Published on July 16, 2023
By Ramsey Qubein
Travel is booming with some people looking to return to their favorite hotels while other wanderlusters are trying something new. According to American Express’ recent Trendex Millennial and Gen-Z Summer Spotlight report, 69% of respondents plan to travel this summer with a focus on visiting friends and family, but also to see new places.
More than two thirds of them say this summer is the time to tick off bucket list destinations while 85% of will use travel hacks, like promotions and credit card benefits, to their advantage when planning their trip. When it comes to where to go, these are some of the newest hotels around the world opening between June and August this summer.
Northeast and Central States
In Lexington, Kentucky, The Manchester opened last month as one of the region’s first boutique properties within the Distillery District. The property has a rooftop bar and easy access to the city’s downtown shopping and dining area, even easier now thanks to the opening of a new walking trail known as Town Branch Commons.
Louisville adds another boutique option in August when Myriad Hotel opens (it was once a former disco ball factory). Among the 65 rooms are 15 different room types including two rooms with bunk beds. It will also be home to Myriad Swim Club, a pool and lounge area with regular activities that will have day beds and cabanas for rent.
Tempo by Hilton Times Square opened as the first of Hilton’s new lifestyle brand, one of several new names Hilton has added in recent years. Chic design fills the public areas and guest rooms. The room inventory includes 31 Ball Drop rooms with close-up views facing the Times Square Ball (reserve early for New Year’s Eve).
Travelers from New York LaGuardia have a new airport hotel option with the opening of voco Fiorello – LaGuardia East, an aviation-inspired hotel with a sustainable mindset. The property will have a rooftop restaurant as well as support the local community with onsite, third-party owned and managed Asian-inspired restaurant concepts.
The second Bluebird by Lark property is now open in Stowe, Vermont with Bluebird Cady Hill Lodge, which opened in June. The retro-style lodge is a great base for those that want to enjoy the area’s mountain sports.
Boothbay Harbor along the coast of Maine has a new hotel with the arrival of Bluebird Ocean Point Inn, which opened last month. The property takes inspiration from the quintessential New England cottage for its accommodations that are spread across cottages, rooms and suites.
Long Island’s new Northport Hotel opens in August with just over two dozen rooms and an Italian restaurant sourcing wine from a local vineyard.
Lodge at Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks, a new hotel in an existing structure, is now showing a $21 million renovation under a new name following its grand opening last month. It boasts 116 rooms with almost one quarter pet-friendly. That’s on top of outdoor areas that include mini golf, pickleball courts and hiking trails plus an indoor pool and rooftop terrace.
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee has a new hotel opening this summer. The Wayback, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, will open in August as part of the Marriott Bonvoy program. Blending a mix of Palm Springs and the Appalachian, this adult-focused property honors the retro nostalgic roadside hotels of days past while adding in top-quality food and beverage outlets.
Along the Atlantic Ocean, the new Moxy Virginia Beach Oceanfront is another Marriott Bonvoy property to open last month. The property delivers on Moxy’s brand promise for design-forward accommodations that don’t break the bank. Families will appreciate that many rooms have bunk beds.
Starting next month, travelers can shop until they drop at the new Hyatt House Mall of America while earning those coveted World of Hyatt points. Not far is the new Courtyard Marriott St. Paul Downtown, which opened last month in the state’s capital.
Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto’s hotel accommodations open in August as part of one of the largest casinos in North America. The casino has over 4,800 slot machines and 145 table games. The Vegas-style casino resort also has numerous restaurants and a 5,000-person live entertainment venue.
HONEYROSE Hotel, Montreal, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, will be the first for the brand in the province. It sits within Le Quartier des Spectacles and is part of the Marriott Bonvoy program.
Southern States
In Panama City, the new 124-room Hotel Indigo Panama City Marina opened last month within walking distance of the downtown shopping and arts district. In addition to two new restaurant and bar areas, there is also a fire pit overlooking the bay.
Pensacola Beach Resort opened in June on over 800 feet of Gulf Coast beachfront with 161 rooms and suites. Ample meeting space will be especially ideal for destination weddings and events.
Designed in Creole style, Camp Creek Inn in Watersound, Florida, one of South Walton’s 16 beach neighborhoods, will open next month. Near Watersound Club’s Camp Creek Golf Course, the property will appeal to golfers, but a free shuttle also runs to the property’s beach club for those that want to relax on the sand.
In the coming weeks, a 14-room boutique hotel will open in a former bank building in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Bella will a French menu as well as close proximity to area restaurants and shops.
