mighty hotel group, Maison Periente, unveiled its Haute Couture-style hotel in the French Alps, Le Coucou, designed by Pierre Yovanovitch, we have taken an unhealthy interest in the brand’s next steps. And thank goodness we did, because there is somewhat of a statement about to arrive on the Parisian hospitality scene and it’s going by the name of Le Grand Mazarin.
Unexpected and endearing, the 61-key boutique hotel will be a place that reflects the values of Maisons Pariente, through an original hotel story with an exceptional location – a location which is part of the canvas of the cultural history of the capital. Le Marais has crossed the centuries to become the epicentre of new trends. A lively and avant-garde district, sparkling with creativity, vibrant by day and by night, the district represents the art of living joyfully. Taking its lead from the location, inspired and elegant, the décor is imagined by the Swedish interior designer Martin Brudnizki.
Hotel Vermelho, Melides, Portugal
Image credit: Vermelho Hotel
We thought we would round-off this round-up with something to look forward to. This spring, Christian Louboutin will open Hotel Vermelho in Melides, which, according to Vogue, is the fashion designer long-considered ‘creative respite’. The 13-key luxury boutique hotel, which will be a home for the culturally inquisitive and inexhaustibly curious, has been sensitively carved around the building’s detailed architecture. The interiors inside, as you can imagine, will be scattered with art and antique furniture, and full of bold personality, while the rooms will be aptly muted to create a sense of place and calm.
VIP Arrivals is a dedicated editorial series, that drops monthly, to explore the hottest hotels opening around the globe. Please contact the editorial desk if there is a hotel that you think should be on our radar for future features.
Main image credit: Six Senses Hotels, Resorts & Spas
