Robert De Niro has signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a US$250m (€223m, £158.8m) hotel and spa resort in Barbuda, the lesser known twin island to Antigua. The resort will be a refurbishment and expansion of K-Club, a resort which became famous in the 90s as a hideaway for Princess Diana and princes William and Harry, but which closed eight years ago. Islanders vote on Monday to determine the

Virgin Hotels has announced plans to open a new 200-bedroom hotel in the Design District of Dallas, Texas, in 2018. The development will be a new-build located within 33 acres (133,500sq m) that developer Dunhill Partners and its founder, Bill Hutchinson, acquired in 2014. Included will be multiple dining options, a rooftop terrace with a pool, gym and spa, plus numerous meeting spaces. The neighbourhood includes furniture showrooms, art galleries,

Dawson Design Associates is to transform a traditional hotel in Philadelphia, US, with an “art-inspired interpretation on modern luxury”. Hotel development and management company Sage Hospitality has unveiled plans to convert the former Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia into The Logan, which will be part of Hilton’s luxury Curio collection. It is named after the influential Pennsylvania statesman, philosopher, diplomat and scholar James Logan. Renovation work has already started at the

Designer Thomas Heatherwick's transformation of the historic Grain Silo Complex in Cape Town, South Africa, will include a 5-star hotel called The Silo. The hotel will be operator The Royal Portfolio's fifth property, adding to its range of exclusive hotels, lodges and villas in South Africa. The Silo, so named because it is being built in the grain elevator portion of the historic Grain Silo Complex, will be situated directly

Publicly-traded Ashford Hospitality Prime has bought eco-conscious Napa Valley, California, property Bardessono Hotel and Spa for US$85m (€75.7m, £54.8m). Remington Lodging will take over property management at the WATG-designed property once the sale is completed, which is expected in approximately 30 days. "The acquisition of the award-winning Bardessono Hotel and Spa fits perfectly with Prime's strategy of finding quality, high RevPAR assets in gateway and resort markets," said Monty J.

The 314-bedroom Grand Hyatt Playa del Carmen opens on the Riviera Maya in Mexico today (15 June), along with the property’s Cenote Spa, which is inspired by the local freshwater swimming holes of the same name. The natural cenotes in the surrounding areas are formed by geological rock formations and are considered by many to be energy centres, as their waters contain high concentrations of minerals and nutrients. The 6,000sq

The five-star Keemala resort, which will open in Phuket in October 2015, has been designed using storytelling to create its own folklore. The designers have created a fictitious tale of ancient Phuket settlers from four different clans to underpin the design. The development will include 38 cottages, tent villas, “bird's nest” villas, and seemingly suspended treehouse villas – all with private pools. Owned and operated by the Somnam family and

Thierry W. Despont's soon-to-be completed renovation of the Ritz Paris will see the first ever Chanel-branded spa unveiled at the historic hotel, officials from Ritz Paris have confirmed. While many details of the spa remain well under wraps, in a statement, the Ritz Paris said the spa – Chanel au Ritz Paris – will be “a new beauty concept dedicated to Chanel’s skincare” and will “provide guests with a unique

The Mumbai skyline is undergoing major change with the development of two uber-luxe residential towers with extensive leisure offerings vying for the attention of wealthy Indians. The World One Tower was designed by architects Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and, at 117 storeys, will be the world’s tallest residential skyscraper. The £205m (US$314m, €280m) tower is located in the Worli district of South Mumbai – which will also be the

It can only be reached by taking a speedboat over a coral reef and descending a dramatic three-tier staircase, and was originally opened in 2012 as the world's first underwater nightclub. Now Poole Associates has redesigned Subsix, the underwater venue located at the Per Aquum Niyama resort in the Maldives, to become a multi-functional creative space which can be “transformed into whatever guests imagine it to be”. Subsix is 6m

Raison d’Etre’s spa and wellness brand LivNordic has launched the first of three spas planned on cruise ships as part of a partnership with Viking Ocean Cruises. Inspired by Nordic bathing traditions, including alternating hot and cold experiences, this ship’s spa offers the first snow grotto at sea. Inspired by nature, the LivNordic design, by Raison d'Etre, uses white pigmented ash, reminiscent of the Tree of Life in Norse Mythology

Singapore-based architects ar + d are leading the design on a landmark luxury waterfront hotel in New Zealand, the flagship for a harbour-wide regeneration scheme. Architects ar + d have previously worked on Hyatt hotels in Kilimanjaro and Koh Samui. Specialists in the hospitality sector, Conran and Partners, will be creating the interior design and visitor experience, using the hotel’s harbour settings as inspiration. The hotel will look out on

Australian company White Horse Australia – which has strong ties to one of China’s best known advertising and media companies White Horse Group – is set to redevelop a 584-hectare leasehold on Lindeman Island with the help of DBI Design and project managers Eastview Australia. The redevelopment of what was the former Whitsundays site of the Club Med resort chain will cost AU$600m (US$472m, €426m, £304m) and has been granted

