18 of the Most Anticipated High-Design Hotel Openings of 2021

Laura Itzkowitz
·8 min read

After a trying year for the travel industry, it seems we can finally see a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel—2021 is just around the corner, coronavirus vaccines are in motion, and destinations around the world are starting to reopen. Though many new hotels have been delayed, others are preparing to open after months or years of preparation. From New York City to São Paulo, we surveyed the most anticipated new hotels from a design perspective. These are the properties we can’t wait to check into in 2021.

18 of the Most Anticipated High-Design Hotel Openings of 2021

The third Pendry Hotel and the brand’s flagship, Pendry West Hollywood boasts glamorous design by AD100 designer Martin Brudnizki, who was inspired by the city’s rich cinematic history. The 149 rooms and 40 residences will channel Hollywood’s heyday with rich finishes and bold colors that add a dash of drama. Wolfgang Puck will head up the hotel’s restaurants, which include a rooftop restaurant, a casual bistro, and the sultry lobby bar. Opening in January 2021. pendryhotels.com
Botswana’s Okavango Delta is getting a new safari lodge that will be unlike anything else in the region. Red Carnation Hotels will debut this 12-suite lodge conceptualized by Toni Tollman, Philip Fourie, and Anton de Kock, who have collaborated with Cape Town’s acclaimed Southern Guild Gallery to create a “living gallery” of bespoke design pieces commissioned exclusively for the lodge crafted by Africa’s most promising young artists and artisans. Opening in January 2021; xigera.com
Located on posh Newbury Street, overlooking Boston Public Garden, the Newbury will debut as Boston’s most highly anticipated hotel. The building, which dates back to 1927, is getting a top-to-bottom renovation courtesy of Champalimaud Design (responsible for the 286 rooms and suites) and Jeffrey Beers, who’s designing the public spaces and restaurants. A rooftop restaurant with panoramic views of the park and the Street Bar will be helmed by Major Food Group. Opening in February 2021; thenewburyboston.com
A new resort by luxury brand One&Only—its first in Europe—aims to draw design enthusiast and luxury hotel aficionados to Montenegro. Designed by Jean-Michel Gathy, the architecture was inspired by the Venetian palaces sprinkled all over the Adriatic, but pared down for a contemporary audience. It will have 113 rooms and suites, four restaurants and bars, and a spa by Chenot. Opening in March 2021; oneandonlyresorts.com
Adrian Zecha—the pioneering hotelier behind Aman—has teamed up with Japanese hospitality group Naru Developments to launch a new brand. Conceived as a modern ryokan, Azumi will launch with its first hotel on the small island of Ikuchijima in the Seto Inland Sea. Kyoto-based architect Shiro Miura is renovating the 140-year-old Japanese compound, balancing the aesthetics of traditional Japanese teahouses with a contemporary touch. Opening in March 2021; azumi.co
Billing itself as an urban resort, this sleek newcomer on Leicester Square seeks to create a boutique feel on a massive scale. (With 350 rooms! Six dining and drinking outlets! A ballroom with a capacity of 864 guests!) Designed by Yabu Pushelberg—masters of minimalism with a luxe touch—it’s sure to become a destination for locals as well as out-of-towners. Opening in March 2021; thelondoner.com
Like all of the Proper hotels, this one will be designed by AD100 designer Kelly Wearstler, who imbues a spirit of freewheeling eclecticism in everything she touches. In this case, she’s refashioning a historic sporting club into a 148-room hotel with two restaurants by award-winning chef Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne, an intimate library lounge, and a rooftop pool. Opening in early 2021; properhotel.com
Leave it to Four Seasons to take things up a notch in Napa Valley. The brand’s new hotel will be Napa’s first and only resort set within a working winery. Designed by Erin Martin and located on a 7.4-acre organic vineyard in Calistoga, it features a farmhouse-chic aesthetic, a restaurant by Michelin-starred chef Erik Anderson, a world-class spa, and much more. Opening in early 2021; fourseasons.com
The newest addition to the dreamy Maldives will arrive courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton, which is bringing its sterling reputation to the North Malé Atoll. Designed by Kerry Hill Architects, it joins three resorts (including the forthcoming Patina Maldives) in the Fari Islands, an archipelago with a vibrant beach club, boutiques, and a marina. Opening in May 2021; ritzcarlton.com
