New HOTELS with Panache |
In life we are given perspective. Something that can alter based on perception. It can be beautiful or tainted but it gives way to something truth can’t help but reveal. Design is very much the same. We live in a world where design and architecture have freedom to be so much more than the confines of a singular thought. Architects and designers coming together to create unique experiences around the world.
“To experience the world, is to experience life. To travel the world, well, that is life’s greatest education. It awakens all of the passion stirring inside …”
– Dawn Garcia
Below are several brand new hotels that have just opened around various parts of the world. Each one is distinctly authentic and rich with story. While some are meant for full luxury (perhaps a “bucket list” inclusion), some are so affordable it would be a shame not go.
BROOKLYN, NY | Wythe Hotel
80 Wythe Ave. at N. 11th Street, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Neighborhood: Brooklyn – Williamsburg
From $275
Williamsburg has been a big deal for well over a decade now, it’s true, but from a boutique-hotel perspective this neighborhood is just getting started. And while the Wythe Hotel may not have been the first, it’s the one against which all future Brooklyn boutiques will be measured. Not because it won’t ever be topped, necessarily, but because it’s rare for a hotel to so completely exemplify the character of the neighborhood it calls home.
70 Rooms
How to get there: Wythe Hotel is a quick 7-block walk from the Bedford Avenue subway stop, which is less than 10 minutes on the L train from Union Square in Manhattan.
NASHVILLE, TN | Hotel 404
404 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN, USA
From $350 | 5 Rooms
More widely known than the hotel itself is the venue next door: the 404 Kitchen, a semi-finalist in the Best New Restaurant category of the 2014 James Beard Awards. In addition to its modern European-influenced dishes prepared with herbs from the rooftop garden, the Kitchen has design chops: it’s located within a smartly renovated old shipping container. Reason enough to come to The Gulch, no? Consider 404 found.
While 404 is the cryptic code alerting us to an error in navigation, Hotel 404 is anything but a glitch. When you pull up to Nashville’s 404 Hotel — named for its address, at 404 12th Avenue South — you’ll know there’s been no mistake. This hip five-room boutique delivers on its promise of designer-friendly digs, and its neighborhood, the satisfyingly named Gulch, is wedged in between Music Row and the city’s downtown — exactly where you want to be.
BERLIN, GERMANY | Mani Hotel
Torstraße 136, Berlin, Germany
Neighborhood: Mitte
From €69 (approx. $89) | 63 Rooms
Sister of Hotel Amano, the same well-established Berlin firm, Esther Bruzkus Architects, designed the elegant interiors at both hotels. At Mani, their approach is less formal and more intimate — instead of a grand lobby lounge, there are cozy nooks with leather chairs and well-stocked bookshelves. Guest rooms are frankly minimalist, soundproofed and pristine, with shining parquet floors and leather accents, high-end German showers instead of bathtubs. Just as at the Amano, everything you lay eyes on looks like the best money can buy, from the polished marble facade to the smooth linens, from the designer desk chairs to the top-of-the-line technological amenities. Speaking of which, should you decide to travel light, you can borrow an iPad or a laptop — or something more indulgent, like an XBox — at the Mani’s front desk.
Unsurprisingly, you won’t find oversized platters of bratwurst and spätzle at the sleek Mani Restaurant, but Parisian-inspired cuisine inflected with spices from the Far East. In warmer weather, dine on the leafy patio, and in wintry months, cozy up with drinks by the fireplace.
CROTIA | Hotel Villa Dubrovnik
Vlaha Bukovca 6, Dubrovnik, Croatia
From €250 (approx. $321) | 56 Rooms
Still intact too is the Villa Dubrovnik’s notoriously mellow atmosphere, what’s improved at Hotel Villa Dubrovnik is almost entirely a matter of the physical facilities, including the addition of an indoor-outdoor swimming pool, the rooms looking crisper and sharper than ever, their slightly retro earth-toned look subtly updated for a new century and a private jacuzzi out on the terrace in each of the suites and executive rooms, and it’s not exactly a hard sell.
It’s still no mega-resort, and that’s obviously very much to its credit. It does, however, have a small spa, as well as a Mediterranean restaurant, an al fresco café, and a pair of lounges, one in the library and one on the roof.
FRANCE | Hotel Taiwana
Anse des Flamands, St Barthelemy, French West Indies, France
From €380 (approx. $488) | 22 Rooms
It’s set at the edge of Flamands beach, on the island’s northwest coast, a few minutes’ drive from Gustavia — like the best island hotels it’s far enough to feel secluded while close enough to be convenient. The twenty-two rooms and suites are all different, some with terraces or private pools, and span the range from petite (yet stylish) bedrooms to two- and three-bedroom ocean-view suites. What’s constant throughout is a crisp, contemporary look, and a bit of the antiques-meets-modernity tension that helps create so much of Taïwana’s personality.
The pool is looking better than ever, as is the open-air beachfront restaurant, and any day now they’re set to open a full-service spa in partnership with a global brand that’s yet to be named — until then you’ll make do with an en-suite massage.
MOZAMBIQUE | Anantara Bazaruto Island Resort & Spa
Ilha do Bazaruto, Inhambane, Mozambique
From $976 | 44 Rooms
Bazaruto, geographically, has more in common with Indian Ocean escapes like the Maldives, Seychelles or Mauritius than it does with anything on the continent.
As for the resort itself, it’s the familiar Anantara version of luxury villa life — some stand more or less right on the beach, others look out to sea from a hillside elevation, and all combine traditional construction and indigenous materials with the current state of the art in comforts and amenities. We won’t get into it, but the short version is: location aside, you’d be happy living in these villas for as long as you had to.
In fact, though, the location is very much key to the Anantara Bazuto Island’s appeal. The diving is extraordinary, as is the deep-sea fishing, and there’s plenty to do on the island itself, including horseback riding, bird watching, or dune boarding, for the more adrenaline-oriented guest. Closer to home, of course, there’s a beach which is quite up to the most stringent standard — and anywhere Anantara goes, a very fine spa is sure to follow.
How to get there:
Anantara Bazaruto Island offers transfers from Vilanculos Airport (VNX) via boat or light aircraft. Please contact [email protected] for more information
