2026 Hotel Agenda: Openings You Won’t Want to Miss
From new openings around Lake Como to luxe brands touching down in coveted locations in the Middle East and the Caribbean Islands, each of these new hotels promises to expand the traveller’s horizon and appetite for living well.
If 2025 was the warm-up for a new era of travel, 2026 is the headline act. Across the world, classic grand dames are being reborn just as a new generation of longevity-obsessed, wellness-driven resorts steps into the spotlight. Think cryotherapy chambers instead of cigar lounges, biohacking labs instead of billiard rooms – with a few very beautiful exceptions from The Ritz-Carlton, which is busy bringing “classic to classic” destinations with a subtly modern twist.
Here’s a whistle-stop tour of the openings we’re already plotting trips around – with the kind of detail travel geeks love: architects, room counts, spas, kids’ programmes and when you can actually book.
The Lake Como EDITION, Italy
EDITION finally lands on Italy’s most cinematic shoreline in March 2026, taking over a 19th-century palazzo in Cadenabbia directly across the water from Bellagio. The building has been reimagined by design powerhouses Neri&Hu and De.Tales, who keep the cream-and-clay façade but carve in a sharp, contemporary interior – including a sculptural marble staircase inspired by Carlo Scarpa.
Expect 148 rooms, including 25 suites and two penthouses, plus a nine-room villa-within-a-hotel at Villa Gina for those who like their Como stay extra private. Three-Michelin-starred Mauro Colagreco oversees four dining concepts, from a winter-garden terrace facing the lake to a lobby bar with a celadon-green marble counter and live piano.
Wellness is unapologetically “longevity luxe”: the second Longevity Spa in Italy brings biohacking programmes, thermal circuits, herbal sauna, Turkish bath, plunge pools and a Technogym-equipped fitness space – exactly the kind that we define as a five-star facility. Families can pair lakefront rooms and suites, and older children will love the floating pool and boat fleet. The hotel is in preview already, with full bookings from March 2026.
The Ritz-Carlton, Bellagio – Lake Como, Italy
Just when you think this historic lake can’t get any better, along comes another five-star resort. The Ritz-Carlton is quietly staging one of Europe’s most romantic comebacks. The historic Hotel Grande Bretagne (1850), long shuttered on Bellagio’s waterfront, is being reborn as The Ritz-Carlton’s first Italian outpost, with architecture and restoration by Milan studio MHZ.
When it opens in 2026, the hotel will have 59 rooms and 46 suites – including two signature Ritz-Carlton Suites – all looking straight onto the lake. Expect a classic-meets-contemporary palette: Belle Époque bones, modern Italian furnishings, and those trademark Ritz-Carlton beds. A serious spa brings an indoor pool, while a large outdoor pool, lakeside walking trail, meditation garden and private pier make the most of the location.
Ritz-Carlton is the brand in this list most devoted to “classic in classic places” – and Bellagio is peak classic. Culinary details are still under wraps, but multiple restaurants (casual and fine-dining) are planned, and the resort will be a natural fit for multi-generational trips around the lake. Reservations are expected to open closer to the 2026 debut; for now it’s one to put on the watch-list.
The Vineta, Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach’s prettiest pink lady is back – and now flying the Oetker Collection flag. The Vineta occupies a listed Mediterranean Revival landmark just off Worth Avenue, with architecture by Spina O’Rourke & Partners and interiors by Paris-based designer Tino Zervudachi.
The renovation has reduced the room count to around 40 airy rooms and suites to create more generous, light-filled spaces. Think high ceilings, pale pastels, rattan and lacquer, plus clever lighting for that always-golden Palm Beach glow. The courtyard pool is the social heart, with Coco’s restaurant serving Riviera-by-way-of-Palm-Beach dishes and an American bar doing stiff martinis and lighter poolside plates.
There’s no hard-core wellness lab here – this is more barefoot-cocktail energy – but bikes, beach access and the easy walkability of Worth Avenue make it a natural base for long weekends. The hotel is taking reservations already for the 2025/26 winter season.
The Malkai, Oman
Oman has been hovering at the edge of the luxury conversation for years; The Malkai is the opening that finally shoves it centre-stage. Rather than a single hotel, this is a progressive journey across three tented “camps” – Barkaa, the Al Hajar mountains and Sharqiyah Sands – linked by chauffeured Land Rover Defenders.
