The consortium lead by Anbang Insurance Group has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Starwood, paving the way for the Marriott/Starwood merger to move ahead. Anbang dropped its offer “as a result of market considerations” and does not intend to make another proposal, Starwood said in a statement. The statement also said that Starwood’s board of directors continues to unanimously support the existing merger with Marriott. A special meeting of Starwood

The 436-bedroom Grand Hyatt Rio de Janeiro has opened in Brazil, complete with a 1,150sq m (12,379sq ft) Atiaia Spa, named after the indigenous tupi-guarani word for luminosity. Created by interior designer Yabu Pushelberg with local assistance from Brazilian design firm Anastassiadis Arquitetos, the hotel aims to have a relaxed, care-free coastal living experience, with large balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows, along with stones and fabrics authentic to Brazil. The hotel

Indian architects Studio Ardete have attempted to “define a new language for exercise and training centres” with a "whimsical" gym, spa and indoor cycling studio called Moksha. The practice were commissioned to extend an existing gym in the Indian district Panchkula by creating the new facilities in the building’s 2,000sq ft (186sq m) basement. The limited space and a restricted budget forced the architects to look beyond traditional gyms for

The Chinese consortium led by Anbang Insurance Group that is trying to buy Starwood has upped its offer, making it “reasonably likely to lead to a ‘Superior Proposal’ as defined in Starwood’s merger agreement with Marriott International,” Starwood said in a statement. Marriott agreed to buy Starwood in November 2015 for US$12.2bn, but a rival offer from Anbang on 18 March threatened the deal. Marriott then came back with a

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano is designing the Andaz Am Belvedere hotel, set to open in Vienna’s new Quartier Belvedere district in 2019. The project is a joint venture between Hyatt Hotels and Signa, who previously collaborated on the Park Hyatt Vienna. The hotel will be located opposite the 21er Haus – formerly the Museum of Modern Art – and Vienna’s Schweizergarten, next to the Belvedere Palace. The 300-room Andaz

The developers of Dubai Healthcare City – a health and wellness destination occupying over four million square feet – have announced plans create “the world’s largest wellness village.” The Dubai Healthcare City Authority are expanding the city, which launched in 2002, to feature a WorldCare Wellness Village which will occupy an area equivalent in size to 16 football fields. Located on a waterfront site in Al Jadaf Dubai, the village

A nine-suite boutique hotel located in a converted 16th century farmhouse opens tomorrow (24 March) near the historic city of Lecce in southern Italy. Masseria Trapana has been designed to create “a luxury getaway” for guests, who will be surrounded by authentic design features from the 1500s, including vaulted ceilings, murals and fireplaces carved in local Tufo and Piertra Leccese stone. Owner Rob Potter-Sanders has spent two years renovating the

Shangri-La is opening a 145-acre resort on Sri Lanka’s southern coastline on June 1, 2016, complete with a with a 12-treatment-room Chi The Spa, an 18-hole golf course and an artisan village. Hirsch Bender Associates have designed the spa and suites, and Singapore-based designers Chao Tse Ann Partners have worked on the restaurant interiors. The beachfront resort will include 300 bedrooms – including 26 suites with private butler service –

More details have emerged of Apple’s highly-anticipated US$5bn Campus 2 compound in California, with the space-age site set to feature a 100,000sq ft gym as part of a prominent workplace wellness offering. A newly-released video by Duncan Sinfield features drone footage of the under-construction campus in Cupertino, CA, which will be occupied by 12,000 Apple employees when it opens in 2017. Among the standout features of the Foster + Partners-designed

At the upcoming design-led, all-white hotel Mar Adentro in Los Cabos, Mexico, spa consultant Bonnie Baker, co-founder of Satteva Spa & Wellness Concepts, is creating a spa in stark contrast – a dark, cave-like area inspired by local cenote swimming holes that aims to focus on the concept of water and reflect a sense of the internal. A signature hotel for Mexican architect Miguel Ángel Aragonés, Mar Adentro (“The Sea

Italian collective the Network of Architecture (noa*) have started constructing an apple-inspired spa and wellness centre for a boutique hotel set amongst the apple trees of Italy’s Passiria Valley. The centre will be built into the side of a tree-covered hill, with a large wooden circular volume forming the entranceway – a touch that resembles the dwelling of Bilbo Baggins in JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The outer space is completely

Starwood has received a new bid from the Chinese consortium that wants to buy it and has notified Marriott of its intention to terminate the merger agreement it had with the rival hotel firm. The Chinese consortium, led by Anbang Insurance Group, has upped its bid by US$2.00 per share from its original proposal on 10 March, making its offer a “superior proposal” to Marriott’s. Marriott has until 28 March

Hyatt Hotels has opened the Grand Hyatt Chengdu in the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. Spanning floors 10 to 39 of the 166m (545ft) high Chicony Square, the 390-bedroom hotel is situated on the historic Chunxi Road, also known as Hundred Year Gold Street, in the heart of Jinjiang district. The hotel will include a 1,274sq m (13,713sq ft) Huan Spa, which is not yet open, designed by

