Hotels & Design
Choosing a neighborhood, property, room, and level of service.
A hotel lobby tells you what a city thinks you want before you reach the room. Design, scent, staffing, and how they handle a late checkout are all data.
Where you stay and what it teaches you about a place.
This focused collection is part of Hotels, Resorts & Luxury, which brings the related guides together.
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10 stories
Begin with the lead guide, then browse the more focused stories below.
IHG Is Bringing Kimpton to Phang Nga
Kimpton Phang-Nga Natai Beach is a signing, not a soft open. Here’s where it sits relative to Phuket and Khao Lak, what the brand signals about Phang Nga, and when travelers should wait versus book elsewhere now.
6 min · Aug 12, 2026
A 26-Room Onsen Hotel Just Made Matsushima Worth the Overnight
Matsushima was already famous. What it lacked was a small overnight with a bay-facing bath. From today, that overnight has a name.
6 min · Aug 10, 2026
The Philippines’ First Autograph Hotel Is a Wellness Sanctuary Outside Manila
The Farm at San Benito keeps its wellness identity under Autograph: Bonvoy points, a soft-renovation chapter, and a 300-year-old mango tree as the house landmark.
4 min · Aug 2, 2026
A Depopulated Miyazaki Island Soft-Opens as a Seven-Villa Pacific Resort
Seven private villas on a quiet Pacific island off Nichinan: soft open today, ceremony August 12, finished brand September 1.
4 min · Aug 1, 2026
A 1959 Onsen Lodge Just Got a Boutique Second Life in Nikko National Park
Past Chuzenji and into Okunikko, a mid-century hot-spring hotel keeps its sulfur spring and forest setting—now under the UNWIND banner from August 8.
4 min · Jul 29, 2026
The Developer Who Bet Kuching Could Carry Malaysia’s First voco
A Malaysian property developer’s adaptive reuse of a familiar Kuching landmark finally gives East Malaysia an IHG voco—and a people story worth the homepage.
4 min · Jul 28, 2026
Where to Stay in Tokyo: A Neighborhood Hotel Guide
The room matters less than which train line you sleep on.
6 min · Jun 3, 2026
A Hotel Lobby Can Tell You Whether a City Understands Itself
Lobbies are not decoration. They are arguments.
3 min · Feb 5, 2026
Copenhagen, Stockholm, and the Asian Traveler’s Relationship to Clean Design
Scandinavia sells a mood more than a checklist.
3 min · Sep 10, 2025
Related lenses
Other useful ways to narrow the trip.
Adventure
Hiking, remote destinations, expedition travel, and how much preparation each trip requires.
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First Trips
Where to start, how long to stay, and what to prioritize on a first visit.
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Family Trips
Hotels, rooms, transport, accessibility, and activities for trips with children, parents, or grandparents.
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