2025 AFAR Best New Hotels

Regent Santa Monica Beach occupies 167 rooms along Ocean Avenue, placing guests at the intersection of Los Angeles waterfront history and contemporary luxury. The property carries a 2026 Star Wine List recognition, houses cuisine by Chef Michael Mina, and partners with Guerlain for its wellness program. Rates are available on request, positioning the hotel firmly in the upper tier of California coastal accommodation.

Dar Tantora The House Hotel occupies 30 restored heritage 'Dars' inside AlUla's ancient Old Town, earning 93.5 points on the 2026 La Liste Top Hotels ranking. Each unit comes with 24/7 butler service and a sustainability framework rooted in the site's living history. For travellers seeking a hotel that functions as an archaeological encounter as much as an accommodation, this is AlUla's most grounded address.

One&Only Za'abeel occupies a purpose-built tower in the Za'abeel district, connecting the old financial core with newer Dubai. The property carries Michelin-starred dining, a three-storey longevity spa from Clinique La Prairie, and The Link, a cantilevered lifestyle deck suspended 100 metres above street level. Rooms and suites were designed by Jean-Michel Gathy, placing it firmly in Dubai's small tier of design-led urban luxury.

A 17th-century convent transformed into one of Nice's most quietly authoritative hotels, Hôtel du Couvent earned the #27 position on the World's 50 Best Hotels list in 2025 and a Gault & Millau Exceptional Hotel distinction the same year. The 88-room Marriott Luxury Collection property trades Riviera flash for cloister calm: Roman baths, a resident herbalist, and garden rooms where the dominant sound is a fig tree in the breeze rather than the Promenade des Anglais.

Cape Grace occupies a private quay at the V&A Waterfront, where 112 rooms face the harbour, marina, or Table Mountain. Scored 97.5 points in the 2026 La Liste Top Hotels ranking, the property sits in the upper tier of Cape Town luxury alongside peers such as the One&Only and Ellerman House. Rates from $1,036 per night reflect a full-service maritime heritage property with serious whisky credentials and a refined afternoon tea program.

Sandals St. Vincent and the Grenadines occupies a private cove at Buccament Bay, positioning itself within the quieter, less-trafficked end of Caribbean all-inclusive travel. The property features two-story Overwater Villas and beachfront suites with private plunge pools, set against forested hillsides meeting calm blue water. For travelers choosing between the Grenadines' scattered island options, this is among the few all-inclusive formats in the archipelago.

Tawana sits along the Gomoti River in Moremi Game Reserve, one of the Okavango Delta's most wildlife-dense corridors. The camp pairs contemporary design with the rhythms of the surrounding floodplain forest, positioning it among Botswana's more considered safari addresses for travellers who want close proximity to the Delta's permanent water channels and the game they sustain.

The Dorchester Collection's first Middle East address, The Lana sits along the Marasi Bay waterfront in Business Bay, where two interlocking towers designed by Gilles & Boissier hold 225 rooms, a Dior spa, and restaurants by Michelin-recognised chefs Martín Berasategui and Jean Imbert. Tatler named it Best City Hotel in the Middle East for 2025, and it placed 35th on the World's 50 Best Hotels list the same year.

A 1950s Art Deco monument on Avenue des Forces Armées Royales, the Royal Mansour Casablanca has been reborn as the city's most architecturally considered luxury address. With 149 accommodations ranging from rooms to Signature Suites, multiple restaurants, and a 98-point score on La Liste Top Hotels 2026, it occupies a distinct tier above Casablanca's international chain competition.

Founded in 1967 as a discreet retreat for in-the-know travellers, The Potlatch Club occupies 12 acres of Eleuthera's pink sand coastline with just 11 suites, cottages, and villas. Rates are available on request, the Fig Tree restaurant serves three meals daily, and Governor's Harbour's international airport is a 20-minute drive away.

Opened in 2024 on Jaipur's northern edge, Raffles Jaipur is a 50-suite property positioned at the quieter, more architecturally ambitious end of the city's luxury hotel spectrum. Domed chhatris, jaali screens, frescoed corridors, and private plunge pools place it in a design-first tier. Amber Fort sits on the doorstep; the Pink City's historic quarter is 20 kilometres south.

Warren Street Hotel brings Firmdale's signature collision of bold color, layered pattern, and considered comfort to Tribeca, where 69 individually designed rooms sit behind a bright blue façade on Warren Street. A 2024 Michelin 1 Key recipient, the hotel occupies a distinct position in Downtown Manhattan's accommodation market, pairing fashionable common spaces with a bar and restaurant that draws both guests and locals.

