The newly launched InterContinental London – The O2 hotel, has opened its 1,000sq m (10,764sq ft) spa, created by ESPA. The spa includes a 17m (56ft) indoor swimming pool, a relaxation pool fitted with cannon neck massage jets, sauna, steamroom and ice fountain, as well as eight treatment rooms and a relaxation lounge. Taking inspiration from the hotel’s location within the historic Royal Borough of Greenwich and the influences of

Australian hospitality operator The Star Entertainment Group has designed a masterplan for a multi-billion dollar “globally-competitive integrated resort” on the country’s Gold Coast. The group is working with the City of Gold Coast Council and Queensland State Government to significantly expand an existing hotel and casino property, called Jupiters, located on Broadbeach. At the heart of the proposal is a new 200m (656ft) tower, featuring luxury apartments and a 700-room

A vast San Francisco residential and leisure project designed by Foster + Partners and Heller Manus will be built, after the city’s Planning Commission granted permission. Construction of the Oceanwide Center – a 2.3m sq ft (214,000sq m) development featuring hotels, public space, residences and offices – will begin in the city’s South of Market neighbourhood in November 2016. The scheme, first unveiled in 2014, comprises two mixed-use towers –

Miami architects Arquitectonica have collaborated with Los Angeles design group Studio Collective and New York’s Clodagh Design for a the first Swire Hotels property in the US. After three years of planning and construction, the hotel – named EAST, Miami – will open in the Florida on 31 May. Located in Miami’s Brickell district, the hotel is an anchor for a 5.4m sq ft (502,000sq m) mixed-used development being bankrolled

Six Senses is opening a resort on Fiji’s Malolo Island in 2017 with a planned Six Senses Spa as well as the Six Senses Integrated Wellness programme. Designed by New Zealand-based architect Richard Priest, Six Senses Fiji will include 24 pool villas and 66 residential villas located along a private sandy beach. Sustainability will be reflected throughout the resort, through active management of energy, water, waste, biodiversity, purchasing and chemical

Latvian wellness consultancy Inbalans Group is working together with Moscow-based international development company Griffin Partners and Jurmula City Council to develop a substantial wellness community in Latvia's Kemeri National Park. The wellness community, located just west of the capital of Riga, will include a five-star hotel with a 1,500sq m (16,146sq ft) spa, due to open in 2018, as well as a wellness clinic comprised of multiple historic buildings with

Velas Resorts is opening a new location on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula in November that will include a 20-room, 19,375sq ft (1,800sq m) spa and hydrotherapy facility. The US$150m (€130m, £103m) Grand Velas Los Cabos is the fifth property for the family-owned and operated company, and will include 306 suites with private terraces and personal plunge pools as well as five restaurants and a 16,370sq ft convention centre. The two-level spa

Hospitality specialists WATG Architects are designing a 160-bedroom Bellagio Shanghai, set to open in early 2017. With a “hip and cool” urban setting, the hotel’s architecture aims to capture the essence of the old and new Shanghai with a modern, tempered interpretation of Art Deco. The hotel will include a five-treatment-room Zen spa with separate male and female wet rooms with sauna and steam, relaxation lounge, indoor pool with tepidarium,

Four Seasons has opened a hotel in Bogota, Colombia that takes its design inspiration from the surrounding mountains. The 64-bedroom Four Seasons Hotel Bogota includes a spa with five treatment rooms, including an oversized couple’s suite, as well as relaxation lounges, steamrooms and a spa shop. Houston, Texas-based Rottet Studio created the design aesthetic, drawing inspiration from the mountains surrounding the city. Pattern, texture and craftsmanship combine in the lobby,

Work has begun on a new £20m (US$29m, €26m) four-star hotel in Edinburgh’s Old Town, marking a milestone in hotel operator Carlton’s ambitions to provide more luxury accommodation in the city. The 98-room boutique hotel has been designed by local studio JMArchitects and interior designers FG Stijl. It will transform a key under-used site on Market Street, located next to Craig’s Close, which has remained vacant for more than 50

London studio RPW Design have unveiled details of their extensive refurbishment of the five-star Fairmont St Andrews, which will include a 60m (197ft) long ceiling sculpture in the atrium. Situated on a 520-acre estate on the east coast of Scotland, the luxury resort offers panoramic cliff-top views of the North Sea. It is famous for its two championship golf courses, The Torrance and The Kittocks, and for hosting important political

Global architectural practice HKS Hospitality Group have announced the appointment of Kevin Underwood as both a principal and head of masterplanning and design. Underwood has previously overseen urban regeneration schemes and hotel developments for Edaw and Aecom. At the latter, he was global leader of leisure and culture and worked on projects for Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton and Disneyland Paris. Luis Zapiain, director of HKS Hospitality, said: “We are delighted that

Draught beer on tap, mattresses made from malt, a jacuzzi filled with pale ale and a homebrew kit by the bed. That’s the vision for a new beer-themed hotel proposed by Scottish craft beer company BrewDog, who are set to use millions of pounds raised in a crowdsourcing campaign to turn their beer-soaked dream into reality. Located in Aberdeen, Scotland – close to the company’s brewery – the hotel will

