Best new hotels for 2022: Raffles, Aman, Six Senses, COMO, Banyan Tree
Put these luxe lodgings on your wishlist as international destinations beckon.
This year the hotel industry is all about overhauling and upcycling landmark buildings, including London’s Old War Office, an electricity company in Oslo, a palazzo in Rome, a bishop’s manor in Ireland and New York’s famous Crown Building.
Raffles London at The OWO
London’s Old War Office on Whitehall, former stomping ground of Winston Churchill, T.E. Lawrence and Ian Fleming, is being retrofitted as a luxury hotel opening late 2022. Following a meticulous five-year restoration led by the family-run Hinduja Group, and overseen by lauded designer Thierry Despont, reviving oak panelling and an epic marble staircase, it’s out with the old wartime charts and in with 120 luxury guestrooms and suites. A large wellness centre and battalion of restaurants, including a rooftop bar with views to Buckingham Palace, will transform this mysterious building, never before open to the public, into the city’s hottest new hotel. The most spectacular suites occupy the former offices of Churchill, David Lloyd George and John Profumo. Corner turret rooms offer incredible views over Horse Guards and St James’s Park.
Cap Karoso, Indonesia
First time hoteliers Fabrice and Evguenia Ivara, late of Paris, will bring a slice of French flair to this elegant beachfront resort opening late 2022 on Sumba Island, less than an hour’s flight from Bali. The property is heavily influenced by the destination’s architectural vernacular and Marapu religion. The 47 studios and suites and 20 beachfront villas look seriously elegant, featuring details such as hand-carved headboards and woven ikat wall hangings. A day spa, children’s club and outdoor cinema are complemented by a restaurant hosting international chefs visiting for short “take-overs” with a resort farm at their disposal.
Six Senses Rome
The first foray into Italy by upmarket Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas takes the form of the 18th-century Palazzo Salviati Cesi Mellini, ideally situated in the centre of ancient Rome, just blocks from Fontana di Trevi and moments from the city’s poshest shopping streets. The hotel will feature 95 guestrooms and suites and a rooftop terrace with stunning city views and an expansive kitchen garden that will provide herbs for the hotel’s Alchemy Bar (expect house-made bitters, tonics and tinctures). The UNESCO-listed facade overlooking Via del Corso is being restored, as is the stunning central staircase; contemporary interiors are overseen by designer Patricia Urquiola.
Aman New York
Aman is putting the finishing touches to its flagship New York hotel and will open in the first half of this year in the iconic 1921 Crown Building, one of the finest examples of neo-classical beaux-arts architecture in the city. Rising 26 storeys at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street overlooking Central Park, the building has undergone a staggering transformation in keeping with Aman’s Asian roots and will include a 2300sqm Aman Spa and 83 guestrooms and suites, among the largest in the city (a minimum 70sqm) each with a functioning fireplace. A basement jazz club and 10th-floor wraparound garden terrace are the icing on this gilded cake.
COMO Le Montrachet, France
Deep in the Burgundy countryside, the famous Hotel Le Montrachet is about to get the COMO treatment. An overhaul of the 18th-century property led by celebrated designer Paola Navone, who worked with the group on its Tuscan retreat COMO Castello Del Nero, commences this year when the first of the renovated 31 guestrooms and suites will be unveiled. The phased opening will include the addition of a signature COMO Shambhala Retreat and restaurant. This is the first hotel for the group in France providing a taste of its legendary holistic hospitality, pioneered in Bali.
Sommerro, Norway
In September, Oslo’s former electrical company HQ, and art deco landmark, will open in the West End as a boutique hotel featuring the city’s first rooftop pool, public baths transformed into a wellness centre and a huge wall fresco and ceiling mural by celebrated Norwegian artist Per Krohg. The 231 guestrooms have a plush deco vibe (think Hercule Poirot in a smoking jacket). The epic restoration project includes four restaurants, three bars and a 100-seat gilded theatre.
Melia Chiang Mai
Towering over Chiang Mai’s popular Night Bazaar, the 22nd-level rooftop bar of this new hotel, opening February, will offer stellar views of the River Ping, and to the west the mountaintop Doi Suthep Temple. Two bars are connected by a glass bridge atop the 260-guestroom Melia Chiang Mai where food outlets celebrate the brand’s Spanish origins. A signature day spa with seven treatment rooms, fitness centre, pool, children’s club and 21st-floor club lounge round out the new build.
Cashel Palace, Ireland
Opening March in county Tipperary with views over the medieval Rock of Cashel, this elegant 18th-century Palladian manor has the feel of a fairytale with original timber panelling, open fires and 42 luxury guestrooms and suites. Following a meticulous five-year restoration, the house now also has a stunning day spa with indoor pool and promises aperitifs in the Guinness Bar and exceptional modern Irish cooking from chef Stephen Hayes in The Bishop’s Buttery. And, for horsey types, there’s even an “equine concierge”.
Sly Berlin
A stylish hotel will open in Berlin’s uber-cool Friedrichshain neighbourhood in the northern summer across four upcycled buildings connected by open-air courtyards and a stunning greenhouse, site of the property’s restaurant. Sly Berlin’s 150 guestrooms and suites, some with balconies, will feature a look that combines “Brutalist concrete” with solid oak and Italian stone.
W Sydney
With 585 guestrooms and suites, the largest W hotel on the planet opens in November. Anchoring The Ribbon building, rising like a great lolly between two elevated roadways, the hotel promises a two-storey rooftop bar and infinity pool overlooking Darling Harbour. Guestrooms will apparently embrace the Aussie larrikin spirit. Expect oversized TVs, toiletries by Davines and in-room “Mixbars”.
Banyan Tree llha Caldeira, Mozambique
Year’s end brings a resort from Asian brand Banyan Tree tucked away on Ilha Caldeira, a private island 20km off the coast of Mozambique with just 40 private pool villas offering stunning views of the Indian Ocean. Encircled by sand with a jungle interior, Ilha Caldeira lies in a marine sanctuary and is a world-class diving site.
The Twenty Two, London
An Edwardian manor on Grosvenor Square in Mayfair will open as a chi-chi hotel in the northern spring with 31 guestrooms and suites, all-day restaurant, four bars and a members’ club with outdoor terrace. Brainchild of hotelier and tech investor Navid Mirtorabi, The Twenty Two promises “a modern take on classic maximalism” with lavish fabrics, embroidered silks and bespoke wallpapers. (Also in London, The Dorchester will undertake a significant renovation this year, working with Pierre-Yves Rochon and the Martin Brudnizki Design Studio; while the new-build Peninsula London overlooking Hyde Park will open late 2022/early 2023.)
More to the story
Bvlgari will launch a 98-room hotel on the top seven floors of a towering new skyscraper in Tokyo, while in the US the very cool Hotel Barriere Fouquet’s New York opens in Tribeca in the northern summer. Hyatt’s lifestyle brand Tommie has opened in LA in the heart of Hollywood near Sunset Boulevard with a rooftop pool and regional Mexican restaurant by celebrated chef Wes Avila. Hot newcomers in Australia include The Tasman, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Hobart; Sofitel Adelaide, and the new-look Silky Oaks Lodge in the Daintree, Queensland, now a member of Baillie Lodges. And finally, already six months old but one for the 2022 planner is The Star from celebrated hoteliers and designers Olga and Alex Polizzi. The gorgeous 15th-century East Sussex inn has 30 guestrooms and an ancient, beamed bar.
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