The results have arrived: 2022 was a banner year for luxury travel. According to the company that collects global hospitality data ( STR), five-star hotels around the world set new records this summer, with Caribbean luxury class facilities charging an average of $507.94 this summer, up from $238.65 in 2019.
The desire for luxury crash pads like these is fueling the pipeline for 2023. We scoured the globe for the best new properties on the horizon and narrowed the list down to the eight must-see destinations.
Castle Elvira — Trepuzzi, Italy
Set on some 40 acres of parkland and olive groves outside Lecce, Puglia, the 12-room hotel is a colorful and extravagant retreat. (Actress Kate Beckinsale recently spent her Christmas vacation there, so it’s very famous.) There are numerous activities offered. (Pasta making and drawing classes are among them).
Doubles from $535.
Atlantis The Royal Dubai
Most major cities have an iconic hotel: the Ritz in Paris, Claridge’s in London, Raffles in Singapore and the Peninsula in Hong Kong. But Dubai now has three. Atlantis The Royal joins the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab, floating in the Arabian Gulf, and Atlantis The Palm, a pink palace on the Palm Jumeirah. Atlantis The Royal is said to have cost around $1.5 billion, making it one of the most expensive hotels ever built.
Doubles from $521.
Passalacqua — Lake Como, Italy
Lake Como is one of the most beautiful places in Italy, and it is hard to imagine a hotel that can compete with it. Passalacqua, however, has done just that. A passion project of Valentina De Santis, a third-generation hotelier, the resort is housed in a magnificent 1767 house and an adjacent former stable building with a legendary past: originally built for a noble family, it has hosted Napoleon Bonaparte and Winston Churchill.
Doubles from $1,592.
Aman New York
Aman New York is the least surprising It list winner this year. From its basement jazz club to its 14th-floor garden terrace, Aman was perhaps the most anticipated and coveted hotel opening of 2022.
Doubles from $1,950.
Villa Palladio Jaipur
Villa Palladio, with its nine rooms, is almost entirely decorated in bright colors such as vermilion, cherry, crimson and carmine. Spend some time in the spa (where massages and “grounding rituals” with powdered pearls and quartz are offered) or read in the garden, scented with jasmine, pink laurel and hibiscus.
Doubles from $390.
Mandarin Oriental Palace — Luzern, Switzerland
The Mandarin Oriental on Lake Luzern, the brand’s second property in Switzerland, wears its Palace surname like a crown, with solar systems of chandeliers, rose-marbled scagliola plaster columns and checkerboard marble floors. Seventy percent of the spacious rooms overlook the lake and are decorated in a cool palette of champagne and gray tones, with wonderful beds to overcome jet lag.
Doubles from $780.
Saint James Paris
The hotel, which has been in business since 1991 and a member of Relais & Châteaux since 2011, was recently renovated by French fashion designer Laura Gonzalez. The 48 opulent rooms and suites now feature floral IKSEL wallpaper alongside traditional Pierre Frey fabrics. There’s also a separate building with four apartments and a villa for 12. One of the city’s two Guerlin spas and a 50-foot glass-enclosed swimming pool are located in the 4,000-square-foot basement.
Doubles from $739.
Jumeirah Bali
Consider how beautiful the setting of the Jumeirah Bali is: it’s on Dreamland Beach. Fortunately, the resort’s amenities rival the surroundings. The two-tiered infinity pools are the main draw, but the huge Talise Spa and top-notch gym are perfect for rainy days. The food is excellent, as is the service.
Doubles from $619.