OPENINGS
Good news! More wonderful new hotels debuting across the world
LE GRAND CONTRÔLE, CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES PARIS, FRANCE
Le Château Versailles is known worldwide as the sumptuous palace of French Kings, and considered one of France’s greatest architectural achievements, no small thing in that country. Now you can stay at the palace! The hotel company Airelles has converted the building, originally built in 1681 by Louis XIVth, in the heart of the palace into Le Grand Contrôle, with 14 guest rooms and suites, with dining by French Alain Ducasse, a 49-foot indoor pool and yes, a spa (by Swiss skincare brand La Maison Valmont). Guests have exclusive access to areas and grounds not open to daily visitors, and unlimited use of the gardens, with boats and golf carts for exploring.
https://airelles.com/fr/destination/chateau-de-versailles-hotel
SUGINOI HOTEL BEPPU, JAPAN
July 1 2021 the Suginoi Hotel opens for business in the Niji Kan, which means ‘rainbow building’ in Japanese, a symbol of hope inspired by the colours of the rainbow. The design themes of the guest rooms come from the seas, blooming flowers and mountains of the Beppu area. The hotel offers five different kinds of guest rooms, twins, double, universal, duplex-style lofts and family rooms with bunk beds, and in the public areas, seven bars and restaurants, an aqua garden and hot springs and spa…
https://www.suginoi-hotel.com/english/
MAMA SHELTER ROME, ITALY
Mama’s Shelter opened in the Prati district, on the right bank of the Tiber, the first in Italy from this chain. Inspired by and in keeping with the tradition of Roman baths, the spa has a pool, sauna and Hammam room, a perfect place to relax and soothe away the aches and pains from visiting and walking to all the endless attractions of the Eternal City. The hotel is the same urban refuge they offer at other locations worldwide.
RECENTLY OPENED
PEARNS BAY HOUSE ANTIGUA, CARIBBEAN
This is a house with six ensuite rooms, for a total of 12 guests, who can experience a luxury Caribbean holiday on a secluded peninsula, located on the North West coast of the island. As the first and only house on this new development, privacy Is pretty much guaranteed. The staff are advertised as dedicated to making sure that your every need and desire is attended to, hastening to add they mean things like making sure the pool is set to your preferred temperature.
THE ST REGIS BERMUDA RESORT ST GEORGE, BERMUDA
Spanning St. Catherine’s Beach in the historic town of St. George in Bermuda, the St Regis opened in May, with 120 guestrooms, including 21 suites, plus a nothing-spared, ultra-luxury residential development. Bars and restaurants are what you’d expect (i.e., not crap) but, of note, the St Regis Bar is debuting the Gates Bay Mary, a twist on the Bloody Mary. Worth going for alone, we gush, perhaps somewhat overly enthusiastically!. The golf carts are GPS enabled, which just seems wrong, or redundant, or something, except that I guess your liquid refreshments delivery-person can find you! There’s an adult pool and a family pool, a 24-hour fitness center and spa, and, for parents wanting time off, no doubt to knock down a couple of well deserved Gates Bay Marys, there’s the St Regis Children’s Club.
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bdaxr-the-st-regis-bermuda-resort/
KEX HOTEL PORTLAND, OREGON, USA
KEX Hostel, the trendy adventure hub from Iceland has arrived in Portland, Oregon, bringing their Icelandic style, culture and cuisine to our Pacific Northwest. KEX Founder Kristina Vilbergsson lived in the Pacific Northwest for years and loved it, thanks to the perhaps hitherto unknown kinship between Portland and Rekyjavik. “Both cities celebrate food, travel, friendship and adventure. Both cities have a love of nature and community that makes them very special,” she says. On the ground floor the restaurant Dóttir will serve Icelandic food “with Pacific Northwest flavour” Vilbergsson adds, somewhat intriguingly. The restaurant pairs Chef Alex Jackson from San Francisco and Ólafur (Oli) Ágústsson from Reykjavik, and they consider themselves a “chef match made in heaven”. Well, it should be a beautiful wedding!
REOPENING
WILDERNESS SAFARIS KAFUE NATIONAL PARK, ZAMBIA
In the heart of the Kafue’s Busanga Plains in Zambia, 70,000 acres of wilderness is home to Wilderness Safaris’ two camps, and more than 158 species of mammals and 500 species of birds. We presume somebody counted. We always presume that!! (Someone must have, right?)
Shumba Camp reopened in June and Busanga Bush Camp is opening in August. The camps are only open for five months of the year but they contribute about $500,000 to Kafue National Park in that time – so going makes you a conservationist (hooray!) and you get to see a totally different world. “Kafue National Park is a vast, immensely beautiful, largely under-appreciated, irreplaceable wilderness that deserves support from the conservation community. We continue what we set out to do 38 years ago, to conserve and restore Africa’s wilderness and wildlife,” says Wilderness’s Graham Simmonds.
https://wilderness-safaris.com/
