The winners of T&C's Hotel Awards in the April 2024 issue are organized into six categories: wilderness, city, country, beachside, minimalist, and high-design. For the full list, see T&C Hotel Awards 2024: The Best-Looking New Hotels on the Planet.
Villa Mabrouka, Tangier
In 1990, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé purchased a 1940s modernist villa on a cliff overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar in Tangier, and enlisted Jacques Grange to create an airy, light-filled retreat—an antidote of sorts to their homes in Marrakech, Paris, and New York. That vision can still be felt today, except now you can sleep over. Thank British designer Jasper Conran, who bought Villa Mabrouka in 2019 and turned it into a 12-room hotel, adding restaurants, 6,500 plants to the original Madison Cox-designed garden, and a second pool lined with local emerald tiles.—Leena Kim
To book a trip to Morocco: Michael Diamond of Cobblestone Private Travel, Michael@cobblestoneprivatetravel.com
1 Place Vendome, Paris
Luxury fashion houses are masters of creating desire.The jewelery and watchmaking Scheufele family of Chopard, which over six years transformed a 18th-century mansion on Paris’ chicest square into this 15-room hotel, takes the seduction honors. There's no blaring Chopard name at 1 Place Vendome, just a soupcon of a “C” on a wrought-iron gate; no front desk (you are led upstairs); public spaces reserved for guests (for that “your-eyes-only” frisson); anytime-anywhere dining (how delicious is that?). And the rooms: designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon, some with Chagalls and Warhols, are each different—so you’ll come back for more.—Klara Glowczewska
To book a trip to France: Philip Haslett of French Promise, Philip@Frenchpromise.com
The Lana, Dubai
Quiet luxury might have run its course when it comes to how we dress, but The Lana, Dorchester’s first property in the Middle East makes a case for its continued importance when it comes to where we stay. Guest rooms, by Gilles & Boissier, are tasteful and relaxed, and the Foster + Partners (as in Sir Norman) designed building isn’t another behemoth overlooking the Marasi Bay Marina, but has just 225 rooms and suites. But don’t mistake understated for sleepy: Riviera, the Mediterranean restaurant, is run by Parisian hotshot Jean Imbert; the rooftop lounge has a wraparound infinity pool; and guests have access to a cigar lounge, a house Rolls-Royce Phantom and Ghost, and a soon-to-open Dior spa, the first in the UAE.—Adam Rathe
To book a trip to the UAE: Justin Parkinson of Linara Travel, Justing@linaratravel.com
Manna Arcadia, Greece
If you think of Greece only in blue and white, think again. Up on the fir-forest covered Mount Mainalo, in the Peloponnese, long considered sacred to the rustic god Pan, a 1929 sanatorium has been exquisitely restored into Manna Arcadia, a soothing, luxurious, 32-room refuge by Athens' K-Studio (if you haven't heard of them before now, it was only a matter of time). Earth-toned interiors frame spectacular, if not downright mystical mountain views; you can hike, bike, horseback ride, and river raft; and repair daily—Manna is true to its healing roots—for yoga and treatments at the “wellness hub.”—John Newton
To book a trip to Greece: Mina Agnos of Travelive, mina@travelive.com
Vermelho, Portugal
Melides, the sleepier sister to hotspots like Comporta, has long been a secret refuge for creative aristos—Philippe Starck and Anselm Kiefer own homes here, as does Louboutin, and last spring he opened this jewel box of a hotel with textiles by Carolina Irving, frescoes by Konstantin Kakanias, and a façade hand-sculpted by Giuseppe Ducrot. Each of Vermelho's 13 rooms is its own exuberant celebration of color and print, but of course touches of the signature Louboutin red can be found throughout, from the embroidery on pillowcases to corner tiles on the floor, and even in the hotel’s name.—Leena Kim
To book a trip to Portugal, Virginia Irurita of Made for Spain and Portugal, Virginia@madeforspainandportugal.com
Bulgari, Rome
Nothing like playing to the home crowd. The Bulgari fashion house was founded in Rome in 1884, and they’re pulling out all the stops for the 9th hotel in its collection (and now the flagship): an unabashed celebration of the grandeur of imperial Rome. There’s an original statue of Emperor Augustus in the entry; stones, mosaics, and marble everywhere, the latter in shades ranging from off-white to green and even gold. The light in the rooms is golden, the pool magnificent. The building itself is a gem, albeit of a later age, a rationalist work by Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo, constructed in the 1930s near the Ara Pacis; the Bulgari Suite overlooks the Mausoleum of Augustus.—John Newton
To book a trip to Italy: Jennifer Virgilio of Queen of Clubs, jennifer@qofclubs.com .
Our Method: To compile this list of great-looking new hotels around the world, we followed not whimsy but rules: 1) They had to have opened no earlier than 2023. 2) They had to have been nominated by either T&C’s well traveled editors or our roundtable of 37 globetrotting travel advisors (preferably both). There were 172 nominees, and 53 made it through our vetting process. Bon voyage!
This story appears in the April 2024 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
Klara Glowczewska is the Executive Travel Editor of Town & Country, covering topics related to travel specifically (places, itineraries, hotels, trends) and broadly (conservation, culture, adventure), and was previously the Editor in Chief of Conde Nast Traveler magazine.
