5 Luxurious Boutique Lodges to Go to Across the World As soon as it’s Secure to Journey Once more

From Cat Castañeda

March 08, 2021

Travel is the ultimate source of inspiration and these boutique hotels are sure to invigorate your mind, body and soul. Design Hotels CEO shares some of the best places for a creative fresh start

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Travel is not just about relaxation. For many of us, going to a new place is a source of inspiration – a burst of energy that stimulates our creativity so much that we become more productive when we return to work. When the travel-hungry people started planning their “vaxications”, we asked Peter Cole, CEO of Design hotelsto pick the best places for a creative restart.

(Connected: What are digital passports and how can they help us travel again amid the pandemic?)

I’m a big fan of the way Node Kyoto took the idea of ​​flowing, programmable places like galleries and museums and weaved their approaches into the core. The hotel feels like a private home, but the team invites the world over through a series of joint exhibitions, pop-up shops, and guest gallery owners that together make up such a rich program on the property. The name itself, “knot” – a crossroads – means that the hotel functions as an intercultural meeting point between residents and visitors to the city.

This Zermatt hotel is a great example of how to make the most of Covid-19 downtime to challenge the status quo. It is already a pioneer in terms of sustainable practices and has been extensively renovated since summer 2020. Now a new geothermal heat pump will generate 95 percent of your heat and hot water requirements. Cervo will also focus on offering guests an element of regeneration in the form of meditation, coaching, and yoga sessions. Sustainability for this hotel is not just a focus on the environment, but also on the soul.

(Connected: From Japan to Switzerland: Luxurious city hotels to book when you can travel safely again)

In 2017 Design Hotels Further launched, a travel laboratory for experiential hospitality and a culture of collaboration, for which we invite artists, musicians and others from the creative industry to visit hotels and react to their surroundings. When it came to Timber Cove, a former 1960s meditation hut and artist colony on California’s Sonoma Coast, it felt like coming home for the wider event.

The property was created amid the anti-war movement that spanned civil rights, flower power, and women’s liberation movements and then culminated in the summer of love in 1967. Timber Cove’s unique story really inspired the musicians we invited to Artist residencies on site.

This hotel is a complete escape. The Sunyata Hotel Meili is far from any urban life at the foot of Snow Meili Mountain, a sacred place for Tibetan Buddhists. Its name comes from the Sanskrit word for “emptiness” and makes me think of a more poetic way of life. In harmonious balance, the hotel is shaped by a proud sense of location and heritage, which is reflected in features such as Tibetan-style fireplaces, Buddhist murals, and reclaimed doors.

(Connected: 6 Days in Bhutan: How to Have an Authentic Experience in the Himalayan Kingdom)

People are more than ever be aware of the human and social implications of what they spend their money on. In terms of hospitality, this means that it is becoming increasingly important to see the purpose of your hotel openly within the overall concept. The team behind Hotel Escondido and 11 other hotels in North and South America, Carlos Couturier & Moisés Micha, are very much aware of the fact that hotels not only have the power and responsibility to connect guests with the local environment, but also the Ability to transform and shift boundaries that offer us endless possibilities.