THE SMART GUIDE AMIT GERON DIFFERENT WORLDS Below: R48 Hotel and Garden, Tel Aviv Facing page, from top: the pool at Mamula Island Hotel, Montenegro; COMO Le Montrachet, Burgundy, France opening of Kona Village, a Rosewood Resort, set amid 33 hectares along Hawaii’s sun-drenched Kohala coast, and Rosewood Munich, a 132- room property spread over two landmark historical buildings. Elsewhere in Europe, The Hoxton (thehoxton.com) hotel brand is stepping things up with the launch of its second property in Amsterdam alongside a new opening in Brussels. Occupying the brutalist-style former IBM headquarters, the latter will have 198 rooms and a rooftop terrace with city views. In Edinburgh, 100 Princes Street (100princes-street.com) sets a new standard in hospitality with exceptional views of the castle, a 200-plus-bottle wine wall and a luxurious “whatever, whenever” approach to service, while Berlin’s former postal building, an elaborate Neo-Baroque pile, has been transformed into the hip new 97-key Hotel Telegraphenamt (telegraphenamt.com). In Paris, designer Martin Brudnizki has been called on once again, this time for Le Grand Mazarin (legrandmazarin.com), a 50-room/11-suite property that he has dressed to match the cosmopolitan eclecticism emblematic of the Marais neighbourhood, where it is located. Also in France, COMO Hotels and Resorts will debut COMO Le Montrachet (comohotels.com). Located in the heart of Burgundy, the hotel’s 31 rooms are spread across four heritage buildings and will house a COMO Shambhala retreat, the group’s signature Asian-inspired wellbeing experience. Over in Switzerland, Six Senses Crans-Montana (sixsenses.com) is an intimate 47-suite retreat with a full range of facilities from restaurants to the celebrated Six Senses Spa. W Hotels will bring its bold, über-cool take on luxury to Hungary with the opening of W Budapest (whotel.hu-budapest.com), which is housed in the former home to the Institute of Ballet and will include all the brand’s signature facilities like the W Lounge. Following its debut in Barcelona a few years ago, the Almanac (almanachotels. com) brand will open outposts in both Prague and Vienna, with the former located just a few steps from the city’s historic Wenceslas Square and the Old Town. Joining the recently opened One&Only Portonovi, Montenegro’s Bay of Kotor will welcome Mamula Island Hotel (mamulaisland. com), which occupies a 19th-century fortress and will be home to a host of facilities including a memorial museum, a spa, and a collection of restaurants. In other One&Only (oneandonlyresorts.com) news, Greece and Dubai will soon be home to the brand’s newest hotels: One&Only Aesthesis, which is set in a 21ha estate on a mile stretch of beachfront in southern Athens, and One&Only One Za’abeel. The brand’s third property in Dubai, it is located in a striking building designed by Japanese firm Nikken Sekkei and comprises two towers connected by The Link (the world’s longest cantilevered building), which will be home to the hotel’s restaurants, swimming pool and retail outlets. Things are gaining momentum in Istanbul too, with the development of Galataport, a waterfront revitalisation project that includes art galleries, restaurants, and a new cruise ship port. Anchoring this new district is The Peninsula (peninsula.com), which is set along the Bosphorus and is spread across four buildings – three of them historic and beautifully restored. With just 11 suites, R48 Hotel and Garden (r48.co.il) is a bijou hotel housed within a 1933 Bauhaus building in the heart of Tel Aviv. Many of the building’s original details have been restored, while the landscape architecture is the work of Piet Oudolf, who is the mastermind behind the green spaces in Manhattan’s High Line park. Down Under, The Ribbon, a spectacular 0m building in Sydney’s Darling Harbour will be home to a new W Hotel (w-hotels.marriott. com), which will have a plethora of facilities including an infinity pool overlooking the harbour and an IMAX theatre, while a short stroll away in downtown Sydney, one of the city’s sandstone properties – the heritagelisted former Department of Education Building – has been transformed into Capella (capellahotels.com). A muchanticipated opening, the hotel will feature 192 rooms set over eight floors and three groundlevel restaurants and bars. Last, but not least, Melbourne 16 NetJets
