by Tom Mulvihill, Rachel Cranshaw, Jade Conroy, Caroline Shearing and Sherelle Jacobs, The Telegraph, March 16, 2018
From the most exciting upcoming openings to the latest news, trends and events, keep up to date with our regularly updated guide to all that is hot in the world of hotels.
• This month's best new hotel openings
Caribbean luxe
St Barths was devastated when Hurricane Irma struck last September, but the Caribbean island is making a steady comeback. The latest stage of recovery is Hotel Manapany, an eco-conscious boutique property launching next week on tranquil Anse des Cayes bay, with 43 beach-chic bedrooms, an oceanside restaurant, two swimming pools and a spa.
• Rooms from £416 (0033 5 90 27 66 55; hotelmanapany-stbarth.com )
Spring rolle
To visit Tokyo during cherry blossom season is, for many travellers, to fulfil a lifelong dream. So how about touring the city’s blossoming hotspots in a Rolls-Royce Phantom? This is what The Peninsula Tokyo is offering with its illuminating sakura viewing tours, which run from March 24 to April 1, taking in Chidorigafuchi and Meguro river by day, or the illuminated blossoms of Ark Hills or Tokyo Midtown by night.
• Day tour £95; evening tour £71. Rooms from £427 (0081 3 6270 2888; tokyo.peninsula.com)
First light
Belmond has partnered with Leica to create First Light Experiences: a series of sunrise nature walks at inspiring locations, with Leica binoculars provided. Available at Belmond hotels in Cape Town, Mallorca and Iguazu Falls, the trails – solo, or with a guide – all promise superb views and close encounters with flora and fauna.
Mountain fitness
The Ranch Malibu, in California, is heading overseas with a six-week pop-up at Hotel Rosa Alpina in the Dolomites. The week-long sessions, from August 19, will be limited to 20 participants and will involve hikes through Alpine scenery, yoga, meditation and daily massages, plus a nutritional Italian diet.
• Six nights from £6,080pp all-inclusive (0039 0471 849 500; rosalpina.it)
Cakes and blooms
The Connaught in London has teamed up with McQueens, the florist, to create an “I Love You Bunches” package for Mother’s Day. It includes a two-hour flower arranging class with a McQueens tutor, then a Mother’s Day afternoon tea at Jean-Georges at The Connaught.
• From £150 per person; available on March 10 and 11 (020 7499 7070; the-connaught.co.uk)
Shipwreck safari
Designed to evoke the rusting ruins of the many stranded boats that give Namibia’s Skeleton Coast its name, Shipwreck Lodge is set to be one of the quirkiest hotels in the region. From this summer it will offer guided tours of the surrounding dunes, oases and wrecks, as well as safari trips to see lions, black rhinos, and rare desert elephants.
• Available to book now from £443 per person per night, including all meals and activities (01737 888334; discover-the-world.co.uk)
Hot hotel
February sees the reopening of the award-winning Kempinski Hotel Bahía in Estepona, Spain, following a two-month sprucing up of the public areas and restaurants. A healthy injection of opulent design, combined with new attractions such as the Spiler Beach Club and Black Rose cocktail bar, will surely see this become the hottest spot on the Costa del Sol.
• Rooms from £168 (0034 952 80 9500; kempinski.com )
Macaron masterclass
Once one of the oldest bakeries in Paris, Hotel du Petit Moulin is returning to its roots this year with a new macaron masterclass, offered in partnership with the prestigious cookery school, La Cuisine Paris. With the macaron making package, budding bakers will learn how to craft the city’s iconic sweet treat, as well as enjoying a night’s stay in the Christian Lacroix-designed hotel.
• Package: £313 (0033 1 42 74 10 10; hoteldupetitmoulin.com)
Capsule hostel
Visitors to London can opt for a more “space age” budget stay with the launch of its first capsule hostel – at St Christopher’s At The Village, London Bridge. OK, it looks more like a launderette than a spaceship, but it offers a cosy and relatively private sleeping space with Wi-Fi, USB ports and mood lighting. Beats a bunk bed.
• From £19 (020 7939 9710; st-christophers.co.uk)
Alpine boot camp
With spring almost here, now seems like the perfect time to get those New Year’s wellness resolutions back on track. In case you’re not much of a self-starter, The Chedi Andermatt in the Swiss Alps will be running five-day mountain boot camps, incorporating pilates and yoga, back therapy and strength training, rounding off each day with a trip to the spa. The first will start on March 18.
• From £2,208 per person, full-board (0041 41 888 74 77; thechedi-andermatt.com)
Taking Libertines
Indie rockers The Libertines are raising money to complete The Albion Rooms, their hotel/studio in Margate. They are selling “personalised studio bricks”, whereby anyone can pay to have their own custom-stencilled brick on display in the finished studio where the band will see it as, they say, “we are working on a particularly poignant vocal”.
• £200 per brick; thelibertines.com/store
Canggu cool
Bali’s laid-back surf culture meets Italian design at Como Uma Canggu, a brand new beach resort set to open on Valentine’s Day. Guests are promised rad waves at the surf school, but there’ll also be trekking, canoeing and treatments at one of Como’s Shambhala spas.
• Rooms £216 (0062 361 3022228; comohotels.com/umacanggu )
Got a hot hotel tip? Email: [email protected]
This article was written by Tom Mulvihill, Rachel Cranshaw, Jade Conroy, Caroline Shearing and Sherelle Jacobs from The Telegraph and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].
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