2024 Kiwi Collection Hotel Awards

Two words came to the fore last year according to preeminent English dictionaries Merriam-Webster and Oxford: “authentic” and “rizz,” respectively, with the latter defined as “style, charm or attractiveness.” Both happen to be fitting descriptors for the winners of our 2024 Kiwi Collection Hotel Awards. As the rise of AI leaves us questioning what’s real, we find ourselves drawn to authentic experiences in tangible paradises—bliss that we can truly touch, taste, breathe and be fully immersed in. To contrast the monotony of modern-day air transportation, we look to land in places with rizz, that immediately pull us in then continue the seduction through every elegant or exuberant detail. The hotels we’ve chosen do all that, in their own singular ways. The golden age of travel may be far behind us, but these 12 icons tap into its glamour and dress it up fresh for a new generation of wonder seekers.

WOW PICK OF THE YEAR

BEST NEW HOTEL

BEST MINDFUL LUXURY

MOST ROMANTIC HOTEL

BEST BOUTIQUE HOTEL

BEST POOL VIEW

BEST GOURMET GETAWAY 

BEST BEACH HOTEL

BEST WELLNESS RETREAT

BEST ADVENTURE

BEST FAMILY HOTEL

  BEST FAR-FLUNG ESCAPE

WOW PICK OF THE YEAR

Hotel Barrière Fouquet's New York

New York, United States

If the 1951 film An American in Paris were to have a sequel, it might be titled A Parisian in America, which is also a fitting description of Hotel Barrière Fouquet's New York, the French Barrière group’s debut on U.S. soil. As stylish as that movie musical but in modern day terms, the hotel brings Parisian flair to Tribeca as realized by renowned Stockholm-born designer Martin Brudnizki. Pinkish-purple French lavender and almond green is the predominate palette across pied-à-terre walls and Art Deco-style furnishings. Then there’s those warm parquet floors, extravagant marble baths and splashes of custom Toile de Jouy wallpaper. Overseen by Michelin-starred Chef Pierre Gagnaire, the Brasserie Fouquet’s here is dripping in decadent red velvet, just like its 125-year-old namesake on Champs Élysées. It’s a showstopper, top to bottom, but the show goes on in their private Cannes cinema on the cellar level. While most movie-goers avoid front-row seats, one wouldn’t want to in this case—they’re all gold velvet-covered chaise lounges. Parfait, to put it lightly.

VIEW WINNER

BEST NEW HOTEL

Regent Hong Kong

Hong Kong, S.A.R., China

Undulations shaped by winds and swells, wakes carved out by boats, lights flickering along its face—the waters of Victoria Harbour keep changing. So too does the Regent Hong Kong. Swiftly cementing itself as the city’s luxury standard when it first opened in 1980, the harborside hotel returned anew in November, following several incarnations and a three-year closure. Locally born multidisciplinary designer Chi Wing Lo led its castle-inspired transformation, with cast glass brick walls in the lobby and stone gardens on windowsills. Within the 497 reimagined guestrooms, known as Personal Havens, the focus is quiet contemplation of the ever-changing waterfront, with framed views and mirrored sliding doors positioned to reflect it. While all six of its dining venues were redesigned, one decoration remains the same—the two Michelin stars assigned to its Cantonese restaurant, Yan Toh Heen, now with the reclaimed name of Lai Ching Heen.  

VIEW WINNER

BEST MINDFUL LUXURY

Bawah Reserve

Bawah Island, Indonesia

Only 26 of the Anambas archipelago’s 255 islands are inhabited and a cluster of six belong to conservation project-come-resort, Bawah Reserve. Surrounded by the crystalline waters of the South China Sea, the remote retreat’s sustainability-first mindset is realized on arrival to its asymmetrical jetty designed to preserve a coral reef below. Restoration is ongoing too, with coral tree nurseries tended by onsite marine biologists, reef-friendly sunscreen doled out to guests and fishing prohibited. The tented suites, bungalows, villas and lodge—all built by hand to minimize impact—are powered by a 1,170-panel floating solar farm, and the tubs, sinks and mirrors therein were crafted onsite using Indonesian recycled copper. Permaculture gardens provide food, a desalination plant turns seawater into drinking water and the waste management center processes whatever can’t be promptly returned to the earth. As for the fact one must floatplane here from Batam, that carbon is offset through its Anambas Foundation and the planting of thousands of trees and mangroves.

