2017 Hotel Openings

Overseen by artistic director Aline Asmar d’Amman of local firm Culture in Architecture, the thoughtful four-year restoration of Paris’ Hôtel de Crillon, a Rosewood Hotel, which dates back to the 18th century, was a massive collaboration between multiple firms and designers that celebrates Parisian culture.

For their second flag in Manhattan, the Whitby, husband and wife team Tim and Kit Kemp of Firmdale Hotels, along with Stonehill + Taylor, crafted a vibrant property that showcases their signature range of color, patterns, and artwork that seamlessly mix for an inviting and eclectic atmosphere.

Design firm Grzywinski+Pons captured the soul of Edinburgh in Eden Locke, where they gutted and wove together two buildings to form the 72-room hotel, which include the enchanting, tropical lobby lounge Hyde & Son.

Longtime collaborator New York’s Deborah Berke Partners transformed 21c Museum Hotels’ latest in Nashville from the former early 20th-century Gray & Dudley Hardware Company warehouse into the 124-room property complete with a rotating art gallery and an industrial, yet residential interior.

The sophisticated yet gritty aesthetic of Ian Schrager’s affordable luxury brand Public is tucked in the Lower East Side of Manhattan with a concrete exterior by Herzog & de Meuron fronted by a private park and boasting expansive windows and a rippling texture.

Designer Patrick Sutton reinterprets patriotic grit for the Sagamore Pendry in Baltimore by referencing historical treasures throughout the property, including three cannons found underwater dating back to 1690, with one showcased below a glass enclosure in the flooring at the Cannon Room whiskey bar.

To transform a former spice warehouse into the striking 37-room Warehouse Hotel in Singapore, local design practice Asylum Creative established interiors that nod to its industrial past, including suspending aluminum pulleys from above for a dramatic installation.

Chicago’s Simeone Deary Design Group and Birmingham, Michigan-based McIntosh Poris Associates teamed up to renovate Detroit’s former fire department headquarters into the Foundation Hotel with a design that celebrates the city.

In the lobby of the Macau Roosevelt, Gulla Jónsdóttir Architecture + Design crafted a vertical garden that expands organically as it moves upward, growing as it meanders across the 30-foot-tall wood-slatted double-height ceiling.

Brutalism gets an upgrade in Stockholm in At Six, the sister property to the Studio Aisslinger-designed Hobo, with a refined Scandinavian aesthetic and monotone color scheme, courtesy of Universal Design Studio.

For Marriott’s space-conscious Moxy Times Square, Yabu Pushelberg (Stonehill + Taylor handled the architecture) created “urban camping” rooms measuring in at 150 to 350 square feet with flexible public spaces that feature brand signatures, such as an honest material palette. (Tao Group and Rockwell Group teamed up for the flagship property’s F&B.)

After a four-year renovation from Ennismore, Soho House, and Humbert & Poyet, Hoxton’s latest embraces the Parisian spirit while remaining true the brand’s ethos with typical quirks, including the use of bold pops of blue and orange hues.

Updated motels reached peak nostalgia this year like at Studio Tack’s Anvil property in Wyoming, which features a rustic charm with a wood-paneled dark blue exterior.

For Bulgari’s latest in Dubai, frequent collaborators Milanese Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel Partners drew inspiration from European boulevards translated through illuminated gardens and pools that blend with Mediterranean landscaping.

Tropical hues and a sophisticated material palette that includes bleached walnut and white oak wood define the 299-room SLS Baha Mar in the Bahamas from Los Angeles-based Avenue Interior Design, which conceived the resort’s design as a celebration of Bahamian culture.

From Liz Lambert of Bunkhouse Group and San Antonio, Texas firm Lake Flato Architects, Hotel San Cristóbal in Todos Santos, Mexico showcases a laidback minimalism of its beachfront setting with natural materials and pops of color.

AvroKO overhauled the circa-1940s former Sunburst Roadside motel into the chic Calistoga Motor Lodge and Spa in California, a contemporary reinterpretation of midcentury Americana.

Dream Hotel Group headed to California with the Dream Hollywood, enlisting the help of New York’s Rockwell Group to craft the 178-room hotel as an oasis in the City of Stars, as well as a few of TAO Group’s signature dining and nightlife concepts, along with a few new ones.

In Singapore, Hotel Mono’s minimalist yet dramatic dual-color approach came courtesy of William Chan of locally based Spacedge Designs, who chose a pared-down aesthetic for the affordable yet chic boutique hotel to appeal to design-conscious urban nomads.

Designed by Krause Sawyer, Canopy by Hilton Washington DC the the Wharf is the U.S. debut of Hilton’s new lifestyle brand, and is one part of the city’s massive mixed-use redevelopment of the Southwest Waterfront along the Potomac River.

For the 90-room Emiliano hotel situated along Copacabana Beach in Rio, Arthur Casas Studio in collaboration with architect Chad Oppenheim conceived a contemporary property that mixes colorful Brazilian culture with luxurious amenities, including a rooftop infinity pool that overlooks the water.
Photo by Fernando Guerra

The much-anticipated 131-room San Francisco Proper Hotel, one of the brand’s four properties with locations in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Austin, showcases Kelly Wearstler’s residential-meets-European-modernist style in the emerging Embarcadero district.

To restore the Four Seasons Hotel at the Surf Club in Surfside, Florida to its original 1930s opulence, interior architect Joseph Dirand collaborated with architect Richard Meier and Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design on three new buildings that flank the original clubhouse and reference the property’s past, present, and future.

With interiors from Los Angeles-based Commune, the Ace Hotel Chicago pays homage to the city’s rich architectural history with a utilitarian aesthetic and pops of color.

Thomas Heatherwick transformed a 1921-era grain silo in Cape Town, South Africa into the boundary-pushing, mixed-used Silo hotel, which houses the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA).

Grupo Habita launched two properties in Chicago: the Art Deco-styled Robey (pictured) from Nicolas Schuybroek Architects and Marc Merckx Interiors and the Hollander, now called the Robey Hall.

Housed within the historic five-story Hollander Fireproof Warehouse in Chicago, Grupo Habita’s chic hotel, newly renamed the Robey Hall from Paris-based firm Delordinaire, is now a full-fledged hotel with 20 private rooms.

Vector Architects and Horizontal Space Design created a serene escape in a former sugar mill as the foundation for Alila Yangshuo in China, where more than 60,000 handmade hollow bricks crafted from local sandstone formed new buildings, seamlessly blending the old with the new.

Jaime Hayon’s playful aesthetic takes centerstage at Hotel Barceló in his hometown of Madrid with bold and muted hues that complement whimsical art and sculptures.

A four-year, $268 million collaboration between Soho House and Sydell Group, the 252-room Ned in London is outfitted within the iconic former Midland Bank and includes late-night lounge Ned’s Downstairs, which is tucked inside one of the restored basement bank vaults.

Starwood Capital teamed up with locally based INC Architecture & Design to execute the sustainable and stylish 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, which is crafted with natural materials influenced by the neighboring Brooklyn Bridge and waterfront.