A new spa retreat, based in Texas and constructed using environmentally-friendly techniques and materials, will open its doors on Saturday (8 December). Deer Lake Lodge & Spa, nestled on 50-acres 40 minutes from Houston, will hold tours of the lodge, mini treatment demonstrations and a ribbon cutting ceremony as part of its grand opening. Co-founders Tracy Boulware and her sister Dr. T.C. Hughes have dedicated themselves to providing an all-natural

Germany based 25hours Lifestyle Hotel Group has opened a new design-led hotel in Zurich, Switzerland. 25hours Hotel Zurich West was developed by Zurich interior designer Alfredo Haberli and features 126 guestrooms. Located in the Hard Turm Park, the guestrooms are divided into categories that refer to Zurich's identity as a bank city. The rooms are named and designed to reflect precious metals: silver, gold and platinum. The hotel houses a

After opening an office in Shanghai, China, Blink Design Group has won three key design projects in the cities of Beijing, Benxi and Hefei. In less than a month, the design group was appointed to carry out the interior design of the new Sheraton Resort Beijing, work on the design of two new resorts at Benxi's hot springs in Liaoning Province and began designing a new spa-lifestyle clubhouse in Hefei.

The Caledonian, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland is set to launch the UK's first Guerlain Spa on 1 January, following a £24m (US$38m, 30m euro) redevelopment of the property. Managed by Hilton Worldwide, the hotel's spa will be operated as a beauty spa and be open to both hotel guests and non-guests. Facilities at the spa include three large treatment rooms, a swimming pool, steamroom, sauna, spa pool

The Belfry Hotel and Golf Resort in Warwickshire is set to undergo a £30m refurbishment. The Belfry was bought in August by American investment firm KSL Capital Partners, which appointed The De Vere Group to manage the property. It is expected that work will begin on the resort early next year. The renovations will include updating the guestrooms and function suites as well as a revamp of the restaurants and

A former BBC broadcasting centre is to open as a luxury hotel following a £4m redevelopment. Located near Evesham and Stratford-upon-Avon in Worcestershire, the Grade II listed Wood Norton property will re-open as a boutique hotel at the end of the month. The hotel will feature 50 guestrooms including five suites. It will also house a restaurant, bar and al fresco dining terrace. Other facilities include boardroom and meeting facilities,

Starwood Hotels and Resorts is set to launch W Bangkok hotel in December - its second W property in Thailand. Located on the North Sathorn Road, the hotel will feature 407 guestrooms including 32 suites. The hotel will also house an Away Spa and a Sweat Fitness Centre as well as a wet outdoor heated pool. W Bangkok will form part of the Golden Land's Sathorn Square, a mixed-use project

A new city is to be built in Dubai which will feature the world's largest mall, a theme park complex and 100 hotels. Plans for the new Mohammed bin Rashid city were revealed by prime minister and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. As well as the gigantic Mall of the World, the city will also house 100 hotels, a 455-acre park and an international family attraction in

The Alpina Gstaad hotel and spa is set to launch in the Bernese Alps, Switzerland next month. Located on a 20,000sq m (215,278sq ft) hill top area in Oberbort, the resort will feature 56 guestrooms and suites and 11 private apartments within the hotel. It will also house three private apartments within a chalet, and two private chalets. Designed by Swiss architectual firm Jaggi & Partner AG, the hotel features

Grand Hyatt hotel and Hyatt branded residences are set to open in Manila, Philippines in 2015. The new property is a joint venture between a Hyatt affiliate, property developer Federal Land Inc. and Japanese financial services group ORIX Corporation. Grand Hyatt Manila will be located on the top 14 floors of a 66-story office and hotel tower and will feature 438 guestrooms. Designed by China-based architects Wong + Ouyang, the

Anantara has launched Anantara Sanya Resort & Spa - the group's second resort in China. Located on Hainan Island, the resort features 122 rooms including suites and private pool villas. A signature of the resort are the Spa Pool Villas facing the ocean. The villas feature 500sq m (5,382sq ft) of living space including a pool oasis with private trails to the shoreline. Guests will also have use of a

Rezidor Hotel Group has opened Radisson Blu Hotel in Nantes, France. Housed in the former Court of Justice that was constructed in 1851, the hotel features 142 rooms with 20 suites. Facilities include a 2,153sq ft (200sq m) day spa, featuring a sauna, hammam and health club. Located in the city centre, the hotel was designed by architect Jacques Cholet and interior designer Jean-Philippe Nuel. The aim was to maintain

The US$300m (£185m, 215m euro) Kittitian Hill Resort in St Kitts expects to open its first phase in December. Situated in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean Sea, the first phase will include 90 one-bedroom cottages, 24 villas and a golf course. The par-72 golf course has been designed by European Golf Design (EGD) in association with US Masters winner and 2006 Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam. The phase will