A levitating coastal spa complex and a sports complex with a football pitch on its roof are among the leisure winners at the Architectural Review MIPIM Future Project Awards, which were announced today (15 March) in Cannes, France. The awards – judged by industry professionals and commentators – celebrate the most exciting unbuilt or incomplete designs by international practices across ten project categories. The Fuente Santa Hot Spring Baths by

Marriott International will bring its eponymous brand to the Balkan nation of Macedonia in the capital city Skopje this year. Set to open in May 2016, the Marriott Skopje will include a 500sq m (5,382sq ft) spa. The nine-floor hotel includes 143 bedrooms and 21 suites, as well as a fitness centre, and will be located in the city square near the Stone Bridge, which represents the connection between Skopje’s

Global hotel giant Starwood has received a surprise US$12.8bn (€11.5bn, £8.9bn) takeover offer from a group led by China’s Anbang Insurance Group, which could scupper its planned merger with Marriott. In November 2015, Marriott announced that it would buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts – whose brands include St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W and Design Hotels – in a US$12.2bn (€11.4bn, £8bn) stock and cash transaction which would create the

At the International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin this week, Starwood announced its continued expansion in Europe with a record 18 organic hotel openings in 2015 and more than 30 hotels under development and expected to open in the next five years. Starwood will be launching the Tribute Portfolio brand in France, diversifying its brand footprint in Italy and expanding its mid-market brands in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Russia

International architecture studio AW2 have won the Asia Hotel Design of the Year award for their work on Phum Baitang resort in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The Paris-based firm won the top prize at the Asia Hotel Design Awards, which were held today (10 March) at The South Beach hotel in Singapore, with over 400 industry figures from the region in attendance. Phum Baitang – which was also named the Resort

The Four Seasons Hotel Dubai International Financial Centre – an intimate, boutique-style hotel in the heart of Dubai’s business district – is set to open this month, complete with a private rooftop spa, fitness and leisure ‘oasis.’ With 106-bedrooms, the Four Seasons DIFC is located within the 45 hectare (110 acre) DIFC, which also hosts the Ritz Carlton DIFC. The new Four Seasons DIFC features interiors by New York-based Tihany

The Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain, a resort in America's Paradise Valley, is in the final stages of developing its Spa House, a 3,500sq ft (312sq m), four-bedroom private mountain home dedicated to wellness. Set to open in April 2016, the Spa House – designed by Arizona-based interior design firm Testani Design Troupe and architecture firm MoD A+P – features three king bedrooms and one guestroom with two double beds. The

The 50-storey Shangri-La Hotel, Doha has opened in the Qatari capital, with 272 bedrooms as well as the brand’s signature CHI The Spa. The hotel includes an aquamarine lagoon-shaped pool set on a 2,000sq m (21,528sq ft) deck surrounded by 70 leafy trees, as well as a health club with 24-hour fitness centre, sauna and steamrooms. Designed by H.O.K. Architects, the Shangri-La Hotel, Doha also includes 42 serviced apartments and

Aman’s first Japanese hot springs resort, Amanemu, has opened in the idyllic setting of Ise Shima National Park on the shores of Ago Bay. Providing a rural complement to Aman Tokyo, and continuing Aman’s journey within Japan, Amanemu has adopted a classic Japanese aesthetic in the ryokan tradition with each of the 24 suites and four two-bedroom villas featuring their own onsen. Designed to be a relaxed, peaceful and contemplative

Luxury hotel interior design studio MKV Design have completed two new hotels in Baku, Azerbaijan, which celebrate the city’s industrial past and its ongoing transformation into a modern, international metropolis. The hotels, called the Intourist and the Boulevard, are both part of Marriott's Autograph Collection brand and are operated by Absheron Hotel Group. The Intourist – designed by hotel architects ReardonSmith as a successor to a now-defunct 1930’s Baku hotel

Dubai developer Eco Resort Group and London studio Baharash Architecture have unveiled plans for “the world’s greenest resort” in an Abu Dhabi oasis. The Oasis Eco Resort, which is scheduled to open in the emirate’s Liwa region in 2020, will be powered by 157,000sq ft (14,500sq m) of solar panels and operate a wildlife conservation area. The design is built around the oasis’ spring, and water will be extracted from

Sereno Hotels is opening a second property on the shores of Lake Como at Villa Pliniana, a 16th century Italian palazzo set on 18 waterfront acres. This marks Sereno Hotels’ third location, and second on Lake Como after the recently-announced Il Sereno, Lago di Como, located less than 1,000 yards from Villa Pliniana and set to open in July 2016. The company also owns Le Sereno in St. Barths. The

London-based architecture firm Fox Fernley Landscape Office have designed a three-person, translucent sauna as part of a winning design in the Winter Stations Design competition in Toronto. The Winter Stations design competition had a theme of Freeze / Thaw this year, and asked designers and artists to respond to the changing conditions and transitions of the Toronto winter. “Most of the artists took this to be something about the natural

Hong Kong-based Langham Hotels & Resorts is expanding its US presence with three new hotels in Texas, California and New Mexico. Langham Place, Wade Park will be located in Frisco, Texas and will open in early 2018 and is part of a US$1.6bn (€1.4bn, £1.1bn), 175-acre development created by Thomas Land & Development. Designed by Dallas-based 5G Studio Collaborative, the 35-storey hotel will have a sleek, modern feel and will