Global design practice GroupGSA have revealed the latest images for "Huangyao Ancient Town Resort", a soon-to-be-built luxury destination in Guilin, China. Developed by Guangxi Lingyu Chuanghe Tourism Investment, the resort will comprise 103 rooms and 27 villas and feature a gym, spa, and playground, as well as multiple pools, sporting facilities, and restaurants. The structure will also include an observatory tower which will provide guests with 360-degree views of the

Curio Collection by international hospitality group Hilton has opened a boutique hotel on the site of a former steel mill in Asheville, North Carolina. Designed by local design studio Lagom Interiors, the 87-room Foundry Hotel – which will be operated by Charlestowne Hotels – features an herb garden, fitness room, and a 3,400 sq ft courtyard. Other facilities include a mixology bar and lounge as well as the Benne Eagle

Handel Architects have released images of their latest project on the New Jersey Shore: the Asbury Ocean Club. Developed by iStar, the new mixed-development property, which will be located in the popular Asbury Park beachfront district, will rise 16 storeys and include a 54-room hotel as well as 130 residences. The estimated US$300m (€262m, £233m) complex – which will feature the interior design expertise of studios Anda Andrei and Bonetti/Kozerski

The Elite Athlete Centre and Hotel (EAC) – the first sports-centric venue of its kind in the UK – has opened at Loughborough University. Designed by David Morley Architects and developed in partnership with UK Sport, Sport England, the English Institute of Sport, and Imago Venues, the 44-room, fitness-focused hotel also includes 20 'high-altitude rooms'. These unique chambers simulate the low oxygen atmospheric conditions of transalpine mountains and accelerate the

Luxury group The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts will soon debut the Himalayas Lake View – the first tented eco-villas in Nepal. Designed by Wonaw & Associates and Coconut Groove Interiors, the eight villas – which range between 40 and 82 sq m – are located on the shore of Phewa Lake in Pokhara. The resort provides a number of wellness and leisure offerings, such as Ayurvedic massages, access to a

MURAKA – the world’s first underwater residence – has opened at Hilton Hotels’ Conrad Rangali in the Maldives. The new US$15m (€13.3m, £11.6m) space, which is set five metres beneath the Indian Ocean, spreads over two levels and features three bedrooms, a gym, bar, and infinity pool. Guests at the Crown Company-designed villa also have round-the-clock access to a butler who resides on the premises. Other amenities at Conrad Maldives

The Apurva Bali Kempinski – a retreat which takes artistic influence from Indonesia’s "gods and temples" – is set to debut in March of next year. Designed by architecture firms and studios Denton Corker Marshall and Trivium Design Group, the new clifftop getaway, which overlooks Nusa Dusa bay, has been described as an exemplar of the Balinese art and philosophy Tri Hita Karana, combining both the divine and natural worlds.

Westin Hotels, Marriott International's upscale brand, has opened its first resort in Brisbane, Queensland. The new, 299-room Westin Brisbane – located in the city’s upscale, Mary Lane mixed-used development – features the city's only swim-up bar, as well as three restaurants, spa facilities, and a fitness studio. As part of its wellness offerings, the hotel also engages a "run concierge", a staff member who can be recruited by guests to

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has introduced its boutique brand Kimpton to the UK market with the opening of The Kimpton Fitzroy in Russell Square in London. Formerly the Hotel Russell, the 334-guestroom landmark – a fixture of London’s Bloomsbury neighbourhood since the 1900s – has undergone a six-month redevelopment and now features an expanded Renaissance-revival terracotta exterior and mosaic floor tiling. Other amenities in the Edwardian-era building include a ballroom,

A Tanzanian wellness-focused getaway has opened its doors on the isle of Kendwa in the Zanzibar archipelago. Developed by Czech financier and filmmaker Václav Dejmar and designed by Jestico + Whiles, Zuri Zanzibar occupies a 300-metre stretch of coastline and features 55 thatched roof villas, five restaurants, three bars, a 32m infinity pool, jacuzzi, spice garden, and watersports centre. The resort – which has been in the pipeline for ten

St. Regis Hotels & Resorts (SRHR) has opened its latest hotel on the waterfront of Wanzai, Zhuhai in the city’s tallest skyscraper. Commissioned by the Zhuhai Huafa Group and designed by Chinese architectural firm RMJM, the 31-storey St. Regis Zhuhai – which reportedly is also the first luxury hotel in the district – features 251 guest rooms and 34 suites. In addition to its five on-site restaurants, the resort also

The latest addition to the EDITION luxury brand of hotels has opened in Abu Dhabi. The 198-room resort – which features 57 residences as well as a three-storey nightclub, fitness centre, spa, barbershop, ballroom, and infinity pool – marks the brand’s first foray into the MENA region. Other amenities at the EDITION Abu Dhabi include three gourmet restaurants – all of which will be helmed by award-winning chef, Tom Aikens.

