2025 Hot New Hotel Preview: Part 3
Let's Go Europe
In our third installment of the Best New Hotels Preview for 2025, we’re heading to Europe. Which means we have now reported on 300 new builds, clever renovations, and affordable lookers. (You can catch up on USA/Canada/LATAM and Asia/Africa/Australia/Antarctica here.) Of course, this isn’t everything the year ahead holds; they’re just the hotels we’re interested in. We’ll report back in a few months to let you know what has actually opened, as the dates listed below can sometimes be moving targets. Happy hoteling!
Enchanté, France
Maison Barrière Vendôme
Paris, France
The latest from Groupe Barrière is a total stunner for its craft, details, and a theme that makes us stand up and cheer oui, madame: Twenty-six rooms, suites, and apartments pay homage, through their decor and artwork, to iconic women — Josephine Baker, Mata Hari, Mercedes Sosa, Camille Claudel, and Nina Simone among them. Bar Frida is the South American-inspired restaurant and cocktail spot on the ground floor; an underground spa with a cold plunge pool is coming soon. Let’s hear it for les femmes. (January)
Hôtel Filigrane
Paris, France
The four-star hotel in the 2nd arrondissement took inspiration from its two prominent neighbors, the Bourse stock exchange and Bibliothèque de France library. The handsome design leans on monochromatic palettes (blues, reds, greens) and geometric patterns (lots of stripes); the spa has a pool that can be reserved for private use and a mosaic-lined hammam. And because accessibility for varying levels of ability is something we’re going to hear hotels talk about a lot more in the coming years (or so we hope), we’re applauding this statement on the website: “The hotel is suitable for people with reduced mobility.” (January)
La Fondacion
Paris, France
New York studio Roman & Williams designed the 17th arrondissement project with separate area devoted to a hotel (58 rooms, three restaurants, and an outdoor rooftop bar), work (meeting rooms, auditorium, a hanging wall), and wellness (a semi- Olympic pool, climbing wall, fitness classes). (April)
Experimental Chalet Val d'Isère
Val d’Isère, France
We can always count on the team at Experimental and their preferred designer Dorothée Meilichzon to create vibrant, welcoming, and refreshingly affordable hotels in top destinations. Their sixth, a 113-room hotel on the slopes in the French Alps, has brasserie-style restaurants (have the raclette), a spa offering massages to soothe achy limbs, and, of course, an outpost of the Experimental Cocktail Club. (January)
Cour des Loges Lyon, A Radisson Collection Hotel
Lyon, France
We’re digging the look of the exposed beams, stone columns, period furnishings, cloistered atrium, and glass-roofed spa at the historic Renaissance building in Vieux-Lyon. (February)
Hôtel Le Soleia
Nice, France
The city that wants to be more than a stop on the way to the Riviera gives visitors another reason to spend a few nights with this beautiful, feminine, light-filled, centrally located four-star from Inwood Hotels. (March)
Villa Miraé
Cap d’Antibes, France
Of course, those who do want to summer on the Riviera have a new option at Inwood’s five-star newcomer that looks just as light, airy, and beautiful. (May)
Château de la Commaraine
Pommard, France
The only thing the French take more seriously than their wine is their history. So you can bet that France’s architectural heritage protection organization, Architectes des Bâtiments de France, took special interest in overseeing the renovation of this 12th-century property on a vineyard in the heart of Burgundy. Past will merge with present in 37 rooms and the four-bedroom villa that has its own tasting room. Speaking of tastings, while the large pool and two restaurants have their appeal, we’re making a beeline for the bar in the 14th-century tower. (Late 2025)
Saluti from Italy
Splendido, A Belmond Hotel
Portofino, Italy
A renovation years in the making, the OG grand dame of the Italian Riviera is noteworthy for its new main building, new spa, and reimagined rooms and public spaces, all done by superstar maximalist designer Martin Brudnizki, who also did the décor at nearby Villa Beatrice, Belmond’s first standalone villa, which has room for ten in four suites and one cottage. (Summer)
Pensione America
Forte dei Marmi, Italy
Collezione Em, the family-run hoteliers who opened Violino d’Oro in Venice last year, have converted one of the oldest villas in town into an 18-room, adults-only beach resort. Owner Sara Maestrelli is absolutely obsessed with finding particularly perfect design details, and to that end recruited Italian artisans to fire the terracotta and hand-paint the tiles and the wallpaper. (April)
The Lake Como Edition
Lake Como, Italy
Because we don’t want to see the area get any more crowded than it already is and because we do want the lake scene to remain one of small, independent hotels, we might have to file this one under “T” for there goes the neighborhood. (Spring)