The Ozarker Lodge opened last month beside Branson’s historic Fall Creek. The family-friendly resort features an outdoor pool, fire pits, an area for visiting food trucks and cedar soaking tubs for relaxation.
Earn or redeem Accor points at the new 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis opening next month with locally-sourced contemporary art and community-focused cultural programming. It’s within the 95-year-old, Renaissance Revival-style YMCA building with over 14,000 square feet of museum exhibition space.
Western States and Hawaii
Route 66 travelers have a new option in Flagstaff this month when the Americana Motor Hotel opens with a stylish, retro design scheme that focuses on a space theme in a 1962-built former hotel.
In Estes Park, Colorado, Trailborn Rocky Mountains and hotel sibling Trailborn Rocky Mountain Outpost open in August with outdoor areas, fire pits and a strong focus on the environment. Guest rooms have cork floors, and the property makes a donation to land conservation organizations with each reservation.
Boise, Idaho will have a new boutique property opening in August, The Avery Hotel in a historic building. It will also be home to a local chef’s brasserie and gastropub following his return from New York where he received Michelin star recognition.
Opening in August as the Margaritaville Hotel San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, this resort will have the playful Jimmy Buffett vibe. It also represents the first city-center hotel for the Margaritaville brand on the West Coast. The resort will be home to San Diego’s largest rooftop pool deck so guests can get into that “island state of mind.”
The newest hotel on Santa Monica’s Ocean Avenue in more than a decade, The Pierside Hotel opens this month. Among its amenities for guests are in-room record players and access to a surf shop. On the hotel’s ocean-facing wall is a custom mural by a contemporary artist.
Dawn Ranch, Sonoma County’s newest opening last month, has 81 accommodations, top-notch dining and mindfulness activities. These include flower pressing sessions, fragrance development classes and Fender guitar music lessons.
Part of a new brand for Palisociety, Le Petit Pali opened earlier this month Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. It will offer the same style of eclectic and enticing interior design, but on a smaller scale.
In Pasadena, Marriott Bonvoy fans have a new property with this month’s opening of Hotel Dena, Pasadena Los Angeles, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel. Some of the public areas were designed by street artists and local muralists. The hotel is close to Pasadena Convention Center as well as Old Town Pasadena.
Earlier this month, Kona Village, A Rosewood Resort, opened on the Big Island. It has 150 “hale,” or traditional Hawaiian beach bungalows, across 81 acres. An onsite cultural center is available for guests to explore, and the property is committed to sustainability (it’s powered 100% by solar energy).
Europe
Near Voss (home to the famous glass bottled water brand) in the Hardangerfjord region of Norway, Elva Hotel opened last month with modern architecture in the wilderness. Accommodations are located in mini-homes with two to three units per building.
Munich Marriott Hotel City West opens in August with 402 rooms and suites plus an Italian restaurant. It joins numerous other Marriott Bonvoy properties in the Bavarian city.
June was a busy month for Hyatt properties with the opening of Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars just steps away from St. Paul’s Cathedral. Its views of the London skyline are a highlight.
Bringing luxury to some of the region’s top golf courses, Marine & Lawn Hotels & Resorts has two openings this summer that will please visiting sports fans. Its first property in Northern Ireland, Slieve Donard opens this month. In August, the hotel group will open Dornoch Station in Scotland.
Bordeaux now has IHG’s design-focused brand Indigo to call its own. Hotel Indigo Bordeaux Center Chartrons. The hotel is along the riverbank and has direct access to the Cité du Vin (Wine and Trade Museum). Coming soon is a rooftop restaurant with panoramic city views.
The brand also makes its debut in Montenegro with the opening of Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay Resort on the outskirts of the cruise-famous city. It has two outdoor pools, one indoor pool and a private waterfront beach area.
Just across the bridge from Venice is Ambasciatori Venice Mestre, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, the first for the brand in northern Italy. Remodeled from a historic property, the 83-room property will open next month offering quick access to Venice and the nearby Mestre train station.
Recently opened on the island of Mallorca at the end of June is ZEL, the new lifestyle hotel brand that is the brainchild of tennis player Rafael Nadal and Meliá Hotels International. The beachfront resort will feature luxury rooms, a beach club with Basque-themed restaurant and Barcelona-born Syra Coffee outlet.
Another Mallorca opening is Richard Branson’s newest luxury resort Son Bunyola Hotel. The property, which belongs to Virgin Limited Edition, is part of a fully restored, 16th-century Mallorcan finca overlooking the Tramuntana Mountains. The hotel sits along almond and olive groves by the Mediterranean Sea with grape vines and citrus fruit trees surrounding it.