VIEW WINNER

MOST ROMANTIC HOTEL

Nayara Bocas del Toro

Isla Frangipani, Panama

Plumeria is symbolic the world over. With the ability to keep blossoming and growing even if uprooted, the fragrant tropical flower is associated with immortality. The ask of love is similar, that it too would outlast it all, the better and the worse. How fitting then that on a Panamanian island bearing the plant’s more common name, Frangipani, a retreat devoted to romance would exist. Nayara Bocas del Toro claims all the best dashes—all-inclusive, adults-only, off-grid, over-water. Sixteen of its villas are stilted above the calm waters of the Caribbean with either private plunge pools or water windows to see sea life below, and another two are Elora Hardy-designed tree houses rising above the mangroves. Aphrodisiacs abound; beyond all the archipelago offers aquaphiles, there is a Ngäbe village chocolate tour or private catamaran cruises serving canapes and champagne to take. The only sorrow is in the departing, but the sweetness is not soon forgotten. 

VIEW WINNER

BEST BOUTIQUE HOTEL

Passalacqua

Lake Como, Italy

More than a vacation, villeggiatura is about leaving the city and lingering in a rapturous place, and it’s an Italian term intrinsic to Lake Como’s Passalacqua. The 19th century composer Vincenzo Bellini experienced it as a recurring guest of original owner Count Andrea Lucini-Passalacqua. Present-day patrons are handed a metal room key, just as Bellini once was, along with individual bouquets bundled by the in-house florist. No two of the 24 rooms are identical but, clad in sumptuous silks, velvets, and gilded frames, they all capture a bygone elegance. Encompassing terraced gardens, olive groves, tennis courts and a Slim Aarons-worthy pool, the visual is extravagant, yet the feeling is intimate, an atmosphere instilled by new owners the De Santis family. While the opera La Sonnambula was composed here in 1831, there’s no pressure to perform, as this is also the land of dolce far niente or sweet idleness.                     

VIEW WINNER

BEST POOL VIEW

Amankila

Bali, Indonesia

This isn’t the Bali most tourists see. All dense jungle dotted with preserved villages and rice paddies, the Indonesian island’s east coast retains its ruralness. Here, the thatched roofs of Amankila peek out from a forested hilltop. Inspired by nearby water palace Taman Ujung’s trinity of ponds and reminiscent of the region’s rice terraces, the resort’s three-tiered infinity pool leads the eye, and beckons the body, down to the waters of Lombok Strait. Step further still and find the private beach backed by the coconut grove-encircled Beach Club where there’s another, larger swimming pool. But back to the trio in question—they’re equally eye-catching taken in at sunset from a table at the top-level Terrace restaurant, with mangosteen martini in hand, pondering the rhetorical question, “Why would anyone ever settle for just one pool again?” 

VIEW WINNER

BEST GOURMET GETAWAY

Le Bristol Paris

Paris, France

Sleuthing cinephiles will recognize the sprawling Panoramic Suite at Le Bristol Paris from 2011’s Midnight in Paris, but serious foodies know the hotel’s biggest star is its cuisine. With Executive Chef Éric Frechon at the helm, 114 Faubourg has held one Michelin star since 2013, and Epicure the highest possible three stars since 2009. At the latter “absolutely French” restaurant, Frechon writes in the menu, “There is no cooking without the finest products,” and the evidence is on the plate, including a macaroni stuffed with black truffle, artichoke and duck foie gras, topped with Parmesan gratinée. To age that cheese, the hotel installed its own cave, along with a flour mill for “living bread” made from heritage wheats, a chocolate factory where Chef Chocolatier Johan Giacchetti creates 3,000 pieces every week and, most recently, a pasta laboratory. Partaking of it all in one trip is an impossibility—thankfully L’Épicerie packages up some of those delights and delicacies to-go.

VIEW WINNER

BEST BEACH HOTEL

Constance Lemuria, Seychelles

Anse Kerlan, Seychelles

The secluded golden sands of Grand Anse Kerlan, Petite Anse Kerlan and Anse Georgette aren’t entirely empty. Constance Lemuria, Seychelles shares these three pristine Praslin beaches with a few discerning hawksbill sea turtles and employs a Turtle Manager to attend to their specific needs. Unsurprisingly, these marine reptiles aren’t the only guests treated well. While there is no wrong room, as all are set steps from the shoreline, the singular Presidential Villa comes with a private swath of sand and dedicated service. Should a holidayer decide their job is more than just beach, they can hit the fairway or the forest—the resort is home to the only 18-hole championship golf course in Seychelles, and the Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve where the rare coco de mer grows is only six miles away.