Rebuilt from the ground up and reopened in 2024, Dusit Thani Bangkok returned to Silom with interiors by Hong Kong designer André Fu and floor-to-ceiling views across Lumpini Park. Named Best New Hotel in the Tatler Best Hotels Asia-Pacific 2025 list and ranked 60th in the World's 50 Best Hotels 2025, the 257-room property reestablishes a Thai hospitality institution at the top of Bangkok's luxury tier.

Designed by film director Luca Guadagnino, Palazzo Talìa occupies a converted sixteenth-century palace steps from the Trevi Fountain. Twenty-six rooms and suites blend period architecture with custom contemporary furniture, while the in-house restaurant Tramae and a Roman bath-inspired spa round out a small-scale property that competes on design credentials rather than room count.

Reached by private transfer across the outer Indian Ocean, Waldorf Astoria Seychelles Platte Island operates as a single-resort island with 50 pool villas, six dining venues, and a Forbes Five-Star rating for 2025. The property sits on an island discovered in 1771, where the surrounding waters function as a marine nursery for hawksbill turtles, eagle rays, and blacktip sharks. La Liste ranked it at 98 points in its 2026 Top Hotels index.

Reopened in 2024 after a meticulous restoration, the Corinthia Grand Hotel Astoria occupies a landmark Beaux-Arts building on Rue Royale that first opened in 1909. Its 126 rooms, two Michelin-starred restaurant concepts, and 13,000 sq. ft. wellness facilities place it at the upper tier of Brussels luxury hotels. La Liste ranked it 94 points in its 2026 Top Hotels list.

Opened in July 2024, Kibale Lodge is Volcanoes Safaris' eight-banda chimpanzee lodge in Uganda's Kasenda region, built by an in-house team of African artisans in the operator's signature handmade style. The property sits within one of East Africa's most significant primate habitats and pairs a spa and pool with the material and craft sensibility that defines the Volcanoes portfolio.

Opened in August 2024 in Osaka's Kita-ku district near Umeda, Four Seasons Hotel Osaka earned a spot at #10 in the 2025 Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards for Japan within its first year of operation. The property combines skyline-view rooms with a dedicated modern ryokan floor, Michelin-recognized dining, and a full-service spa that positions it among the city's most considered addresses for wellness-focused stays.

Opened in 2024, Populus is the first carbon-positive hotel in the United States, a 265-room downtown Denver property whose aspen-inspired architecture and on-site food-waste composting place it at the intersection of serious sustainability and genuine comfort. Room rates from $377 per night. The Rocky Mountain views through oval Aspen-eye windows make the environmental credentials feel architectural rather than performative.

Soneva Secret occupies a private island in Haa Dhaalu Atoll, one of the Maldives' more remote northern atolls, and ranks among the Asia-Pacific's leading resort properties on Tatler's Best Hotels 2025 list and World's 50 Best Hotels at number 92. The property sits in the Soneva group's upper tier — smaller and more deliberately secluded than its siblings — where design, remoteness, and bespoke programming define the offer.

The second Mandarin Oriental in London occupies 22 Hanover Square with 50 rooms, a Korean chef's table, and a spa that reads as one of the more considered wellness spaces in Mayfair. Rated 94.5 points on the 2026 La Liste Top Hotels ranking, it positions itself as the quieter, more design-forward alternative to the group's Hyde Park flagship, with rates from $1,091 per night.

Opened in March 2024 inside Azabudai Hills, Janu Tokyo places 122 rooms and eight dining destinations in one of the city's most deliberately engineered mixed-use developments. Ranked 37th on the World's 50 Best Hotels list in 2025 and awarded two Michelin Keys, it occupies a deliberate position between Aman's self-contained resort model and a more outward-facing, neighbourhood-integrated approach to urban luxury.

Reopened in July 2024 after a careful restoration, Rosewood Schloss Fuschl occupies a 15th-century lakeside castle on the shores of Lake Fuschl, roughly 30 minutes from Salzburg. The property holds Michelin 3 Keys (2024) and a 98-point score from La Liste Top Hotels (2026), with 98 rooms, suites, and freestanding chalets spanning both period interiors and contemporary lakeside design.

On Grenada's quieter southeastern shore, Six Senses La Sagesse occupies 38 acres between open ocean and a sheltered bay, with 56 pool suites and 15 villas designed around traditional Caribbean architectural forms. The property received Star Wine List recognition in 2026 and sits at a deliberate distance from the island's busier resort corridors, making it the reference address for visitors who want something slower and more considered.

The Dunlin, Auberge Resorts Collection sits on Johns Island's Kiawah River, 40 minutes from downtown Charleston, where 72 rooms and 19 villas are arranged across 2,000 acres of Lowcountry marsh and oak canopy. Named to Travel + Leisure's 2025 It List, it represents the newest Auberge opening in the United States, with a design vocabulary built around Sea Island vernacular: gabled roofs, screened porches, and long views over golden marsh.