A batch of new and freshly renovated hotels has just landed across four continents, and there's something here for nearly every kind of trip — a safari camp, a riverside debut in Singapore, and a couple of design-heavy conversions in Europe's most photographed old towns.
The most atmospheric of the lot might be Taj Palace Lucknow in India. BLINK Design Group spent three years shaping the Gomti Nagar property around a single idea: a legendary forest said to have once grown along the Gomti River. That "Lost Forest" concept runs through everything from the arrival sequence to the restaurants, wellness areas and guestrooms, using organic textures and greenery to soften a large modern hotel.
In Dubrovnik, Villa Argentina has reopened after a major renovation led by Croatian studio 3LHD, with Dimore Studio handling the decorative layer. The Adriatic Luxury Hotels property pairs stone and wood interiors with preserved Mediterranean gardens — around 14,000 plants were integrated into the landscape, and local stone found during the rebuild was reused across the complex. Views of the city walls and the sea do the rest.
Two city openings lean into adaptive reuse. Ruby Lilou in Marseille converts the former BNP Paribas headquarters into a 237-room hotel designed by Gensler, with rooms in four categories (Nest, Cosy, Lovely, Wow) borrowing cues from luxury yacht design — oversized beds, rainfall showers, blackout curtains. In Rome, the Experimental group has taken over a former bank, splitting its 82 rooms into two moods: one theatrical and baroque-tinged with 1970s colour, the other quieter and almost gallery-like, with ribbed steel headboards and lacquered ceilings.
If you're after longer stays, Wilde Amsterdam spans eight floors of a new residential development with apartment-style studios and one- and two-beds — full kitchens, Hypnos mattresses, co-working, bike parking and pet-friendly options included. It's aimed at relocators and slow travellers rather than a one-night stop.
Further afield, the Mereshi Plains camp in Tanzania's Serengeti (an Autograph Collection property) puts 18 elevated tented suites across 55 acres of savannah. Each 95-square-metre suite splits evenly between interior and outdoor space and faces east to catch sunrise, with the design built around the acacia tree form and minimal ground disturbance. Iceland adds the 31-room, family-run 360 Hotel, combining geothermal wellness and seasonal cooking with big-sky countryside views.
Singapore gets its first DoubleTree by Hilton, on the river at Robertson Quay: 344 rooms, more than 200 of them facing the water, plus connecting rooms and family-friendly suites in a precinct that's already strong on restaurants and bars.
Why it matters: this round of openings skews towards hotels rooted in their surroundings rather than generic city stock — useful if you're planning trips to Dubrovnik, Rome or Marseille before rooms in the best-located properties get snapped up, or if a safari or Iceland road trip is on the horizon.
