NEW YORK, April 18 — From Sri Lanka to Paris, and Mexico to the Maldives, Conde Nast Traveller has released the 2017 edition of their annual “Hot List,” singling out the best hotel openings of the past year. 

For the list, editors, reporters and photographers logged 529,500 miles (852,150 km), slept in 200 beds, and collected stamps from more than 50 countries this year. 

Of the 675 contenders, editors whittled down the pool to just 75 properties. 

“Our annual Hot List, a rigorous selection of our favourite new hotel openings of the past year, is a predictor of what properties will stand the test of time, make history, and let you reimagine how you want to live and travel,” said Pilar Guzmán in her editor’s letter. 

Advertisement

“Our goal is that these properties spark the heat of early romance in the beginning, and then eventually settle into enduring love.” 

The iconic Ritz Paris.
The iconic Ritz Paris.

Paris is particularly well represented on the list, with six new properties including the iconic Ritz Paris, along with smaller boutique hotels “placed in the middle of the Parisian neighbourhoods that made us feel like we actually lived there.” 

For that, there’s Hotel Saint-Marc, for instance, located near the famous Palais Garnier opera house and within striking distance of the Galeries Lafayette department store. 

Advertisement

Named the city’s newest hot spot by Vogue Paris when it opened last summer, the boutique hotel features 26 contemporary rooms and suites in six different design and colour schemes, along with garden, swimming pool and spa. 

The sprawling estate is made up of villas and junior suites and includes an outdoor 25-metre heated swimming pool, library, gym, sauna, massage room, lounge and outdoor fire pit.
The sprawling estate is made up of villas and junior suites and includes an outdoor 25-metre heated swimming pool, library, gym, sauna, massage room, lounge and outdoor fire pit.

Travellers looking for a remote escape with an invisible “do not disturb sign,”  meanwhile, will want to know about Helena Bay Lodge on New Zealand’s Poor Knights Island, which features the world’s largest sea cave.

The sprawling estate is made up of villas and junior suites and includes an outdoor 25-metre heated swimming pool, library, gym, sauna, massage room, lounge and outdoor fire pit. 

Other destinations that were well-represented on the list this year Sri Lanka and New York, each with four properties, and Japan with three. 

Beekman hotel: The lobby.
Beekman hotel: The lobby.

Not surprisingly, The Beekman hotel in New York also received a nod, after opening to much fanfare late last summer. 

Converted from a 19th century landmark — one of Manhattan’s first skyscrapers — the building was restored to its former glory and features a Tom Colicchio restaurant, Fowler & Wells. 

The Four Seasons brand also snagged four addresses. 

Visit cntraveller.com for more. — AFP-Relaxnews