Rich new pickings are coming to travellers in 2026 in the form of a suite of much-anticipated hotel openings around the world. Here are Travel Tomorrow’s top picks.
United States
Delano’s iconic Miami Beach original, dating back to 1947, is reopening after a five-year revamp in winter 2026. The 171-room beachfront property still boasts its beloved Art Deco stylings and has now rekindled its bungalow suites and penthouses.
With concerts, events, and experiences driving travel consumers, music fans will be delighted to hear that reservations are open for Dolly Parton’s Songteller Hotel, opening in Nashville in June 2026 and offering accommodation and a museum. According to the website, “Dolly hand-picked the location for SongTeller Hotel between two of the most vibrant districts in Nashville. Lower Broadway is the hub of Nashville’s live music and entertainment. 2nd Avenue is the center of the city’s historic charm, with restaurants, shopping, and more. You’re just steps away from Nashville’s heart and soul.” This is one of Time Out’s picks for the year.
Lovers of peace, quiet, and the night sky, meanwhile, have been looking forward to the debut of Viceroy’s Sun Valley, in downtown Ketchum, Idaho, slated for summer 2026. Billed as an all-season mountain getaway, it offers 73 rooms, 12 penthouses, a spa, fitness centre, indoor pool, sauna and steam rooms, as well as a rooftop observatory for “astrotourism” in what is one of the world’s rare dark-sky conservation areas, the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve.
Central America
Golfers will have been hotly anticipating Siari Riviera Nayarit, Ritz-Carlton’s just-opened Reserve on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, where 920 acres and almost seven kilometres of golden beaches, a golf course designed by world-renowned Tom Fazio, a Huichol wellness centre, meet “vibrant fusion” gastronomy, “honoring mangrove harvests, fresh seafood, and native corn,” the website says.
Further southwest, JW Marriott’s first all-inclusive hotel in Costa Rica, the Costa Elena, will add 415 rooms to Guanacaste’s Conservation Area, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. In what is conceived by developers Pellas as “a sanctuary where luxury, community and conservation coexist,” Marriott has adopted an elevated take on all-inclusivity, with 11 dining concepts, 17 swimming pools and over 4,000m2 of water-based amenities, as well as meeting rooms – if guests can tear themselves away from what Pellas has called a “front seat row to nature.”
Europe
The Waldorf Astoria London is expected to open in 2026, when the transformations of Admiralty Arch are completed. One of London’s most iconic landmarks, the Edwardian structure is located at the end of The Mall on the route of many official processions and offers views of Buckingham Palace, Nelson’s Column, and Trafalgar Square. Sold in 2012 for redevelopment as a hotel. Despite a change of investors in 2022 to the Reubens, 100 rooms and suites, a spa and wellness space, a rooftop terrace, and at least two celebrity chef-led restaurants are still on the cards for spring 2026.
Further north, Hope in the Scottish Highlands, is the result of over twenty years of work by some of Scotland’s largest landowners, Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen and his wife Anne, who have developed a rewilding project called Wildland that includes a restored heritage retreat and self-catering cottages that can serve as a base for wildlife tracking, hiking, and guided foraging and coastal excursions.
For a retreat of a different kind, head south to France’s Mediterranean coast, where Zannier Hotels is bringing Île de Bendor back to life. One of the French Riviera’s most famous private islands, it was home to 1950s drinks magnate, Paul Ricard, creator of Pastis. Thanks to what CN Traveler has hailed as one of the region’s “most ambitious and glamorous revivals,” from May 2026, guests can sip one, overlooking the sea from one of the 93 rooms, or a Madrague-style house, or dine on chef-designed treats. Alternatively, drift to the art gallery, wellness suite, or private cove with diving centre.
Africa
After more than three decades of ecotourism and a conservation journey going back almost a century, Singita is coming to Botswana’s Okavango Delta. At Elela, it presents self-catering or chef-catered stilted camps over the Delta’s grasslands, and the chance of spectacular wildlife encounters, mokoro canoe excursions, and starlit wine tastings, explaining why Vogue calls Singita “the luxury African safari operator to beat.”
The first-ever safari resort from Banyan Tree’s new Escape brand, Ubuyu, will open in Tanzania in May 2026, offering all-villa accommodation in Ruaha National Park, habitat to one of Africa’s largest elephant populations, as well as cheetahs, leopards, lions, and over 500 species of birds.
Middle East and Asia
Described by CNTraveler as “one of 2026’s most exclusive Instagrams to snap,” The Malkai, Oman, proposes tailor-made, caravan-like travel between three sites, coastal, mountain, and desert, composed of 15 tented pavilions boasting spa facilities, pools, and an Omani dining offer.
And in Rajasthan, India, the Leela Jaisalmer occupies 30 acres in the Thar Desert—close to the UNESCO-listed Jaisalmer Fort. Opening in 2026, it proposes a mix of “Swiss Tents”, spa facilities, courtyards, and even a ballroom.
Finally, in March 2026, The Imperial Hotel, Kyoto, will be the first expansion for high-end Japanese hospitality brand, Imperial Hotels. And what a grand opening it will be, showing off the transformation of a 90-year-old former theatre. Registered Tangible Cultural Property, the Yasaka Kaikan has been transformed, retaining the historic look in places and cleverly re-employing materials elsewhere.
