Grand Designs: 5 New Hotels with Serious Wow Factor

These five new properties – a sleek urban bolthole, a repurposed schloss, two ocean-facing resorts and an ultra-modern private villa – promise to add serious “wow” factor to your next overseas jaunt.

JANU Tokyo

If you hadn’t heard it already, Aman has spawned Janu, “a visionary hotel and residence brand that redefines Travel with purpose”, the first manifestation of which occupies 13 floors of a residential tower in Tokyo’s new Azabuzai Hills “urban village”. A sleek 122-key bolthole, it also happens to be the only hotel in the development. Its name is taken from the Sanskrit word for “soul” and, as with all Aman properties, the design and ambience reek of contemporary elegance and understated luxury – though without quite the same quasi-spiritual degree of peace and serenity so loved by Amanjunkies. In fact, with no fewer than eight restaurants and bars on the property – far more than can be filled each night by staying guests – the place is positively jumping by Aman standards (and, for a city hotel, that is what you’d expect after all). From the regular Deluxe guestrooms up to the largest suites, all accommodations are spacious, exquisitely furnished and decked out in a characteristically calming earth-tone palette – and most have a private balcony. And so you know exactly where you’re staying, the red-and-white steel latticework of the Tokyo Tower stands right outside. This is the first of 12 Janu hotels; others are planned in Montenegro, South Korea and the Turks & Caicos, with at least three more in the Middle East.  

JANU Tokyo, 1-2-2 Azabudai Minato-ku, 106-​​0041 Tokyo, Japan. Discover here.

Soneka, Hokkaido

A forest in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido is the location for Soneka, a luxurious and ultra-modern private onsen resort villa complex that lies beside brown-charcoal hot springs. Opened only last month and set within almost 8 hectares of land, the property comprises four single-storey villas, each with outdoor and indoor baths in which guests derive Health benefits from the area’s unique amber-coloured water. A resident catering team prepares gourmet-quality meals using seasonal local ingredients, and as Soneka is open year-round, it’s the ideal base for winter Sports or a range of outdoor summer activities. It goes without saying that the views – of mountain, forest and grassland – are stunning too.   

Soneka, 307-1 Omagari, Kitahiroshima-shi, 061-1270, Hokkaido, Japan. Discover here.

Rosewood Schloss Fuschl

While its hard keeping track of the supercharged rate of expansion of Rosewood’s portfolio of hotels these days, it’s fair to say that few of its properties can claim a location quite as exalted as the lakeside perch enjoyed by Schloss Fuschl in Austria’s Salzkammergut, a short drive far from the city of Salzburg. Built in the 15th century and recently restored by Rosewood, the castle has been transformed into a 98-key luxury hotel, almost half of whose accommodations are suites; take your choice from the old or new buildings, or the hotel’s six chalets. With six restaurants and bars on site, guests can choose from the casual and lounge-y See Terrace and Club, with its own DJ, to the Schloss Restaurant, where the ambience and cuisine are more traditional – though naturally sourced from as close to the hotel as possible. Of course there’s an Asaya Spa, but if being pampered by – or suffering under – the hands of highly trained therapists isn’t your thing, the hotel also has an exceptional collection of art to goggle at.   

Rosewood Schloss Fuschl, Schloss-Strasse 19, Hof bei Salzburg, Austria, 5322. Discover here.

So/Maldives

One of the latest properties from mould-breaking hotel operator Ennismore, perhaps best known for its porfolio of Mondrian properties, SO/Maldives represents another radical departure. This time it’s from the Maldivian aesthetic of Crusoe-inspired thatched-roofs and white walled villas, because here the mood isn’t merely ultra-contemporary, with rooftops covered in solar panels, but also fun and colourful. What you still get, however, are a choice of glass-fronted beach or overwater villas, the latter perched over the perfectly aquamarine water of a lagoon where you can dive with the fishes. Malé, the capital, is a short boat ride away and there’s plenty to do on the island, so guests aren’t prisoners of the resort for the duration; in fact – and unusually – half-board packages are available, so you still won’t be passing on the opportunity to dine in the evening at the resort’s Moroccan restaurant, or tuck into its extensive beachside buffet. Which sounds to us like the Maldives escape we’ve been looking for all these years. 

Discover here.

ONE & ONLY Kéa Island

Not only is Kéa Island, the relatively unknown Greek location of One & Only’s latest resort, wonderfully quiet and secluded, but it’s also surprisingly close to Athens – and as the hotel brand also runs a property in the capital that can be reached by private boat in little more than an hour, a stay combining the two hotels is eminently feasible. Designed by Malaysian-born British architect John Heah – you’ll know him for his work for Aman and Four Seasons – the One & Only makes the most of its remote location on this surprisingly undeveloped island, overlooking a west-facing cove with almost no other signs of human habitation in sight. Guests stay in private villa suites, all 63 of which have their own infinity pool, though there are also private residences. By day, hang out at the beach club, where water Sports and diving trips are on offer. In the evening, feast on superbly fresh Greek cuisine at the resort’s Atria restaurant, then, drink in hand, stargaze as you’re soothed into somnolence by a warm Mediterranean zephyr.

Discover here.

(Header image: Over water villas at One & Only Kéa Island)