Nobis Palma, Mallorca opens next month in one of the island’s oldest buildings. With Scandinavian and Spanish design, this hotel boasts a rooftop bar, restaurant under the helm of chef Xema Álvarez and a spa. It will be part of Marriott Bonvoy’s Design Hotels partnership allowing guests to earn and redeem points during their stay.
Continuing the boom in Mallorca is the first all-inclusive property for Iberostar in Europe, the Iberostar Selection Albufera. Along Playa de Muro in the northern part of the island, this resort is a key opening for the brand as it makes use of strong sustainability practices. It is focusing on zero waste and using renewable energy around the resort.
Along the Spanish Costa del Sol, METT Hotel & Beach Resort Marbella – Estepona is coming to the luxury scene in August. Following the opening of a similarly styled METT property in Bodrum, Turkey, this resort sits on the beach with Greek and Spanish restaurants plus large-scale spa.
Nobu Hotel San Sebastián opened this month along La Concha Bay in the Palacio Vista Eder, constructed in 1912, with only 20 rooms and suites. Many visitors will look beyond the hotel and explore the ocean-facing restaurant, a key draw in a destination known for some of the most Michelin-starred restaurants around the world.
Convent Square, Vignette Collection in Lisbon continues IHG’s growth of the Vignette boutique hotel brand. Its newest property in the Baixa neighborhood will wow with the church top views from its panoramic fitness center.
Almancil, Portugal welcomed the Dona Filipa Hotel, Vignette Collection last month to IHG One Rewards and boasts Portuguese style surrounded by lush greenery.
Manna in Arcadia, Greece opens this month as part of the Design Hotels group. It is in a historic building located in the Peloponnese region with 32 rooms including six suites.
A first for Greece is the new Mandarin Oriental, Costa Navarino opening in August on the southwest coast of the Peloponnese, only 45 minutes from Kalamata’s international airport. Half of the room inventory will be 48 pool villas.
In the Greek capital, last month saw the opening of Apollo Palm near the Agora of Athens. Its modern decor within two 20th-century buildings offers guests a modernist experience in its 48 accommodations with custom-designed furnishings, a rooftop bar and Mediterranean restaurant.
Pnoé Breathing Life opened in Crete as a new wellness retreat last month with 60 adult-only private pool sites. The rooftop bar and regionally inspired restaurant with open kitchen are big draws, but so is the spa. Among its many health and well-being services are hyperbaric oxygen therapy, zerobody and breathwork therapy.
The capital of Hungary has a new Marriott Bonvoy property opening this month. Dorothea Hotel, Autograph Collection, is on Vörösmarty Square. Located in three interconnected, historical buildings, the property will have almost a quarter of its accommodations as suites.
Marriott is going big in Budapest this summer with this month’s opening of the W Budapest Hotel, which sits opposite the opera house and along Andrássy Avenue, a UNESCO Heritage site. Nearly one third of the accommodations is suites, and the hotel will also have a pool and spa.
In Turkey, the new Radisson Blu Hotel, Kaş opened in June as part of the brand’s growing portfolio of high-end and luxury hotels. It has 50 rooms in a historic building with stunning views of the bay.
Middle East-Africa
Four Seasons Resort and Residences at the Pearl-Qatar opens in August as the second Four Seasons in the Qatari capital. The property is on a private beach, previously used for pearl diving, and features two outdoor pools, an indoor pool, and seven restaurants and bars including one by Chef Joël Robuchon.
Saudia Arabia continues its hospitality growth with new properties at all ends of the rate card. Its newest is the Holiday Inn Riyadh Business District, which opened this month close to King Khalid International Airport. This property is one of the first to show off Holiday Inn’s “open lobby” concept, which brings together the front desk, restaurant and bar, and business center into one space.
Meliá Collection also opened Ngorongoro Lodge this month within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area of norther Tanzania. It offers a safari experience with 60 Maasai-inspired rooms, suites and villas overlooking Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera.
Wilderness Usawa Serengeti, the first camp property for the brand in Tanzania, opens this month with a “mobile concept,” allowing it to shift with the migration patterns. This assures guests always have a front-row seat to nine key crossing sites from six, “low-footprint” tents.
Botswana will see the opening of the Great Plains Sitatunga Private Island Suite and Camp in the Okavango Delta this month. The suite has a wrap-around railway sleeper private deck and accommodations for as many as four people.
One hour from Cape Town is the newly opened KOKOS HUIS on a 200 year-old farm. With only six bedrooms in the main building and three additional studio houses, it’s an intimate addition to the growing hospitality scene in the region and the over continent as a whole.
