From India to Iceland: these are the world’s best new hotels for 2024
Thousands of new hotels open their doors to fanfare all over the world every year. But only a select few are worthy of being called ‘the best’
HOTELS CAN MAKE or break. And given Australians (rightly) refuse to give up on travel despite swirling financial downturns and geopolitical dramas, we thought it time to acknowledge the finest hotels to swing open their doors during the past 12 (or so) months.
This is a sharp curation that showcases the evolving attraction and pull of these places. Sustainability and the minimisation of our travelling feet inform modern itineraries more than ever before – so, too, the lure of luxury that eschews bleating signposts. Elsewhere, it’s about solace and bettering oneself via a sojourn that does a lot more than lend a room. Does the design enhance an ability to be boastful on the grid? Does the provenance of an offered menu align with personal principles? Does it ultimately deliver an antidote to the chaos of daily life?
Step inside these star newcomers that should inspire the immediate formulation of travel plans.
These are the world’s best new hotels in 2024
Southern Ocean Lodge, Kangaroo Island, South Australia
(The best of Australia)
“It was an emotional journey. At first, it was devastating. But that soon turned to optimism as we began the process of planning for the rebuild.”
The words of Hayley Baillie – co-owner of Bailie Lodges’ Southern Ocean Lodge – come wrapped in a blanket of emotion. Having witnessed the flagship South Australian property being razed by fire in January 2020, it would have been easy to walk away.
“We were overwhelmed with messages of sympathy and support from our guests, the tourism industry and media,” Baillie tells Esquire. “And we committed to rebuilding just days after it had been lost.”
That commitment to this internationally celebrated luxury lodge informs the very fibres of its second coming. SOL 2.0 – which opened last December – is very much a remodelling, with some necessary updates, particularly in respect to materials and fire-retardation. The 23 new guest suites draw in the raw beauty of this southern corner of Kangaroo Island, boasting views of cliffs and vast stretches of ocean.
Elsewhere, high on the hill, is a new ultra-premium ‘owners’ residence, so too an expanded day spa with gym and both hot and cold plunge pools, as well as an extended deck with wet-edge pool attached to the communal Great Room.
Cap Karoso, Sumba, Indonesia
(The new Indo)
Given the current ways and woes of Bali, there’s a desire to keep this place quiet. Alas, the draw of Sumba, to the east of Bali, has been building since intrepid surfers like Mark Occhilupo lay claim to certain breaks in the ’80s.
Cut to now and the opening of the island’s latest resort – the impressive Cap Karoso. While a soft launch debuted certain elements in March 2023, its completion came this June.
Led by French owners Fabrice and Eve Ivara, it’s a property that stands apart in its design, straying from the grassy output found elsewhere in favour of modernity through materials such as concrete, softened by various timbers and lush, native greenery. It works. It’s sumptuous. It’s also incredibly private – cocooned in the Kodi district to the southwest of the island.
Comprising 47 rooms and 20 villas – as well as a spa, two standout restaurants, bar and pools – Cap Karoso runs dual channels in enabling luxury flop-and-drop sojourns or time peppered by watery adventures or cultural excursions.
Dunas de Formentera, Spain
(Forget Ibiza)
The way some folk – let’s call them the British – carry on about Ibiza, you could form the belief that it’s actually decent. Well, it’s not. It’s a shitshow and – okay, save for some of the remote northern beaches – best left to said interlopers.
As for the Balearic island of Formentera – the smaller one that sits south of Ibiza – it’s worthy, especially given the new Dunas de Formentera, a tranquil and eco-conscious luxury escape that rests on the beach and inspires daily routines that don’t stray too far from ‘eat, sleep, drink, swim, drink, eat, drink, drink, drink, eat, sleep, repeat’.
1, Place Vendôme, Paris, France
(The ‘anti-hotel‘)
A hotel that’s not a hotel? Welcome to the sumptuous Parisian affair that is 1, Place Vendôme. The name tells the tale here – one of the French capital’s most notable addresses (and who can forget the time in 2017 when Toowoomba’s own Justin O’Shea did laps of the Napoleonic Vendôme Column on a ’70s BMW motorbike to rev up interest in his label SSS World Corp?) and a property that eschews naming its owners in favour of a quiet agenda.
The hotel belongs to Chopard, though the Swiss watch manufacturer has forgone any official recognition in favour of discretion, a play that begins via the unmarked (if large and bold) blue entrance door adjacent to the flagship boutique. Upstairs are just five rooms and 10 gilded suites befitting the historic setting. Dining occurs when and where guests desire – a suite, the library, elsewhere – with menus by chef Boris Algarra.
This is elite and indulgent seclusion in practice – no fanny- packed tourists plodding about like at other notable hotels on the square.
Soneva Secret 2024, The Republic of Maldives
(The sustainable star)
This ridiculous turquoise wonder and remote charm has a new guiding star. Soneva Secret sits in Makunudhoo and furthers the brand’s impressive approach to sustainability and conservation – particularly pressing in this particularly fragile region.
Honouring its values meant construction utilising FSC-certified wood (sourced from fast-growing species) and an approach to design that harnesses nature – much of the resort is solar-powered, while wind is used for ventilation.
Soneva Secret has 14 villas, situated either over water or on the stark white sand. Then there’s the ‘floating’ villa (that sits atop stilts in the ocean), the attentive 24/7 butler services – each villa comes with a personal barefoot guardian, barefoot assistant and chef de partie – and a mighty list of experiences.
Soneva co-founder Sonu Shivdasani isn’t whistling Dixie when he says the property comes draped in “intelligent luxury”.
The Fontainebleau, Las Vegas, USA
(The party)
Sixty-seven storeys, 3644 rooms and suites, 32 restaurants, a sprawling casino, six pools, LIV nightclub and a bold, cavernous and ostentatious design that is also magnetic given this is Vegas and its appeal is built on being OTT.
Our advice is to go large. The Fleur de Lis Suites – some at 10,000 square feet – offer views, pool tables and lifelong bragging rights.
Strap on the second liver and head out to the desert to this stupefying newcomer for a weekend that promises to be at once unforgettable and strangely difficult to recall.
Janu, Tokyo, Japan
(The sister act)
This is a stirring introduction to Aman’s sister brand, Janu, with a flagship that’s a study in minimalism and attentiveness. Set in Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills district – offering green spaces within a cultural, fine-dining and specialty store hub that includes the city’s largest Hermès boutique – the towering Janu contains 122 elevated guestrooms and suites and is, in a pivot from the impossible calm that frames all things Aman, rather buzzy.
Here, the various kitchens are open and the common areas designed to encourage social interaction. Then there’s a peerless wellness platform boasting one of Tokyo’s largest gyms (340sqm) and five ‘movement studios’. The gym has Japan’s (yes, the country’s) only Technogym ‘Outrace’ machine
– which, in layman’s terms, means ‘no trainer required’.
“[The hotel’s] designed to foster a sense of balance and joy, encouraging guests to explore new passions, indulge in wellness and embrace meaningful experiences,” Noriko Tanaka, general manager of Janu Tokyo, tells Esquire.
“Meaningful experiences” could be code for boxing, given Janu houses the city’s only in-hotel boxing ring.
The Emory, London, UK
(The designer hotel)
It was in May that Esquire was welcomed into The Emory – the first Australian media to snare a sojourn at the British capital’s most anticipated hotel opening in years. The reason for the tangible buzz was built, quite literally, into the build, specifically by those behind various aspects of the architecture and design.
No failure to deliver here. Not at The Emory – London’s finest newcomer and a ‘designer hotel’ whose credentials cannot be bettered. A property 20 years in the making that will forever stand as a legacy project for the late British ‘starchitect’ Richard Rogers, The Emory is peerless in its design delivery given Rogers is not the only notable name involved. Each of the two floors of the central Belgravia property were shaped by celebrated global studios – Patricia Urquiola, Pierre-Yves Rochon, André Fu and Alexandra Champalimaud – the results delivering a wonderful dance that allows the thoughtful use of various timbers and marbles to take the edge off Rogers’ industrial approach.
Let’s keep the names coming: superyacht designer Rémi Tessier is responsible for the public areas of the Emory Bar and abc kitchens, while The Emory’s Tracy Anderson fitness studio is the first outside of LA. As for the views that wrap the elevated and guest-exclusive glass boxes – Bar 33 and Cigar Merchants? Faultless.
Kona Village, Hawaii, USA
(The best resort)
Rebirthed in 2023 under the Rosewood moniker, this offers a perfect Hawaiian sojourn with a cool serving of history.
