Ouvertures d’hôtels

🏢 Fairmont Xiamen opens in Fujian province, Southeast China, designed by British architectural firm Foster + Partners. The hotel features 420 rooms and suites with Art Deco and local cultural influences. It offers five dining venues blending local traditions and international flavors, including TIANXIA 1984 with celadon porcelain tribute, Del Mar with Italian and vintage touches, Victoria with Asian recipes at the top floor, AIR LOFT reflecting Xiamen Airlines' aviation theme, and the relaxing PLAZA Lobby Lounge.

🍴 The Mark Clam Bar, a new seafood spot by star chef Jean-Georges and Caviar Kaspia, opens in May in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Offering a seaside shack vibe with New York elegance, it serves refined classics like lobster rolls, oysters, and fresh clams, along with luxurious Kaspia caviar. Open daily from 12pm to 10pm, reservations for lunch and dinner are available at The Mark Hotel, Madison Avenue at 77th Street, New York, NY 10075.

🏨 Travelodge has opened a new 111-room budget hotel in Aston, Birmingham. The location is strategic for both leisure and business, with easy access to cultural sites like Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and Ikon Gallery, the birthplace of Shakespeare, Warwick Castle, and football clubs. Business travelers benefit from proximity to transport links and venues like the National Exhibition Centre and International Convention Centre. The Birmingham Airport is a 20-minute drive away.

🏖️ Minor Hotels expands to India, planting the Avani brand in Visakhapatnam with the Avani+ Sunray Beach Visakhapatnam Resort, a high-end 25.5-hectare project featuring 117 hotel rooms, 58 luxury residential villas, three restaurants, a bar, large swimming pool, Avani spa, AvaniFit fitness center, beach bar, and a 9-hole golf course. Located in Bhogapuram near the upcoming Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport (opening in 2026), this development by Minor Hotels and Sunray Green Space Pvt Ltd aims to cater to the business and leisure boom in Visakhapatnam, a city experiencing significant IT and infrastructural growth.

🏂 L'Hôtel Barrière Les Neiges, located at the heart of Courchevel in the Alps, is proud to announce the renewal of its prestigious Palace distinction from Atout France. The luxury establishment boasts 42 rooms and suites, customized guest services, a spa, and emphasizes the combination of winter sports, wellness, and gastronomy to provide a unique experience. This renewal reflects the hotel's ongoing commitment to unparalleled service and meticulous attention to detail.

🏕 Starhotels acquired Hermitage Hotel & Resort in Forte dei Marmi, Italy, marking its first resort addition to the luxury Starhotels Collezione. The hotel, founded in the 1970s by the Maschietto family and later renovated by architect Vittorio Maschietto, will join Starhotels Collezione by the end of summer 2025. The resort features 59 rooms and suites, a restaurant, a large pool, and a vegetable garden, reinforcing Starhotels' presence in Italy's luxury hospitality sector.

🏡 Starhotels, an Italian hotel group, announced the acquisition of Hermitage Hotel & Resort in Forte dei Marmi, adding the first resort to the Starhotels Collezione. Founded in the 1970s by the Maschietto family, the eco-friendly Hermitage Hotel & Resort, located in the heart of Versilia, features 59 rooms and suites, a fine-dining restaurant, a pool, and a kitchen garden. The hotel will join Starhotels Collezione at the end of the summer 2025 season, signaling the group's expansion into the resort sector and strengthening its luxury market presence in Italy.

```html 🏠 1.75 Paris expands with "Le Charme" in Butte-aux-Cailles, the third in its collection following La Trêve and La Source. Le Charme offers a contemporary urban lifestyle in a former garage, with 42 rooms designed for business and leisure, a two-level restaurant featuring a monumental bar, and decor by artist Philippe Baudelocque. This new establishment embodies the chic simplicity and vibrant spirit of the 1.75 Paris brand. ```

🏨 Puneet Chhatwal, CEO of The Indian Hotels Company, signed a management contract with Suresh Nanda, president of Claridges Hotels Pvt, for their New Delhi hotel, initiating the "Claridges Collection" luxury brand. Suresh Nanda has owned the Claridges Hotel in New Delhi since 2003 and also owns Vivanta Surajkund and Taj Hotel Dubai. IHCL plans to include Taj Connemara in Chennai and the under-renovation Blue Diamond in Pune in the collection. Chhatwal aims to create a luxury chain of at least 20 establishments by 2030, targeting independent Indian hotel owners to join the collection.

🍸 In Paris' Quartier latin, the boutique hotel inspired by Alexandre Dumas' travels, the Bar 1802, offers a rum experience with 1,600 different labels, making it the first in France and second globally dedicated to rum—a nod to Dumas’ family history of rum production in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). Managed by experts Donovan Chouari and Paul-Antoine Herbet, the cocktail menu features surprising elements and original containers, such as the signature "Bois" served in a typical Lappish bowl. The ambiance is quiet during the day, with options for feutré lovers, and livelier after 10 PM.