Each site is home to 15 lavish pavilions inspired by traditional Bedouin tents, with marble swimming pools clad in Omani stone, spa tents and fire-lit dining terraces. Guests are accompanied by a personal murshid – part guide, part storyteller – who layers local culture and history over the landscapes you’re moving through.
Architectural details are still emerging, but the project is very much about low-impact, high-touch design – canvas, carved wood, stone and silence – rather than shiny glass towers. Families with older children can expect astronomy nights, dune adventures and coastal snorkelling, while couples get the wild-romance version. The Malkai is slated to open in autumn 2026 and will be one of those “if you know, you know” names on VIP travellers’ lists.
Rosewood Blue Palace, Crete, Greece
Crete, named Europe’s Region of Gastronomy for 2026, is having a serious moment – and Rosewood’s debut in Greece doesn’t hurt. The much-loved Blue Palace resort near Elounda is being reimagined as Rosewood Blue Palace, with interiors by acclaimed Greek firm K-Studio and additional concept work by London-based studio Afroditi.
The resort will offer 154 rooms and suites, 85 of them with private pools, cascading down the hillside towards a private beach and views over Spinalonga. Elounda Spa & Thalassotherapy stays as the soul of the property, with seawater therapies, hammams and outdoor treatment cabanas. Food will lean heavily into Cretan produce and Rosewood’s “Sense of Place” philosophy – think farm-to-table tavernas, serious wine lists and long, languid breakfasts.
Families can expect a refined but relaxed vibe: private-pool suites, a children’s pool, easy boat trips along the coast and kid-friendly taverna menus. The reopening is currently trailed for the 2026 season, with reservations expected to roll out as the refurbishment finalises.
Six Senses Amaala, Saudi Arabia
“Riyadh adjacent” in lifestyle, maybe, but geographically this Six Senses sits on Triple Bay in Amaala, Saudi Arabia’s ultra-luxury Red Sea project – a new coastal playground in the Middle East that’s on the VIP traveller’s radar.
Six Senses Amaala (sometimes called Six Senses Triple Bay) is designed as a low-slung, ultra-sustainable resort by architects U+A, with Pascall+Watson as technical architect and Studio Carter among the designers shaping the interiors. The masterplan includes about 100 guest rooms plus villas and branded residences threaded between mangroves, desert bluffs and private bays.
At the heart is a 3,000-square-metre spa with cryotherapy chambers, a longevity clinic, biohacking gear and signature Six Senses programmes spanning sleep, detox, fitness and visiting practitioners. Expect serious diving, minimalist villas, pathways for barefoot running at sunrise and sustainability-focused kids’ activities from coral restoration to stargazing. Opening is currently slated for 2026, with Amaala’s wider destination ramping up at the same time
Six Senses Milan, Italy
Milan’s Brera district is already the city’s chicest quarter; adding Six Senses feels almost too on-the-nose. Scheduled for late 2026, the hotel sits opposite the Accademia di Belle Arti, with interiors by Tara Bernerd & Partners and lighting by legendary architect Pietro Maria Castiglioni.
There will be 68 rooms, including 15 suites and two with private plunge pools, layered in arabescato marble, antique brass, handmade glass and textured ceilings – more sophisticated Milanese apartment than hotel.
As with every Six Senses, wellness and sustainability take centre stage: expect an urban spa with hydrotherapy, yoga and meditation spaces, plus a restaurant championing Lombardy’s producers through a plant-forward lens. With the 2026 Winter Olympics bringing fresh energy (and infrastructure) to the city, this will be the address for travellers who want longevity-luxe without leaving the urban grid.
Waldorf Astoria London Admiralty Arch, UK
Few 2026 openings are as high-profile as Waldorf Astoria’s first London property, carved into Admiralty Arch at the end of The Mall. The Edwardian Baroque landmark by architect Sir Aston Webb is being converted into a 100-key hotel with residences, spa and rooftop terrace, overlooking both Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.
Dining is already making headlines: two signature restaurants will be helmed by Clare Smyth (Coreus, a relaxed but finely tuned tasting-menu space) and Daniel Boulud (a new iteration of Café Boulud). Rooms will blend Waldorf’s polished, almost Four Seasons-esque style with preserved period details – cornices, arches, ceremonial views – plus an urban spa and members’-club-style lounges.
This is Ritz-Carlton-adjacent in spirit: classic building, classic city, elevated by carefully judged modernity. Opening is scheduled for spring 2026; reservations aren’t live yet, but this will be one of the toughest London keys to snag when they are.