The remote and once-ramshackle resort was a proper ’60s player, one favoured by The Doors’ Jim Morrison, who’s said to have set a record by drinking 21 mai tais in a sitting at Kona’s Shipwreck Bar. And while that’s not quite David Boon en route to London, it’s a story that shapes the cultish-cool attraction the place held for many years before being levelled by a tsunami in 2011.
Rosewood took naming rights and reopened things last July following a heady rebuild. It’s a designer-led resort planted directly on the beach that is fun and doesn’t play at being Hawaiian. Here, things feel authentic. And mai tais are still flowing at the original Shipwreck Bar.
Highland Base Kerlingarfjöll, Iceland
(The middle of nowhere)
There’s a genealogical register – an app, in fact, called ‘The Book of Icelanders’ – used by locals to make sure they’re not related, should that casual drink between two singles develop into certain shenanigans.
More than some solid pub trivia to unfurl over a third schooner, it points to the unique history and ways of this most remote of countries – a Nordic land between the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and
a place that simply must inform future travel plans.
Enter Highland Base Kerlingarfjöll – a slick, all-year hotel opening up Iceland’s overlooked and remote central highlands. Thank us later.
De Durgerdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
(Boutique chic)
There is a waterside embodiment of the rethink happening in the ‘Dam. For too long, boozy and boorish types have dominated the story of a city that should be best known for its beauty, history, art and the very real need to look three times when crossing a road. To be fair, this isn’t Amsterdam proper but rather the adjacent fishing village of Durgerdam – about 15 minutes by cab from Centraal station.
With direct access to Lake IJmeer, the 14-room boutique property (in part a renovated former fisherman’s inn dating to 1664) has been rebuilt, as much as possible, via the repurposing of reclaimed materials; the property’s rooms are moody in autumnal colours and rich textures. Enhancing De Durgerdam is De Mark restaurant, curated by Thomas Groot and Richard van Oostenbrugge, who have Michelin-star credentials.
Six Senses, Vana, India
(The wellness wonder)
Okay, this place opened a decade back – a Himalayan escape for the famous and the wealthy and an early marker for luxury wellness and detox tourism that landed ahead of its time. But Six Senses took over in 2023, broadening the offer in a way that has landed Vana on these pages.
Here, amongst the lush landscape and mountainous views, is a chance to escape and find solace and tranquillity; a wellness offer that covers yoga and meditation, Tibetan medicine and Ayurvedic programs, so too tennis and swimming and even that silly padel. A realignment of energies wrapped in luxury.
Farasha Farmhouse, Marrakesh, Morocco
(The hidden gem)
Morocco is a must. And to counter the chaos, head for the new Farasha Farmhouse. A loose 40 Marrakesh minutes from the central medina, this is a different outing – an appealing farm stay framed by creativity and boho charm.
Set in a secluded and expansive olive grove, the main two-storey building comprises three spacious suites with an additional stand- alone cottage. It’s the former residence of French artist Patrice Arnaud and has been wonderfully updated by owners Rosena and Fred Charmoy, who run a renowned Marrakesh events company, Boutique Souk, which holds a client list that includes Dior, Chanel, Saint Laurent, Madonna and more.
Relax into the serenity and space with a book from a collection donated by the son of former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland. Wander the scrubby landscape and feast on dishes heroing the farm’s produce, or lap what is a most striking 50m pool cradled by olive groves.
Honourable mentions
- Sun Ranch, Byron Bay, NSW: seventies Cali-cool meets a slice of Spain.
- The Peninsula London: a study in opulent luxury sat next to Buckingham Palace.
- Hotel César, Lanzarote: a slick newcomer wedged between volcanic terrain and the sea.
- Further Hotel, Bali: contemporary design meets more traditional elements.
- Six Senses Kyoto, Japan: Tthe famed brand’s first Japanese property.
- One&Only Kéa Island, Greece: a glamorous and sprawling escape on the rugged shore.
- The Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York: elevated moments of designer whimsy abound.
- Hôtel Le Grand Mazarin, Paris: if Wes Anderson did a hotel. And it’s in Le Marais!
- Four Seasons Resort Cabo San Lucas at Cabo Del Sol: prepare for a heightened relationship with nature.
- 1 Hotel Melbourne: sustainable luxury is coming to the banks of the Yarra in 2025.
This story appears in the November/December 2024 issue of Esquire Australia, on sale now. Find out where to buy the issue here.
Related:
Inside Cap Karoso, Indonesia’s best kept secret
Where to eat, drink, stay and shop in London: the Esquire guide