Located on a scenic hillside location on the island of Bintan, the Alila Villas Bintan – a 14.4-hectare gated development with a combination of residences, boutique hotel, and a village with a museum, gallery, retail shops, restaurants and a spa – is set to open in mid-2017. The spa at the Alila Villas Bintan is designed to be one of Alila’s most comprehensive, according to Steve Jeisman, group director of

French designer Philippe Starck has created the interiors for a boutique hotel and cafe among the towering sand dunes of southern France. Located within a neo-Basque structure in the Bay of Arcachon, Hotel Haïtza and the Ha(a)ïtza café will offer a place for tourists and residents to socialise and relax along the waterfront in the district of Pyla, which is home to the tallest sand dune in Europe. The building

Sentierre, a new US-based hotel brand with a focus on wellbeing, will include a full-service spa created by Sylvia Sepielli in its first resort, Sentierre Padre Canyon in Utah, US. CEO and founder of Sentierre Stan Castleton said he created Sentierre as a new kind of five-star resort experience. “Sentierre transcends traditional terms such as hotel by offering guests an experience that can be introspective, interactive and invigorating,” said Castleton.

Set on 70 oceanfront acres atop Bald Head Cliff on the southern coast of Maine, US, Cliff House Resort is undergoing a landmark transformation, and adding in a new 9,000sq ft (836sq m) spa concept, set to open this July. Created by Blu Spas, the seven-treatment-room spa will have an emphasis on the “wild and free” elements of coastal Maine, channeling the transformative interplay of water, stone, sky and sand.

Conrad Hotels has made its debut in India with the opening of Conrad Pune, which features a 5,000sq ft (465sq m) Conrad Spa. Owned by Palm Grove Beach Hotels, a subsidiary of K. Raheja Construction Group, and managed by Hilton Worldwide, the 310-bedroom Conrad Pune features interior design by Hong Kong-based AB Concept. Expansive public spaces feature 40ft (12m) high ceilings, cascading water features, a collection of hand-picked artwork, bold

Destination Hotels is opening a 25,000sq ft (2,323sq m) indoor/outdoor spa sanctuary in June 2016 at its La Cantera Hill Country Resort, located on 550 acres just outside of San Antonio, Texas. Part of a multi-million-dollar transformation of the 498-guestroom resort, Loma de Vida Spa & Wellness will offer holistic, meditative and restorative treatments that blend indigenous Texas elements with European influences. Loma de Vida – or ‘Hill of Life’

British architecture studio FaulknerBrowns have unveiled the second phase of their major riverside regeneration project in Durham, northern England, which aims to create a new “regional and national destination” in the historic city. A planning application has today (18 April) been submitted for the redevelopment of Milburngate House, a passport office, into a 2 hectare mixed-use development with extensive public realm along the River Wear. The £150m (US$199m, €176m) project

Six Senses Zil Pasyon, located on the 652-acre Felicite Island in the Seychelles, is set to open in Q3 2016, and will incorporate into its design the small island’s dramatic granite boulders that fringe the shoreline. With 30 villas and 17 private residences, Six Senses Zil Pasyon will occupy just one-third of the picturesque island, with the rest of the island left in its natural state. The 7,000sq ft (650sq

Atmantan, a 65,000sq ft (6,039sq m), 106-room dedicated wellness resort near Pune, India, opened its doors this week, offering a results-oriented approach to wellness with eight signature retreats. The property is nestled in the Sahyradri mountains overlooking Mulshi Lake, and is managed by Thailand-based wellness specialist Destination Spa Management, whose directors cut their teeth as the former senior leadership of wellness destination Chiva-Som. Set amid 40 acres of garden and

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has today (14 April) launched an international design competition promoting hotel design that is inclusive for disabled people. The “first of a kind” Bespoke Access Awards will celebrate designers who aim to improve access to hotels worldwide for disabled people, including those with learning difficulties, as well as all other guests. In a statement, RIBA said: “The Awards seek to challenge the perception

Minor Hotel Group is adding two properties to its pipeline in United Arab Emirates, the Anantara Jebel Dhanna and the Avani Jebel Dhanna in Abu Dhabi, both of which are scheduled to open in 2018. Owned by Dhabi Contracting, the neighbouring properties are being developed along the under-developed coastal area of the Al Gharbia region in Abu Dhabi, with a royal palace bordering the new hotels. AECOM have been appointed

Santiago Calatrava’s futuristic tower design for Dubai will ‘be a notch taller’ than the Burj Khalifa, according to its developer Emaar Properties. The real estate giant hosted an event in the city on Sunday (10 April) to officially unveil the project, now named as ‘The Tower’, two months after Calatrava was named as the winner of an international design project for the commission. According to reports in Dubai, the structure

The on-again off-again merger of Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International looks set to go ahead after shareholders of both companies voted en masse for the proposed deal. Marriott's cash-and-stock acquisition of Starwood, valued at US$12.41bn as of Thursday (7 April), will create the world’s largest hotel company. Holders of more than 97 per cent of Marriott shares and 95 per cent of Starwood shares voted in favour of

Bangkok-based interior designer Bill Bensley, UK hospitality designers G.A. Design and international architects Gensler are among the creators of the latest property opened by hotel brand St Regis: a luxury resort in Malaysia’s UNESCO-protected archipelago Langkawi. The St. Regis Langkawi Resort, which opens today (6 April), is the first new high-end resort in the 99-island chain in a decade. It is owned by Indonesia’s Rajawali Property Group. The concept of