Top secret
Since opening Soneva Fushi in Baa Atoll in 1995, Sonu Shivdasani has set a standard in the Maldives both in terms of fantastic indulgence and quantifiable sustainability. There’s not much shaded area in that particular Venn diagram, but Shivdasani has made it work in a micro-collection of gritty, open-air, “no news, no shoes” resorts. Soneva has long been a close to zero carbon business; was the first in the hotel sector to commission a Total Impact Assessment (in 2016), and one of the first in the world to impose, in 2008, an environmental surcharge for each stay, the proceeds of which could go as far away as Mozambique (where the Soneva Foundation has contracted a reforestation NGO to plant 3.7 million native trees).
Soneva Secret, which opened its doors in late March, is both a culmination and distillation of Soneva’s tall castaway paradigm. The location, on the remote Haa Dhaalu Atoll, the westernmost point of the Maldives, accessible by a 75-minute flight from the capital Malé, is its first selling point. Soneva Secret is the only resort for dozens of kilometers in all directions. “In my almost 40 years of traveling around the country, I have never come across such a unique environment,” says Shivdasani. “It’s a place where you see the marine ‘big five’ everywhere”: whales, manta rays, turtles, dolphins and sharks.
The plan was to go smaller and bigger: There are only 14 beach and overwater villas, but they start at about 4,800 square feet (and go up to nearly 12,500), including those in the atoll lagoon that can only be reached by by boat (there is also the Maldives’ first floating villa.) Expect Soneva’s usual array of fantasy accessories: bedroom ceilings that retract for stargazing, water slides, gray-washed wooden walls, open-air bathrooms free. Each accommodation has three dedicated staff, including a private chef who prepares meals to order, any time of day, every day. You can reach the lagoon tower restaurant by zipline or schedule your sunsets with a. snorkeling in search of dolphins; or get a lesson on coral restoration (another beneficiary of Soneva Foundation funds) from the resident marine biologist. soneva.comfrom $3,200
Grand designs at London Paddington
Small French hotel collection Lignée Hotels recently brought its quintessentially Gallic game to the heart of London. But the new Grand Hotel Bellevue is not, as you might expect given its wonderful French locations, in Marylebone or Westbourne Grove: it is in Norfolk Square, a block from Paddington station, in the heart of W2. However, it’s that slightly off-piste direction that allows the exceptionally elegant design to be accessible at exceptionally attractive prices.
Fabrizio Casiraghi, a designer of the moment (he’s currently busy with the Four Seasons in Rome), created interiors that play up the sexy in what are sometimes quite cozy spaces: many of the top-floor rooms, aptly designated Cabin Rooms – he recalls the shipmates’ rooms, magnificently decorated with good taste. Casiraghi left the bones of the listed Victorian building alone, layering them in dark wood. boiserie in a half wall effect. There are their signature skirted sofas, their burnt orange and maroon color palette, and their plush wall-to-wall rugs underfoot. There is no restaurant, but the Pondicherry bar is small and unassailable in its freshness, wrapped in tapestries designed by the New York firm Bode and serving glasses of any drink you prefer. grandhotelbellevuelondon.comfrom £200
A beautiful Bahamian reborn
In the late 1960s and ’70s, Eleuthera’s Potlatch Club was a magnet for eccentric New York socialites, European royalty, Hollywood celebrities like Greta Garbo and the occasional rock star. Cut to 2016: Jamaican-American Bruce Loshusan and Cuban-born Bahamian Hans Febles come across a series of dilapidated bungalows facing a seven-mile stretch of pink-sand beach and immediately fall in love with them and their potential. After a seven-year restoration, the Potlatch Club is back open and billed as Eleuthera’s first proper luxury boutique hotel.
The original clubhouse, from the 1920s and updated in the 1960s by Ray James Holman Nathaniels, the Sri Lankan-born architect credited with bringing modernism to this part of the Caribbean, has been expanded with cottages of a bedroom and two more contemporary villas. for a total of 11 accommodations. The design is pure Caribbean colonial, with pastel block prints, coral stone floors, and lots of wicker and rattan. There’s a restaurant and a bar, a spa and a gym, and over 100 more beaches on the island waiting to be installed. One to bookmark for a buyout, next time a major event comes up. thepotlatchclub.comfrom $475
A luxury hotel for Château La Coste
Some people make pilgrimages to Château La Coste in Provence to see art installations by artists such as Tracey Emin, Andy Goldsworthy and Damien Hirst. Others come for the architecture: Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry, Oscar Niemeyer and Per Kirkeby have all contributed to the built environment. Others simply want to stroll through the vineyards, have a glass of the estate’s good rosé, and grab a bite to eat at one of the six restaurants whose kitchens are overseen by the likes of Francis Mallmann. Villa La Coste, an ultra-exclusive 28-suite hotel, has operated here since 2017.
A second property on the estate with a simpler atmosphere opened last month. While the Villa crafts its minimalism in glass and steel, the 76-room Auberge La Coste is all local stone in blush hues, wrought iron lights, cobblestone streets and whitewashed furniture over unfinished wood floors. Some of them connect, making them perfect for families; For longer stays, there are several studios with kitchenettes. Gastronomy is equally simple: there is one restaurant, La Rôtisserie, which more or less does what it promises; and a ground-level bar that is all polished wood, red leather banquettes, and a backlit bar with mirrors. chateau-la-coste.comfrom €265
Casablanca, fit for a king
Fourteen years ago, the Royal Mansour opened its doors in Marrakech under the auspices of Mohammed VI, King of Morocco and owner of the hotel. From its beginning it was conceived down to the last detail to be Between classes – beyond any conventional five-star rating system – and a showcase of the best Moroccan decorative arts and crafts. It is an extraordinary place: the accommodations are all riads, the spa a white-on-white paradise, the restaurant run by Hélène Darroze. Last month it was joined by a sister property in Morocco’s largest city. The Royal Mansour Casablanca is a very different story: an eponymous one, for starters, which occupies the original 23-story building that housed El Mansour, the city’s first five-star hotel opened in 1953, from where the king’s group takes its name.
The redux is a metropolitan proposition in every sense, from the marble fields and state-of-the-art technology in the 149 rooms, suites and apartments to the two-story, 2,510-square-meter spa. The La Grande Table Marocaine restaurant is on the 23rd floor and has two more locations: Éric Fréchon is the executive chef of La Brasserie, while Keiji Matoba, from Matoi in Ginza, has signed up for the Sushi Bar, where the sous chefs work . a square open kitchen surrounded by leather countertops and stools. It’s all very elegant and urban: the city’s old medina, just across the avenue and stretching all the way to the Atlantic, offers contrast. royalmansour.comfrom £436