Dutch architects Studio Piet Boon and Florida-based firm OBMI have been selected to design the Half Moon Bay, a Rosewood hotel and residential community on the Caribbean island of Antigua. Set to occupy 132 acres of uninhabited land, the new beachfront getaway will feature 47 suites and several Rosewood-branded villas, as well as 10 purchasable luxury estate lots – all of which will be anchored around a 'retail village'. Further

Snowmass Base Village – set to become the largest ski resort in North America – will open its doors just in time for this year’s Christmas season. Designed by a team of firms including Oz Architecture, Raymond Letkeman Architects, and Eldon Beck & Associates, the 100,000 sq ft leisure hub and "ski in, ski out"-resort will include a public plaza and skating rink, as well as multiple restaurants, pools, gyms,

Belmond Savute Elephant Lodge has reopened in Botswana’s Chobe National Park. Renovated by London-based interior design studio Muza Lab, the renovated resort – which Inge Moore, the firm's founder, has likened to an environmentally conscious explorer’s camp – has 12 new guestrooms and an open-air dining space, lounge, bar, library, and spa. Other features of the timber wood and bamboo lodge include a multi-function room for yoga and private meetings,

Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas will operate a 60-bedroom hotel at The Forestias, a THB90bn (US$2.8bn), 119-acre green development at Bangna in Bangkok being developed by Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Limited (MQDC). The project is a mixed-use, multi-generational lifestyle project that will also incorporate a large forest ecosystem. Set to open in 2022, The Forestias will include residential housing, retail buildings, office buildings, a health centre, innovation centre, forest pavilion,

Architect Bill Bensley is working on a national cultural heritage site in Yên Tu Mountain – considered to be the cradle of Trúc Lâm Zen Buddhism in Vietnam – as part of the Vietnamese government’s strategic development plan for the area. Designed with attention to historical detail – Bensley has created the entire Yên Tu Village in 13th-century style and using 13th-century techniques where possible – the village will include

A new wellness and lifestyle member's club with a unique twist has opened in London's Notting Hill. Designed specifically for families, the club, called Cloud Twelve, features a spa, salon, holistic wellness centre and a plant-based eatery, as well as an interactive learn and play zone for children. Cloud Twelve was founded by former investment banker and herbalist Jenya Emets, who wanted to bring a host of facilities together to

The Shimao Wonderland InterContinental (IHG), the world’s first underground hotel, has opened in Songjiang, around 22 miles (35 km) from Shanghai in the Sheshan Mountain Range. Built in a 100m (328ft)-deep abandoned quarry, the hotel, which has been in development for a decade, was designed by Studio JADE+QA and the British architectural firm Atkins. Situated around a manmade lake and amid cascading waterfalls, the 18-storey, 336-guest room structure will be

The Bank of Africa skyscraper in Rabat, Morocco, will be the tallest building on the African continent, at 250-metres, when it opens in 2022. The mixed-use, 55-floor highrise, which will be designed by Belgium-based architectural studio Besix, will include a luxury hotel, office space, and apartments. The project, which is being hailed as an "emblematic" addition to Rabat – considered by some to be Morocco’s cultural capital – is part

Frida Escobedo, the youngest person yet to design a temporary Pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery in London, has recently sold her creation to international spa and wellness company, Therme Group. According to Architects' Journal, Therme Group, which is perhaps most famous for operating Therme Bucharest–the largest thermal leisure facility ever developed in Europe on a greenfield site–made overtures to and later reached a deal with Escobedo’s Mexico-based firm in order

Lux Resorts is launching a new brand, Salt, and the first property is set to open in November on the east coast of Mauritius. The 59-bedroom Salt of Palmar is designed to add a humanistic approach to hospitality for the “culturally curious traveller”, and to connect guests to locals and their way of life. Salt guests will be immersed into Mauritian life, with the opportunity to connect directly with locals

Quebec-based company Nordik Group is currently overseeing the construction of a new spa and wellness resort in Whitby, Ontario. The US$20m (€17.4m, £15.3m) complex, which was designed by architectural firm LEMAYMICHAUD, is being built on a 385,423 sq ft plot of land in Whitby’s Cullen Park. Taking inspiration from what Nordik has called the 2000-year-old "heat therapy and relaxation techniques from Scandinavian countries", the new Spa-Nature facility will feature five

The Belmond Cadogan Hotel, infamously the former stomping ground of Victorian aesthete and provocateur Oscar Wilde, is set to re-open this winter. Located in Knightsbridge, London, the Queen Anne-style, 54-bedroom hotel went down in history as the site of Oscar Wilde’s life-changing arrest, the result of a bitter feud between himself and the Marquess of Queensberry. The Belmond, which includes such amenities as tennis courts, private gardens, and a 24-hour

Corippo, a 200-hundred-year-old village located in the Verzasca valley, is undergoing a transformation which could see it become the first albergo diffuso (“scattered hotel”) in Switzerland. Scattered hotels are effectively regenerated municipalities, endangered districts which get a new lease on life by becoming interactive, multi-venue destinations for travellers interested in full-scale immersion tourism. The plan to save the highland hamlet, the population of which has been diminishing exponentially for half

Following the opening of Six Senses Duxton, sister property Six Senses Maxwell is scheduled to open on December 1, 2018. Six Senses Maxwell is the second of two heritage buildings that together form Six Senses Singapore. While Six Senses Duxton portrays Anouska Hempel’s East-meets-West eclecticism, the 120-bedroom Six Senses Maxwell, designed by French architect and designer Jacques Garcia, offers an alternative aesthetic with his signature European style, which melds tradition

Singapore-based hospitality operator Alila is set to open doors on a new property in China’s Venice: the millennia-old “water town” of Wuzhen. The hotel, which was designed by the architectural firm GOA to reflect the minimalist engineering of Wuzhen’s interwoven waterways and canals, comprises 125 suites and villas positioned around a series of indoor and outdoor pools and courtyards. The resort’s other on-site amenities include a yoga studio, gym, spa,