BlackBook Hot properties
BlackBook Hot properties Checking in From the mountains to the coast, the most exquisite new hotels and resorts around the globe for a summer getaway On the slopes ... • A handful of ambitious hotel openings across the Alps heralds a lofty start to the region’s high season, starting, not least, with the W Verbier and The Residences at W Verbier (wverbier.com), which early this December debut 123 lush rooms and suites (plus 15 residences) and a restaurant by Michelinstarred chef Sergei Arola. Artfully fusing contemporary design and local tradition, acclaimed architect Jean Michel Gathy’s The Chedi Andermatt (thechedi-andermatt. com) inveigles with 106 commodious rooms – each boasting a glass-encased double-sided fireplace and a 4m canvas baroquestyle mural – as well as a 2,400sq m spa. The newly relaunched Le Grand Bellevue (bellevue-gstaad.com) returns to Gstaad’s famed Promenade for winter, offering up 57 rooms with a soft, country home feel alongside three restaurants, a private cinema and a 10,000-bottle wine cellar. Meanwhile, in France, Courchevel welcomes the L’Apogée (lapogeecourchevel.com). Set, as the name suggests, at the very top of the former Olympic ski jump, the 55-key property boasts a Sisley spa, an extensive penthouse suite and a Yannick Franques-helmed restaurant and fromagerie. The Chedi Andermatt’s thermal spa ... or on the sand A cozy lounge area at Le Grand Bellevue The stylish bathroom of W Verbier’s “Spectacular Room” • As Europe cools down, the southern hemisphere heats up with a spate of beachfront openings speckled across the seven seas. The Maldives’ Noonu Atoll gets a twofold upgrade this season with the launch of both Cheval Blanc Randheli (chevalblanc. com/randheli), a 45-villa resort with a Guerlain spa, and the 43-villa Velaa Private Island (velaaisland.com), which in addition to the Asian-fusion eatery by Michelin-starred chef Adeline Grattard boasts a spa with the country’s first snow room. COMO made a splash on the sunny beaches of Phuket this November with the launch of its new Point Yamu (comohotels.com/pointyamu) outpost, complete with 27 villas, 79 rooms and cutting-edge contemporary design. A couple of months earlier, Amanresorts debuted Amano’i (amanresorts.com/amanoi), an ambitious property with 31 immaculate pavilions, 5 villas and can’t-beat views of Vietnam’s deep blue Vinh Hy Bay, while the country’s 197-key InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort (danang.intercontinental. com) on the East Sea settled serenely into its second season this past summer. And there is more to come: early next year, Fiji newcomer Nanuku Resort & Spa (nanukufiji.com) is set to open on Viti Levu’s Coral Coast, with 12 spacious villas all with their own garden, verandah pool and private butler. The yoga pavilion on the lake at Amano’i The striking setting of Velaa Private Island Get inside this season’s suitest openings at CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM Thatched seating area at Cheval Blanc Randheli BY Claudia Whiteus Photos Clockwise from top right: © le grand Bellevue, © starwoodarchive, Stefano Candito, © velaa Private island, © Aman Resorts, © the Chedi Andermatt 60 CENTURION-Magazine.COM CONTACT CENTURION SERVICE FOR BOOKINGS
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