For those that cover luxury travel, few things are more exciting than an all-new year of hotel openings. This month, LA gets its first Ace Hotel within a downtown 1920s high-rise once home to United Artists. In Chicago this Spring, Soho House will open within the six-story Chicago Belting Factory warehouse that will house the private club, 35-room hotel, full-sized pool and glass-enclosed rooftop. Miami Beach will be home to a very-grand EDITION by Ian Schrgaer in late-November. And in New York, Park Hyatt will unveil its US flagship within a monumental tower penned by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Christian de Portzamparc by mid-year.
In Paris, Hôtel Plaza Athénée will emerge from a grand 6-month refurbishment in May with a symphony of new designer touches by Marie-José Pommereau, Patrick Jouin and Bruno Moinard. Peninsula Paris will make its own 2014 debut and likely rule over the local luxury scene until the debut of Cheval Blanc in 2015. In London this May, Firmdale Hotels will open Ham Yard Hotel that will surround an outdoor public pedestrian thoroughfare in Soho and include a 1950s Texan four-lane bowling alley with bar, lounge and dance floor. And in Moscow, look for a Four Seasons flagship inside the old Hotel Moskva with its iconic façade that’s featured on every bottle of Stolichnaya vodka.
Those still in search of their summer vacation can look for the latest Aman Resort that’s rumored to be opening on the bluffs just south of Dubrovnik that offers the perfect, drivable compliment to their Montenegro property that’s a short drive away from Porto Montenegro and its Regent Hotel opening in June. Further resort debuts include Montage Hotels and Resorts 50-room hotel and managed residences along Maui’s Kapalua Bay, Malliouhana by Auberge Resorts on Anguilla reopening later this year and alas Palazzo Versace that makes its Medusa revival in a most suitable Dubai address this summer.