Asia
Anantara Koh Yao Yai Resort & Villas opens this month and is 45-minute boat ride from Phuket or just 20 minutes from Krabi. The resort, part of Minor Hotel Group’s upscale Anantara brand, is home to 148 suites, pool villas and penthouses as well as lavish pool and relaxation areas.
INNSiDE by Meliá Bangkok Sukhumvit opens this month with design influences from around the city, including the Chao Phraya River. There’s a tapas bar (this is a Spanish brand after all), two-story rooftop infinity pool and 32nd floor co-working space.
Japan continues to flourish with tourism now that its borders have finally reopened. New hotels are opening, too, at all price points and in all parts of the country. Marriott Bonvoy fans will be pleased to discover two new Fairfield properties: the hot spring-central Fairfield by Marriott Saga Ureshino Onsen in the Southwestern Prefecture opening this month and the recently opened Fairfield by Marriott Hyogo Awaji Higashiura on Awaji Island, connected by bridge to the island of Honshu.
On the other end of the Marriott brand spectrum, The Ritz-Carlton, Fukuoka opened last month in the main tower of the downtown Fukuoka Daimyo Garden City complex.
The fourth Indigo property in Japan from IHG, Hotel Indigo Tokyo Shibuya, will open next month. Guests staying here are not far from one of the most photographed traffic crossings in the world, the Shibuya Scramble Crossing. It is within the Dogenzaka Dori complex and has 272 rooms and suites, some of which have Mount Fuji views.
OMO3 Asakusa from Hoshino Resorts opens this month in Tokyo. From the hotel’s top floor, guests can see the historic Sensoji Temple and Tokyo Skytree. Staff can also take guests on behind-the-scene tours of the temple.
Hilton Honors’ Tapestry Collection brand arrived in Hainan, China last month with the opening of The Mermoon Resort Tufu Bay, Tapestry Collection by Hilton. The resort is home to five restaurants and bars plus a swimming pool shaped like a mermaid’s tail.
Pan Pacific adds yet another property to its Singapore portfolio with the June opening of Pan Pacific Orchard Singapore last month. Sustainability is an important focus of the property, which has a design style centered around four themes: forest, beach, garden and clouds.
The first voco for Vietnam is open, voco Ma Belle Danang. Unveiled last month in a 27-floor skyscraper, the boutique hotel has a great location for both tourists and business travelers.
Part of the Accor All Live Limitless program, travelers to Vietnam have another new resort option, the new Angsana Ho Tram, which opened last month. Together with its Accor sibling, Dhawa Ho Tram, which also opened in June, they offer guests coastline views and access to the wide range of outdoor activities popular in this part of the country.
This month, Fusion Hotel Group opens a new brand for business travelers with the opening of HIIVE Binh Duong, just one hour from Ho Chi Minh City international airport. A second HIIVE hotel will open later this year.
Avani brought its brand name to the Maldives. Opened last month, Avani+ Fares is located on the Baa Atoll, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The private island resort gives access to Hanifaru Bay, home to diverse water life and one of the best places to see manta rays.
South Pacific
The Sunshine Coast has a new resort on the way for vacationers in July. Essence Peregian Beach will have a mix of boutique hotel accommodations and private residences with full facilities. It is within the Peregian section of Noosa National Park, which is unique as the only place in Australia with three adjacent UNESCO Biospheres.
Holiday Inn & Suites Geelong is the first new hotel to open in the city in two decades and brings an IHG One Rewards presence to the Victorian city. It opened this month offering the option of guest rooms and suites. IHG has another opening in the state’s largest city, Melbourne. Hotel Indigo Melbourne on Flinders also opened this month on one of the city’s most famous laneway streets.
Mexico, Caribbean and Latin America
With a targeted opening date in August, The Westin Beach Resort & Spa at Frenchman’s Reef will finally be welcoming guests in St. Thomas. The Marriott Bonvoy property offers the signature amenities of the Westin brand including the Heavenly Bed and Shower. The property was rebuilt as part of a $425 million project following hurricane damage several years ago.
Argentina’s famous wine city of Mendoza welcomes Mendoza Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton, next month. The onsite restaurant will serve regional fare and wines, but the vineyards themselves are less than a half hour away.
Near the world’s second largest barrier reef, the new Kimpton Grand Roatan Resort & Spa opens next month. It features 119 rooms and suites including several beachfront condos and treetop suites. Seven suites will have oceanfront plunge pools. IHG One Rewards members can earn and redeem points here.