The five-star Le Couvent des Minimes Hotel & Spa, situated in the French village of Mane and housed within the walls of an ancient convent dating back to 1613, has been fully refurbished by designers L’Atelier Pascal Borde to meet the requirements of majority shareholder L’Occitane, the global skincare brand which has its origins in Provence, France. The 46-room property in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence has reopened following the transformation of its

Championed by Nobu Hospitality founding partners chef Nobu Matsuhisa, actor Robert De Niro and Hollywood producer Meir Teper, a 321-key Nobu Hotel – designed by Rockwell Group – has opened in the leisure-focused City of Dreams Manila, in the Philippines. The Nobu Hotel was developed by Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts Corporation – a subsidiary of the leisure city’s operator Melco Crown Entertainment. International design firm Rockwell Group is responsible for

The Gainsborough Bath Spa, the first UK hotel to be owned and operated by YTL Hotels, will soft open on 1 July. The facility will feature Spa Village Bath – YTL’s international brand concept of a thermal Romanesque bathing circuit. Designed by London-based EPR Architects along with New York-based Champalimaud Design in collaboration with a number of other interior designers, the hotel will retain its Georgian characteristics and will have

A pair of architecture graduates have teamed up with Airbnb to create one of the more pleasant objects likely to be found floating on London’s River Thames – a buoyant guest house. Twins Nick and Steve Tidball – who graduated from London’s Bartlett School of Architecture and now work as creative directors in advertising – have paired up with the accommodation giant to create a city crash pad described as

Middle Eastern developer Nakheel is moving forward with plans for the Deira Island development in Dubai, with the announcement that it will build a 750-room, four-star beachfront resort as part of the new mixed-use waterfront city. The property will be developed in partnership with Spanish RIU Hotels & Resorts, which will also act as operator. Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah said: “This is a major milestone for our growing hospitality

Equinox Holdings, parent company of high end US health club chain Equinox Fitness, is preparing to launch an upscale hospitality brand. Plans are afoot for 75 hotels worldwide, each with a fitness facility within the hotel, or very close, which would be open to hotel guests as well as members. The first site is slated for Manhattan in 2018, as part of the massive Hudson Yards scheme. It is a

Foster + Partners’ Crossrail Place development has opened at Canary Wharf in London. A curving timber lattice roof wraps around four levels of leisure and retail facilities and a rooftop public garden. The opening comes three years before Canary Wharf Crossrail Station itself throws open its doors in 2018, serving the new Crossrail railway line. Fosters said the public garden is densely planted with trees and plants and is interspersed

Work is expected to start in October on designs from New York-based Grzywinski + Pons in conjunction with Michael Laird Architects for a £35m (US$53m, €47m) boutique hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland. Hotel developer Union Hanover Securities has secured Minded to Grant planning permission from City of Edinburgh Council and will now push ahead with bringing the 180-room hotel project on Freer Street to fruition. The developer sees Edinburgh as a

Henning Larsen Architects is hoping to create an iconic new landmark in Gothenburg, Sweden, after winning an international design competition. The Danish company’s proposal includes an “accessible and transparent” mixed-use plaza at ground level, as well as two commercial towers. The larger tower is expected to be 30-storeys high, and so will become a prominent part of the skyline in Sweden’s second-largest city. “It is our vision to create a

The Avani brand by Minor Hotel Group (MHG) is set to enter the Australian market with an investment of more than AUD$110m (US$87m, €77m, £57m) with an Avani-branded hotel and residences in Perth, as part of the AUD$5bn (US$3.9bn, €3.5bn, £2.6bn) cultural Perth City Link project. MHG has been selected by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA) to develop Lots 2 and 3A within the Perth City Link project as a

The US$175m (€157m, £114m) Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida – inspired by the lyrics and lifestyle of singer, songwriter and author Jimmy Buffett – has confirmed it will open in Q3 of this year. The 349-bedroom 17-storey resort has been designed by architects and interior design firm The McBride Company with a “no worries” tropical theme, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway. Among the numerous leisure facilities

The tender for the design of a hotel that will be linked to Amsterdam RAI exhibition and convention centre in the South Axis district of Amsterdam has been awarded to OMA – the architectural practice founded by Rem Koolhaas. A total of 11 design firms were competing for the project but OMA won the contract due to its vision for additional special features. Not only will the 91m (300ft) tower

Starwood has announced it will significantly expand its portfolio in the Middle East, as part of an US$8bn (E7.1bn £5.3bn) global growth plan, with new openings already underway in the region. Speaking at the opening of the new Sheraton Grand Hotel Dubai, Michael Wale, president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa and the Middle East said: “The Sheraton Grand Hotel Dubai highlights our commitment both to the region and

Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas is set to unveil its first resort in Europe on 15 July in 10 hectares (22 acres) of the Portuguese UNESCO World Heritage Site of Douro Valley. Designed by New York-based Clodagh, the 57-bedroom 19th century property features an interior palette of light greys and sandy tones. Using eco-friendly materials, Clodagh – owner and founder of Clodagh Design – has blended nature, Portuguese tradition, water,