Amanvari, Costa Palmas, Mexico
On Baja’s quieter East Cape, Amanvari is Aman’s long-trailered Mexico debut – and perhaps the purest expression of the brand’s “remote, restorative, ridiculously beautiful” ethos. Original design is by Heah & Co., realised by Athens-based Elastic Architects, with pavilions and casitas raised lightly above the sand to blur desert and sea.
Due to open in spring 2026, the resort will offer just 18 casita-style accommodations plus a collection of private Aman Residences within the wider 1,500-acre Costa Palmas community. The spa has a strong longevity angle, with a temazcal sweat lodge, open-air yoga pavilion and deeply personalised rituals. Guests also plug into Costa Palmas’ marina, Robert Trent Jones II golf course and farm-to-table dining scene.
Families will find low-key but thoughtful activities: snorkelling the Sea of Cortés, desert hikes, horse-riding along the dunes. But in essence, this is the kind of resort you disappear to for a week, phone on aeroplane mode, emerging slightly glowy and confused about what day it is.
Siari, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve – Riviera Nayarit, Mexico
On Mexico’s Emerald Coast, Siari is the Ritz-Carlton Reserve that travel editors have been murmuring about for months. The resort sits within Nauka, a private 800–920-acre enclave between the Sierra Madre foothills and the Pacific, with architecture and residences by Mexico City studio Bernardi + Peschard Arquitectura.
Siari is now open (late 2025), offering just over 100 hotel accommodations – suites and villas – plus a substantial layer of private residences. Expect jungle-framed pools, one of the region’s largest swimmable beaches, equestrian trails and a Ha Yeka spa that leans into indigenous healing traditions. Six restaurants, many led by chef David Castro Hussong, interpret Nayarit’s coastal produce in varying moods from barefoot to high-polish.
This is where Ritz-Carlton steps into “wild luxury” territory: butler-serviced villas, serious gastronomy and the sense you’re tucked into your own private reserve. For 2026, it will feel simultaneously very new and oddly timeless.
Frégate Island, Seychelles
Frégate has long been whispered about as one of the most extraordinary private islands in the world – seven beaches, Jurassic-green jungle and giant tortoises wandering between the villas. After a five-year closure and complete rebuild, it’s set to reopen in October 2026, with every element from the villas to the leisure facilities rebuilt from the ground up (only the historic chapel and boathouse remain).
Previous iterations offered around 16–17 vast pool villas plus the Banyan Hill estate; the new layout will again focus on freestanding villas with private infinity pools, but with updated, more sustainable architecture and technology.Conservation remains central: Frégate is a sanctuary for rare birds and turtles, and guests can join rangers for monitoring, tree-planting and night-time turtle walks – essentially a dream for nature-mad children and adults alike.
Food has always been a highlight here (Creole and French-leaning, much of it island-grown), and the rebuilt resort is expected to double down on that farm-to-fork philosophy. Bookings open once the new villas are finalised.
Santa Lucía Jungle Hacienda, Costa Rica
For something wilder – but still firmly in the luxury lane – Santa Lucía Jungle Hacienda is a fresh Autograph Collection opening in Costa Rica’s Pacific highlands. Set near Tarcoles and bordering Carara National Park, the property has 84 rooms, from Deluxe Kings to a Presidential Suite, all with mountain or jungle views.
The architecture leans into “colonial-meets-contemporary” with a strong eco-sustainable focus: shaded arcades, tile roofs, plenty of natural materials and landscaping that blurs hotel and forest. There’s an outdoor pool, children’s pool, spa treatment rooms and a 24-hour fitness centre, plus a playground and family-friendly programming such as horse-riding, cycling, canopy tours and eco-tours into the national park.
Food is relaxed but local – a restaurant and café showcasing Costa Rican staples, plus two bars (including a poolside bar) for sunset cocktails. The hotel is already accepting reservations, and for 2026 it’s a strong choice for families who want rainforest immersion without sacrificing creature comforts.
12 Destinations: 12 Months of Travel
Across these openings, two strands stand out. On one side, Ritz-Carlton leans into its heritage: Bellagio and Siari are classic destinations handled with just enough modernity – serious spas, elevated dining, subtle sustainability – to feel current without chasing trends. On the other, brands like Six Senses, Aman and Autograph Collection are going all-in on longevity-luxe-lifestyle: biohacking suites, cryotherapy chambers, temazcals, kids’ eco-programmes and architecture that all but disappears into its environment.
Together, they sketch a very 2026 vision of luxury travel: timeless settings, future-facing wellness and just enough design drama to dominate your camera roll.