Following on the heels of the resort's opening late last year, the 19,000sq ft (1,765sq m) Six Senses Spa Zil Pasyon in Félicité, the fifth largest island in Seychelles, is now open. Created by Six Senses Architecture and Design team and Richard Hywel Evans of Studio RHE in London, the spa is immersed in the private island’s rocks, boulders, jungle and the Indian Ocean. It is designed to be an

A new 900sq m (9,688sq ft) Eagles Spa by Elemis is set to open near the birthplace of Aristotle, in time to celebrate the great philosopher’s 2,400th birthday. Located in Halkidiki, Greece, the spa is part of a larger expansion of the five-star Eagles Palace resort, which also includes the addition of Eagles Villas. The 42 villas, designed by architects 3sk Stylianidis, are nestled into a green hilltop and feature

Rwandan fashion entrepreneur Teta Isibo has been appointed by ecotourism operator Wilderness Safaris to bring “a vibrant Rwandan flair” to the interior design of its Bisate Lodge, which is due to open in one of the country’s remote mountain valleys on 1 June 2017. Isibo, who is also the founder Rwandan studio Inzuki Designs, is collaborating with Nick Plewman Architects, interior designer Caline Williams-Wynn, local textile experts and the country’s

Boutique hospitality group Sereno Hotels has announced the opening of Il Sereno Lago di Como – an “intimate, design-driven” hotel designed by Patricia Urquiola on the banks of Italy’s Lake Como. The picturesque location is a popular beauty spot, drawing tourists with its dramatic vistas of the southern Italian Alps and idyllic small towns, and George Clooney, Madonna and Donatella Versace have all snapped up properties on the lake. Il

The British seaside town of Bognor Regis looks set for a major leisure-led regeneration, with members of the district council throwing their weight behind a mixed-use scheme worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Initial concepts developed by regeneration consultancy Urban Delivery, architect Kay Elliott and multidisciplinary practice Arup visualise an expansive linear park connecting a car park near the train station to Regis Centre. The focal point of the development,

It has been open less than a year, but Canyon Ranch’s first location outside of the US will soon change hands, with Six Senses taking over management of the property in May 2017. The Canyon Ranch Kaplankaya opened in July 2016 on the Turkish Riviera near Bodrum, and includes 141 bedrooms and a 107,000sq ft (9,941sqm) spa, fitness and Health & Healing Centre with 38 treatment rooms. Canyon Ranch Kaplankaya

The wealthy owner of one of the world’s largest logistics companies is preparing to open a luxurious new Hamburg hotel, designed to promote the city’s image and capitalise on the popularity of Herzog and de Meuron’s recently-opened Elbphilharmonie. Set to open in the final quarter of 2017, The Fontenay will be the first five-star hotel to open in Hamburg for almost two decades. The 131-bedroom property will be located close

An abandoned Brazilian palace designed by iconic late architect Oscar Niemeyer is to finally see the light of day, with hotel group Oetker Collection opening the building as their first property in the Americas. Palácio Tangará will open in São Paulo in June 2017. The building was first constructed in the 1940s as Tangará Ranch, when wealthy Brazilian businessman Francisco ‘Baby’ Pignatari commissioned it as a gift to his fiance.

Asia’s best designed hotels have been celebrated at an awards ceremony held in Singapore. Winning design practices at the inaugural AHEAD Asia awards include Blu Water Studio, LTW Designworks and Tony Chi. Entries were assessed on aesthetics, guest experience and commercial viability by a panel of industry and design leaders. AHEAD – which stands for The Awards for Hospitality Experience and Design – is a new platform that has consolidated

Montage International is developing two hotels at the SilverRock Resort in La Quinta, California, set to open in late 2019. Developed in partnership with The Robert Green Company, the resort will include Montage La Quinta with branded Montage Residences; Pendry La Quinta with branded Pendry Residences, and a Spa Montage. This is the first project that incorporates both of Montage’s hotel brands, Montage and Pendry. Architecture and design firm Gensler

Singaporean Hospitality design firm LTW have completed a design-led Pullman hotel in Kaifeng, China that references the architecture of it’s neighbour – an ancient imperial palace. The city was the capital of ancient China during the Northern Song dynasty, and as such is steeped in history and culture. LTW were commissioned to reflect this in their design for the Pullman Kaifeng Jianye, which subsequently features an expansive layout, sloping roofs

The Delta Development Group has signed an initial agreement to drive forward plans for a Dutch-inspired theme park and leisure destination near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The scope of the project has also widened to include plans for on-site hotels providing up to 4,000 rooms. Delta signed the deal with the City of Haarlemmermeer, a large suburb south of Amsterdam and the municipality where Schiphol Airport is located. Concept drawings

A husband-and-wife design team have transformed their own beachfront holiday home into a new resort; the first of a new brand of “ultimate wellbeing destinations.” Soo K. Chan, the founder of SCDA Architects, and hospitality designer Ling Fu, have used holistic design and environmental practices to create Soori Bali in Indonesia. The revamped resort will feature 48 private pool villas and residences, a cantilevered platform jutting over the Indian Ocean

British street artist Banksy has returned with his latest politically-minded project: a nine-room hotel located next to the controversial barrier wall separating Israel from the Palestinian territories. The Walled Off Hotel, located in the Israeli-controlled part of Bethlehem, has been opened as both a genuine business venture and a piece of protest art. Work by Banksy and other artists, a themed bar and interactive exhibits all feature. The hotel directly

The Eden Project in Cornwall has been granted planning permission to build a new 109-bedroom on-site hotel. Accessibility, energy-efficiency and sustainability are the key features of the design, by architectural studio Tate Harmer. In order for the £8.5m (US$10.4m, €9.9m) hotel to blend into the surrounding countryside, and with the Eden Project’s famous two plant-filled biomes, its two blocks will be clad with prominent timber poles. Existing features in the

The Silo Hotel – a luxury property located within Heatherwick Studio’s re-imagined Cape Town grain storage facility – opens today (1 March). The hotel is built in the grain elevator portion of the silo complex, occupying six floors above what will become the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA). It has 26 guest rooms, including one bedroom penthouse, that are all more spacious vertically than horizontally due to the

One of Thailand’s largest hotel and property development companies has announced plans to expand Bangkok’s famous Dusit Thani hotel and develop a new US$1bn (€948.3m, £808.2m) landmark in the heart of the metropolis. The Dusit Thani company has today (1 March) signed an agreement with the quasi-government Crown Property Bureau to extend its lease for the land where its popular hotel stands. It can now develop the site over the

Wanda Hotels & Resorts will become the first Chinese hotel management company to export one of its brands overseas, following an agreement to open a Wanda Vista property in Istanbul, Turkey. The company will act as the hotel operator, while Turkish development firm Mar Yapi will fund the project. It will be located close to the city’s busiest shopping district and a five-minute drive from Ataturk International Airport. Wanda Vista

For his latest grandiose Southeast Asian resort project, designer Bill Bensley has taken his inspiration from an unlikely combination of themes: the work of pioneering French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, the importance of higher education, Lewis Carroll's novel Alice in Wonderland – and mushrooms. Bensley’s typically whimsical design touches feature throughout the JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay resort in the south of Vietnam – a project the designer has described

Architecture firm Benoy have released their latest designs for a retail-led leisure destination on China’s reclaimed Hexin Island in Hainan province. The 32,000sq m (34,400sq ft) project is the second phase of the wider Sanya Eyot scheme – a resort, billed as “the largest of its kind in the world”, being developed by the China International Travel Service to integrate leisure, high-end hospitality and natural attractions. Benoy have visualised a

Architecture studio HKS have been brought on board to design h.Club LA; the first international extension of London’s famous Hospital Club for film stars, musicians and members of high society. The owner of that establishment, Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, wants to build a new private "club for creatives" by renovating a five-storey hotel building in the shadow of the Hollywood Hills, next to the headquarters of Capitol Records. He

The concepts of “old world design and the glory of British craftsmanship” have inspired the designers of a 73-bedroom hotel that will open in London this summer. The Pilgrm has been conceived as reinterpretation of the traditional hotel. Despite being located in a historic Victorian building in Norfolk Square, Paddington – with many of the original exterior and interior features retained by design studio 93ft – any items or services

Hotel giant MGM Resorts International has opened its latest luxury resort in America; the US$1.4bn (€1.7bn, £1.4bn) MGM National Harbor in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Located on a site overlooking the Potomac River, the 1.7 million sq ft (158,000sq m) mixed-use development took three years to build and is conceived by MGM as “an entertainment destination offering an unrivalled collection of attractions.” Architectural firm HKS Hospitality Group oversaw the project,

David Rockwell has designed Starwood’s first Luxury Collection hotel in Tokyo – an “ethereal dream-like environment” that has now opened in the historic heart of the Japanese capital. The designer’s vision for The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho was inspired by “the sprawling sky and kaleidoscopic colours of the surrounding city,” which the hotel overlooks from its position across the top seven floors of the new 36-storey Tokyo Garden Terrace tower

Swiss luxury hotel operator Kempinski will open a five-star hotel located within the historic Manzana de Gomez building in Cuba in Q2 of this year. The 246-bedroom hotel is located within a UNESCO World Heritage Site and will be known as the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana. Markus Semer, chair of the management board and CEO of Kempinski Hotels, said that the hotel’s location within a famous historic building

A 1,300sq m (13,993sq ft) spa has opened on the sixth floor of the new Hamburg Elbphilharmonie concert hall, a shimmering, glass-covered building designed by Swiss architecture studio Herzog & de Meuron. The elb spa features six treatment rooms on the upper floors of the Westin Hamburg, and has views of the spot where the port and city meet on the River Elbe. German skincare brand Babor has created exclusive

Mandarin Oriental will open a new hotel and branded residences in Honolulu in 2020. The new Hawaiian hotel will be the anchor of Mana ‘olana Place, a 36-storey, mixed use tower with gardens and public plazas, which is being developed by Los Angeles-based Salem Partners. It will include a Spa at Mandarin Oriental that will offer holistic rejuvenation and relaxation, with eight treatment rooms. Further leisure options include a comprehensive