VIEW WINNER

BEST WELLNESS RETREAT

Villa Eden – The Private Retreat

South Tyrol, Italy

After a visit in 1870 from Empress Elisabeth ‘Sissi’ of Austria that saw the health of her young daughter Marie Valerie improve within a manner of days, Merano, Italy became renowned as a spa destination. Housed within a restored Art Nouveau villa, Villa Eden – The Private Retreat carries on the South Tyrolean town’s grand health and wellness tradition, albeit for adults only. For weekly programs, the resort employs its own eponymous method. Following a comprehensive check-up and diagnosis, each guest is given a menu of “Mindful Cuisine,” fitness sessions, mental balance practices and treatments through the Longevity Medical Center and Spa. With three doctors on staff, the intervention options span prescribed supplements to aesthetic surgeries. Said to have her own rigorous exercise and beauty regimes, Sissi would have loved this holistic Eden, if only it’d opened in 1882 and not 1982. 

VIEW WINNER

BEST ADVENTURE GETAWAY

Nimmo Bay Resort

British Columbia, Canada

Referred to as the Amazon of the North, Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest spans 15.8 million acres, which is roughly the size of Ireland, along 250 miles of British Columbia’s coastline. The protected area is home to thousand-year-old cedars, cougars, coastal wolves, sea otters, orca, grizzly bears, to name a few, and Nimmo Bay Resort, an all-inclusive, fly-in resort on a picture-postcard parcel of that wilderness. Cabins, ocean-facing or in the forest, shelter guests from the elements, but the idea is to soak up as much of the outside as possible. Bear viewing, whale watching, kayaking, and helicopter tours to remote hiking spots are all on the menu, as is locally caught and foraged fare to replenish energy spent. While the environment is rugged, there’s no roughing it—the only real test of one’s mettle is enduring a cold, Pacific Ocean plunge to gain deeper appreciation for the warmth of the sauna that floats offshore.

VIEW WINNER

BEST FAMILY HOTEL

Hotel Xcaret Mexico

Riviera Maya, Mexico

When plotting out a treasure map for kids, X marks the spot. When planning a vacation for them, X also marks the spot. In Playa del Carmen, only a 45-minute drive from Cancun International Airport, oceanfront Hotel Xcaret Mexico takes an “All-Fun Inclusive” approach, which means airport transfers, food and beverages and unlimited access to all Grupo Xcaret parks—those being, Xcaret, Xel-Há, Xplor, Xplor Fuego, Xoximilco, Xenses, Xavage and Xenotes—are included. Oh, and a Xcaret Xailing ferry ride to Isla Mujeres and another that goes to Cozumel. When the young ones need a break from their guardians, the Xiquillos Kids Club entertains ages 4 to 12 until as late as 10 p.m., immersing them in Mexican culture through art, dancing and cooking. It all adds up to a bounty of treasured moments. 

VIEW WINNER

BEST FAR-FLUNG ESCAPE

COMO Uma Paro and COMO Uma Punakha

Bhutan

On the eastern edge of the Himalayas, where ancient monasteries still cling to mountainsides, Bhutan is a land that leans into natural rhythms. The carbon-negative country is, amazingly, 70 percent forest, and tucked into this preserved landscape are two in-tune properties. Arrived at just 10 minutes after touching down on the international airport tarmac, COMO Uma Paro with its 29 rooms atop a pine-tree hill, begins the immersion into this other world through authentic experiences—say, a lesson in archery, the national sport, or a day walk to the most iconic rock-perched monastery, Taktsang or Tiger’s Nest. Following a few nights there, COMO Uma Punakha, five hours’ drive north, takes it further. The 10-room hideaway overlooks the Mo Chhu, and one can raft those surging waters below, or hike up the valley to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten temple. It’s all restorative, but when the body needs more particular care, the COMO Shambhala Retreat at each delivers a hot stone bath and massage that’s uniquely Bhutanese.

VIEW WINNERS