New Hotel News

Issue #01-23: New Hotel News

What’s happening in the world of super cool new hotels? Check out our latest five most noteworthy openings of 2023 as featured by the editors at HotelMap™ & Roomcard™.

London’s most highly-anticipated new hotel finally opens at Battersea Power Station - “Europe’s most thrilling mall”  The Times - and a new Dubai hotel “has already cemented itself as an iconic addition to the city’s dazzling skyline”  Travel + Leisure. Milan welcomes two new luxury properties, including “the city’s most prestigious and audacious new luxury stay”  Conde Nast Traveller, and Six Senses launches its “first ski-in, ski-out resort”  Financial Times in Switzerland. 

DUBAI: Following an extravagant three-day launch party that saw celebs, socialites and influencers gather for “bling, Beyoncé and boomtime” Tatler Atlantis The Royal will begin welcoming guests on 10th February. The much-anticipated hotel is the sister property to Atlantis The Palm and “has already cemented itself as an iconic addition to the city’s dazzling skyline” Travel + Leisure with a striking structure that “looks like an elevated Lego creation” Travel + Leisure. Offering a different feel to its sibling, which is “pink and regal” Conde Nast Traveller India, the new opening is “more neutral and modern” Conde Nast Traveller India and brings with it an exciting array of facilities, including “a never-before-seen sky garden concept” Time Out and “a 90-foot infinity pool, which will connect two of the architectural towers” Time Out. Heston Blumenthal’s first Dubai restaurant will also be located within the hotel and “the first-ever Nobu By The Beach” Harper’s Bazaar Arabia beach club.

Our favourite features: The never-before-seen sky garden concept and the first-ever Nobu beach club.

UK: Having sat unoccupied for the best part of 40 years, with Londoners witnessing the “slow-motion decline of a hulking monument to the coal age” Financial Times, the iconic Battersea Power Station has finally been given a new lease of life. The “industrial beast” The Times is now home to a buzzing mixed-use neighbourhood that’s set to be “Europe’s most thrilling mall” The Times. Opening as part of the development is Art’otel Battersea - the first UK opening from the luxury hotel group and the only hotel within the development. “The 164-room hotel occupies the end of a snaking new building by Norman Foster” Financial Times with an impressive rooftop infinity pool that “lets swimmers get up close and personal with the famous chimneys of the former power station” Time Out. “An immersive interior design” Wallpaper* courtesy of Spanish artist and designer Jaime Hayon creates a space “that feels organic and welcoming” Wallpaper* while the rooftop bar and restaurant, Joia, boasts spectacular views and brings together pastel colours that “makes it feel like a box of Parisian macaroons” Financial Times.

Our favourite feature: The rooftop infinity pool that’s almost touching distance from the power station’s famous chimneys.

ITALY: An intimate new opening in the heart of Milan, Casa Baglioni brings 30 suites and bedrooms to the district of Brera - “close to luxury boutiques, art galleries, antique markets and chic cocktail bars” Sleeper Magazine. “Drawing inspiration from 1960s Milan” Country & Town House the interior “nods to Italy’s Modernist dolce vita era” Town & Country Mag with a classic and elegant style. An “impressive wine cellar” Country & Town House sits alongside a restaurant by Michelin-starred Chef Claudio Sadler and guests can also make use of a communal living area.

Our favourite feature: The design that nods to Italy’s Modernist dolce vita era.

SWITZERLAND: Opening in “spectacular Switzerland” Evening Standard Six Senses Crans Montana is the brand’s “first ski-in, ski-out resort” Financial Times with direct access to the slopes outside. The resort “promises to elevate the luxury level at the Swiss ski resort” Forbes with “a contemporary take on a chalet aesthetic” Financial Times and 78 rooms that all boast “terraces or balconies facing the final turn of the Chetzeron piste” Financial Times. After a demanding day on the slopes, guests can make use of the 6,500 square-foot spa featuring “a biohacking recovery lounge geared at speeding up recovery” Conde Nast Traveller before settling down for an evening at the “outdoor cinema heated by fire pits and supplied with warm blankets” Financial Times.

Our favourite feature: The outdoor cinema heated by fire pits.

ITALY: “Nearly a decade in the making” Travel and Leisure Portrait Milano has finally opened its doors, becoming “the city’s most prestigious and audacious new luxury stay” Conde Nast Traveller. Housed within “a secret palace, almost forgotten by the city” Vanity Fair Italy the “landmark resurrection” Conde Nast Traveller sees Europe’s oldest seminary open to the public for the first time in decades with its sprawling private courtyard relaunching as a public piazza filled with restaurants and boutiques that will “undoubtedly become a hot spot for food enthusiasts” Travel and Leisure. The property is the third hotel to open under the Lungarno Collection’s Portrait brand, and just like Portrait Roma and Portrait Firenze, it “tells a story linked to its destination” Sleeper Magazine with original architectural and locally-inspired interiors. In spring, the hotel will also “become an oasis for wellness enthusiasts” Travel and Leisure with the opening of a sprawling subterranean spa.

Our favourite feature: The new public piazza filled with boutiques and restaurants.