New Yorkers will soon have a stylish new escape from the city. Just two hours north in Kingston, Salt Hotels and Karl Slovin will open this sleek hotel in the region’s last remaining architecturally intact brick manufactory. A multimillion-dollar restoration has transformed it into a bolt-hole with 31 cabins and suites, riverfront dining, a spa, and 73 acres of land where guests can enjoy outdoor activities like archery, hiking, kayaking, and beekeeping. Opening in spring 2021; salthotels.com
Billing itself as a “creative village,” this holistic complex consists of a 168-room hotel, a beach club, a farm-to-table restaurant, several bars, a gallery, an environmentally driven kids’ club, an amphitheater, a recording studio, a beachfront pool, rooftop activation areas, and a subterranean nightclub. Designed by David Gianotten at OMA with eco-friendly furniture and amenities made from recycled plastic by British designers Max Lamb and Faye Toogood, this place is all about the holistic, sustainable, healthy lifestyle that people go to Bali to find. Opening in spring 2021; potatohead.co
The transformation of the fusty old Villa Igiea into a Rocco Forte hotel might just be the most exciting thing to happen in Palermo in years. The brand’s design director Olga Polizzi is collaborating with Paolo Moschino for Nicholas Haslam to breathe new life into the historic hotel, which in its heyday hosted the Kennedys, movie stars, and heads of state. Their plans include putting in Sicilian majolica tiles, restoring the original chandeliers, and hanging vintage photos from the hotel’s archives in a new library lounge. Opening in spring 2021; roccofortehotels.com
Set in a new vertical garden tower by Jean Nouvel with interiors by Philippe Starck and renowned Brazilian artists Vik Muniz and Saint Clair Cemin, Rosewood São Paulo will be the brand’s first hotel in South America. The 151 rooms and 114 owners’ suites will feature Brazilian woods, green walls, and fine furnishings that nod to tropical modernism. Among the extensive amenities, there will be six restaurants and bars and Asaya, Rosewood’s signature wellness concept. Opening in June 2021; rosewoodhotels.com
Leave it to Sydell Group CEO Andrew Zobler to choose a headline-making architect for the first-ever LINE hotel to be built from the ground up. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group and Handel Architects, it’s currently rising in San Francisco, right where SoMa, Civic Center, and the Tenderloin converge. It will have 236 rooms, 242 residences, four dining and drinking destinations, and an outpost of local nonprofit theater company Magic Theatre. Opening in fall 2021; thelinehotel.com
Wellness-focused brand Six Senses will bring its calming sensibilities to the city that never sleeps with an urban resort on the High Line. Located in the twisting XI tower by AD100 firm Bjarke Ingels Group with interiors by Gilles & Boissier, the hotel will dedicate 18,000 square feet to the spa, which features a vibroacoustic meditation dome, a modern bathhouse, fitness facilities, and much more. Opening in late 2021; sixsenses.com
A design-focused boutique hotel brand backed by Silicon Valley, Life House already operates a handful of hotels in Miami; Nantucket, Massachusetts; and Denver. Its upcoming project in Chattanooga will transform the city’s historic Beaux Arts train station into a destination hotel with private suites in the train cars, a living room lounge, a 40-seat cinema, a recording studio, and courtyard lounges. It’s being designed by Rockwell alum Jenny Bukovec, Sydell Group alum Henry Morris, and Rami Zeidan. Opening in winter 2021; lifehousehotels.com
For the buzzy NoMad brand’s first international location, it’s taking over the historic Bow Street Magistrates’ Courthouse and Police Station in London. Parent company Sydell Group tapped longtime collaborators (and AD100 firm) Roman and Williams to design the interiors. To express their vision of New Romanticism, they shopped the world for antiques and created bespoke furniture aimed at creating a dialogue between the hotel’s London location and its New York DNA. Opening in February 2021; thenomadhotel.com
Pharrell Williams, who conceptualized this new Miami hotel with David Grutman and developer Eric Birnbaum, described it as “like being in a Wes Anderson film.” Raymond Jungles tackled the landscaping and AD100 designer Ken Fulk lent his magic touch to the property, which comprises a lobby lounge, an expansive pool deck, a restaurant, an outdoor workout area, a recording studio, and 45,000 square feet of retail space—not to mention 266 rooms. Opening in February 2021; thegoodtimehotel.com

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest