Hilton 5-Star Projects: 4 Future Hotels to Track

Hilton's next luxury watchlist is not one market, one brand, or one construction model. The four Hilton 5-Star Projects to track now are Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi in Saudi Arabia, Hilton Hotel Kampala in Uganda, Conrad Costa del Sol in Spain, and Shanghai Parkview Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton in China. Do not try to book them yet. Track them by opening date, room count, construction type, and brand fit, because the useful decision here is which future hotel belongs on your 2026, 2027, 2028, or 2030 shortlist.

In practice, Shanghai Parkview is the closest to arrival, Kampala has the largest room count, Conrad Costa del Sol is the refurbishment to watch in Europe, and Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi is the long-fuse Middle East project. Use this list of five-star Hilton projects as a timing tool, not a booking guide. Together the hotels show Hilton spreading luxury development across new buildings, a refurbishment, and a conversion rather than betting on a single format.

Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi (Abha, Saudi Arabia)

Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi is the long-term play in this set: a 180-room new building in Abha, Saudi Arabia², with an expected opening date of 2030. That makes it too early for itinerary planning, but exactly the sort of project to track if you plan trips around new luxury hotels rather than waiting until the first rates appear.

Begin with the stage. Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi is listed in planning, not under construction. That matters more than any brand halo. A planning-stage hotel can change in timing, final room mix, and launch rhythm before travelers ever see a reservation calendar. For now, the useful action is to keep it on a 2030 watchlist, not to build a Saudi Arabia trip around it.

Public Investment Fund is listed as developer, and the project is tied to Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Worldwide.¹ For a luxury traveler, that combination gives you two practical signals. First, this is not a soft-brand conversion or a light refresh of an existing hotel.

It is a new-build Waldorf Astoria, which usually means the design, arrival sequence, room product, and food-and-beverage programming will be built around the brand from the start.

Second, the 180-room count makes it the smallest project in this four-hotel set, so if the final product lands with limited suite inventory, early booking windows may matter once the hotel gets closer to opening.

Compared with Hilton Hotel Kampala, Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi is smaller, earlier, and attached to Hilton's more luxury-coded brand. Compared with Shanghai Parkview, it is not a conversion, so the reader question is different: you are not asking how Hilton will adapt an existing building, you are asking what a new Waldorf Astoria can become by 2030. Track it, but do not plan around it yet. It belongs on a long-range Middle East hotel list for travelers who care about first-season stays and brand debuts, not on a near-term booking calendar.

• Expected opening: 2030
• Project type: New Building
• Status: Planning
• Rooms: 180
• Developer: Public Investment Fund
• Group: Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts | Hilton Worldwide

Hilton Hotel Kampala (Kampala, Uganda)

In Kampala, Uganda, Hilton Hotel Kampala is the most practical near-term Africa entry in these openings: a 257-room new building under construction with an expected opening date of Q1 2027. If you are sorting these projects by urgency, this comes after Shanghai Parkview but ahead of the Spain and Saudi Arabia timelines.

Scale is what stands out. At 257 rooms³, Hilton Hotel Kampala has the largest room count of the four highlighted projects. That does not tell you the suite count, dining program, or rate strategy, so do not read more into it than the facts allow. It does tell you this is not a tiny luxury lodge model or a boutique city conversion. It is a full-scale Hilton Hotels & Resorts project, and that gives it a different use case from the Waldorf Astoria and Conrad entries in this list.

Twed is listed as developer, and the project is associated with Hilton Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Worldwide.¹ The brand positioning matters for decision-making. Hilton Hotels & Resorts is not the same proposition as Waldorf Astoria or Conrad. If you are the traveler who chooses a hotel for residential design language, destination dining, or a tightly edited resort feel, you will want more information before getting excited. If you prioritize a recognizable international flag, a large room count, and a project that is already under construction, this is the one to watch in Kampala.

The opening date is the reason to pay attention now. Q1 2027 is close enough that travel advisors, corporate travel planners, and frequent Africa travelers should keep an eye on launch timing. It is still not a book-now recommendation, because no room categories, rates, opening packages, restaurant details, or loyalty redemption information are available here. Among these projects, Kampala is the clearest scale play. Add it to a 2027 Kampala watchlist if brand familiarity and room count matter to you. If your benchmark is a high-touch luxury resort experience, wait for more operating detail before you care.

• Expected opening: Q1 2027
• Project type: New Building
• Status: Under Construction
• Rooms: 257
• Developer: Twed
• Group: Hilton Hotels & Resorts | Hilton Worldwide

Conrad Costa del Sol (Casares, Spain)

For travelers who prefer brand-led refurbishments over ground-up hotel launches, Conrad Costa del Sol is the Europe project to track. The 230-room hotel is located in Casares, Spain, is under construction as a refurbishment⁴, and has an expected opening date of Q4 2028.

This is the most useful contrast in the set because refurbishment projects carry a different kind of risk and reward for travelers. A new building starts from a blank page. A conversion asks a brand to reinterpret an existing property. A refurbishment sits between those two poles. You want to know how much has changed, where the money went, and whether the final product feels like a Conrad in daily use rather than a rebranded hotel with a new sign. Those details are not available yet, so the correct move is to track the project, not assume the outcome.

EdP and AGAS Arquitectos are listed as architects, and the hotel is tied to Conrad Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Worldwide.¹ That is the trust signal here. In a thin pre-opening file, named architects are more useful than vague design promises because they give you something concrete to follow as the project moves toward opening. The room count also matters. At 230 rooms, Conrad Costa del Sol sits below Hilton Hotel Kampala and Shanghai Parkview but above Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi. It should have enough scale for a full resort-style operation, though the available facts do not confirm dining venues, wellness facilities, residences, or beach access.

For travelers planning Spain in 2028, this belongs on a watchlist rather than a firm itinerary. Q4 openings can be useful for shoulder-season reconnaissance, but early hotel openings also come with the usual unknowns: final service rhythm, which rooms are ready first, and how the property handles its first full high-demand season.

Within this set, Conrad Costa del Sol is the one where the refurbishment result will matter more than the headline brand. Worth tracking if you like Conrad as a format and want a Spain opening with a refurbishment angle. Skip the hype until Hilton shows the rooms, public spaces, and opening rates.

• Expected opening: Q4 2028
• Project type: Refurbishment
• Status: Under Construction
• Rooms: 230
• Architects: EdP and AGAS Arquitectos
• Group: Conrad Hotels & Resorts | Hilton Worldwide

Shanghai Parkview Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton (Shanghai, China)

Shanghai Parkview Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton is the closest opening in this four-project list: a 248-room conversion in Shanghai, China, expected in Q4 2026. If you want the first hotel here that could plausibly affect a near-term luxury travel calendar, start here.

Format is the thing to watch. Shanghai Parkview is listed as a conversion, not a new building or refurbishment. That changes the booking question. With a conversion, you will want to see how Hilton positions the existing asset inside Curio Collection by Hilton. Curio properties can vary by market and building because the collection format is not the same as a fully uniform luxury brand. That can be good if the finished hotel has a strong local identity. It can also mean you should wait for room photographs, floor plans, and early guest feedback before committing premium spend.

Shanghai Lujiazui (Group) Co., Ltd. is listed as investor and owner, and the project is associated with Hilton Worldwide.¹ The 248-room count puts it just below Hilton Hotel Kampala and above Conrad Costa del Sol and Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi.

It is large enough to matter for hotel supply in its category, but not so large that you can ignore room category selection. For a first stay after opening, the practical move is to watch which room types are released, how the hotel prices suites versus standard rooms, and whether launch inventory opens all at once or in phases.

Those mechanics are not available yet, so do not assume an easy opening-month booking.