A luxury integrated resort - Desaru Coast - is set to open on the eastern coast of Jahor, Malaysia in 2015. Destination Resorts and Hotels (DRH) - established by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, an investment-holding arm of the government of Malaysia - is developing the 3,900-acre resort. Desaru Coast will launch in phases and will feature an array of luxury hotels and golf residences as well as theme and water parks,

Just over £3m (3.7m euro, US$4.8m) has been invested in a new 11,000sq ft (1,022sq m) full-service spa at Wyboston Lakes, an independently-owned leisure and conference destination in Bedfordshire, UK. Located within an onsite hotel, Y Spa is one of the most significant UK spa openings in 2012 and has been put together by some of the country's top talents. Ray Payne, previously a long-standing general manager at the famous

Hotel operators Fairmont and Raffles are set to open two new properties at a mixed-use tower at Makati in Metro Manila in December. The complex will feature a 30-floor tower housing the Raffles Makati with 32 suites; Raffles Residences with 237 residences for private ownership; and Fairmount Makati, a hotel with 280 deluxe rooms. The developers of the complex are KHOALI Manila, a joint venture between Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI)

W Hotels has launched W Singapore - Sentosa Cove, its first Hotel in Singapore. Located on Sentosa Island near downtown Singapore, the hotel features 240 guest rooms and suites. The property is owned and developed by an affiliate of City Developments Limited and it was designed by London-based architects WATG and designer Rockwell Group. W Singapore's Away Spa, the W brand's signature spa concept, features a 112sq m (1,205sq ft)

A new hotel and spa has opened in a 1920s era Victorian mansion in Valparaiso, Chile. Palacio Astoreca is owned by Swiss-Chilean entrepreneurs Vincent Juillerat and Francisca Joannon. The boutique hotel, which opened following a US$5m (£3.1m 3.9m euro) renovation project, features 23 guest rooms furnished with antiques from the Santiago and Valparaiso regions. Designed by Alvano and Riquelme architects, the hotel features art by contemporary painters such as Ricardo

German hotel group Kempinski has emerged as the potential operator of the gigantic 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea. Construction work on the property - which dominates the skyline in the heart of the secretive nation's capital city - initially began in 1987 but was halted due to an economic crisis following the fall of Soviet Union in 1992. The imposing building was left to rot and as a

Chinese hospitlity giant Mission Hills Group has signed an agreement with Marriott International to open two hotels - The Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance Hotels - at its Mission Hills Haikou resort in Hainan, China. Located in the volcanic region of Hainan Island, the RMB$1.3bn (US$208m, £129m, 161m euro) investment will see the two hotels open in the second quarter of 2015. The Ritz-Carlton will have 180 rooms with 20 villas and

French hotel giant Accor has opened a 'high tech' hotel in Blackfriars, London. Novotel London Blackfriars incorporates the latest technologies including tables fitted with televisions so guests dining alone will be entertained. Multimedia tables housing iPads for each guest also offer a selection of apps with the latest news items, information on events and what's happening in London. A further set of iPads with a range of games to keep

Hotel operator Pan Pacific Hotels Group is set to open Parkroyal on Pickering, a hotel and spa in Singapore, based on a hotel-in-a-garden concept, at the end of 2012. The hotel is located at the gateway to Singapore's Central Business District and landmarks such as Chinatown and China Square Central. Designed by Singapore-based architectural firm WOHA, Parkroyal was built with a strong focus on integrating environmental elements throughout the property.

The Peel Group has appointed architects Allies & Morrison to design its new luxury hotel project in Manchester. Architects from across Europe were invited to take part in a competition - organised by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) - to design the hotel, which will be located on the site of the former Worsley New Hall in Greater Manchester. Worsley New Hall was a historically significant manor house

It held murderers and madmen behind its walls for three centuries but now one of Northern Ireland's most notorious jails Armagh Gaol is a step closer to becoming a luxury hotel and spa. A planning application has been submitted which seeks to redevelop the former Armagh prison into a mixed-use property that will provide a 65-bed hotel with a spa and conference facilities as well as an education and heritage

Detailed plans for the first phase of Rafael Viñoly's Battersea Power Station masterplan have now been submitted to Wandsworth Council. The project in Nine Elms in London was granted outline planning consent in 2011 and the new application provides a detailed specification for the first stage of the development. The application covers the details of the scale of the buildings and structures, the external appearance and the landscaping within Phase

Rosewood hotels and resorts is to open its second Asian resort in Phuket, Thailand in 2014. Located on a 600m (1,968ft) Emerald Bay beachfront in Western Phuket, the Rosewood Phuket resort comprises 87 villas, 20 residences and five hideaway homes and a spa. The Sense Spa will feature five treatment rooms, seven spa villas with steamrooms and showers and a swimming and watsu pool. The central feature of the spa

When the Asworth family - the owners of the Watergate Bay boutique hotel in Conrwall, UK - opened the new £3m spa at the hotel they opted to move away from the hushed, clinical approach and challenged the traditional way of thinking in spa design. Stride Treglown and Household, the designers who worked on the Cowshed Spa, were responsible for creating a warm, lived-in space, complementing the easy-living feel embodied