The Q4 2026 date makes Shanghai Parkview the one to monitor first. If you are planning Shanghai travel around that period, keep it as a flexible option rather than the anchor of the trip. New conversions can open with a strong address and still need time to settle into service. Watch this one closely for late 2026, especially if you like collection-brand hotels and want something less predictable than a standard business-luxury flag. For a no-risk stay, wait until the hotel is open and the first room-level details are clear.

• Expected opening: Q4 2026
• Project type: Conversion
• Status: Under Construction
• Rooms: 248
• Investor/Owner: Shanghai Lujiazui (Group) Co., Ltd.
• Group: Curio Collection by Hilton | Hilton Worldwide

Hilton 5-Star Projects Peer Snapshot

If you are choosing what to track, sort these hotels by timeline first. Shanghai Parkview Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton is expected in Q4 2026, so it is the near-term watch. Hilton Hotel Kampala follows in Q1 2027, making it the first new-build hotel in this set that could enter a travel plan soon. Conrad Costa del Sol sits further out in Q4 2028. Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi is the long-range 2030 project and should be treated as early intelligence, not trip-planning inventory.

By room count, the order changes. Hilton Hotel Kampala leads with 257 rooms. Shanghai Parkview follows with 248 rooms. Conrad Costa del Sol has 230 rooms. Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi is the smallest with 180 rooms. That is useful because room count shapes how you should think about scarcity once bookings open. A 180-room Waldorf Astoria may require more careful timing for peak dates than a larger urban Hilton, but that remains a planning assumption until reservation rules and room categories are released.

By construction type, the four hotels tell four different booking stories. Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi and Hilton Hotel Kampala are both new buildings, but one is in planning for 2030 and the other is under construction for Q1 2027. Conrad Costa del Sol is a refurbishment, so the important future question is how fully the finished product reads as a Conrad. Shanghai Parkview is a conversion, so the important future question is how well Curio absorbs the existing hotel into Hilton's system without sanding away the property's identity.

For brand loyalists, the decision is not simply Hilton or not Hilton. Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi is the highest-brand-positioning play in the set, but also the furthest away. Conrad Costa del Sol is the cleanest luxury lifestyle bet for Spain, but Q4 2028 is not close. Hilton Hotel Kampala offers the largest room count and the clearest full-service Hilton flag, though not the same luxury code as Waldorf Astoria or Conrad. Shanghai Parkview is the fastest to opening and the most dependent on how the conversion is executed.

That is why the right answer varies by traveler. If you want the soonest potential stay, track Shanghai. If you want the largest project, track Kampala. If you care about Conrad in Spain, track Casares. If you follow first-generation luxury hotel openings in Saudi Arabia, keep Abha on the long list and revisit it as 2030 approaches.

• Soonest expected opening: Shanghai Parkview Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton, Q4 2026
• Largest room count: Hilton Hotel Kampala, 257 rooms
• Smallest room count: Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi, 180 rooms
• Refurbishment project: Conrad Costa del Sol, 230 rooms
• Conversion project: Shanghai Parkview Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton, 248 rooms
• Planning-stage project: Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi, expected in 2030

What's Next

The next useful signals will not be slogans. They will be opening confirmations, room categories, restaurant names, spa details, suite counts, and first available rates. Until those appear, these four projects should sit in different parts of your travel planning calendar: Shanghai for late 2026 monitoring, Kampala for 2027, Conrad Costa del Sol for 2028, and Waldorf Astoria Ardara AlWadi for 2030.

Hilton's luxury expansion is most interesting here because the projects are not copies of one another. A new-build Waldorf Astoria in Abha, a new Hilton in Kampala, a Conrad refurbishment in Casares, and a Curio conversion in Shanghai ask different questions of the traveler. Watch the facts as they harden, because the first hotel worth booking will be the one that moves from expected opening date to real rooms, real rates, and a launch that can survive scrutiny.