Design Hotels, a portfolio of almost 300 boutique properties, has revealed it has grown by 10% in the last year, as it added 29 new properties.
The additions range across the globe, from bustling urban locations to out of the way destinations. All are united by being privately owned, and offering a distinctive form of hospitality that only an owner managed property can deliver.
A brand based in Europe
Around two thirds of the Design Hotels offering is in Europe, where the brand originated. The Design Hotels marketing platform is today owned by Marriott International, which maintains an arms-length connection. This year saw a new managing director, Stijn Oyen, appointed to drive the Design Hotels brand forward.
Hotels that join Design Hotels can also link their property to the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty programme, potentially delivering them more international guests via the rewards scheme. However, this remains an option at the discretion of each Design Hotels owner.
Originally an independent German organisation dedicated to marketing independent boutique hotels, Design Hotels accepted an investment from Starwood Hotels in 2011, selling 72% of the business. That stake migrated to Marriott when it purchased Starwood in 2016. Marriott later acquired further stakes in the business, and in late 2022 launched a successful bid to acquire the remaining 5% it did not own.
New additions to the portfolio across EMEA include the Home Hotel Zurich, a 132 room hotel created from a former paper mill that opened in August. And in Martigny, the upcoming Hotel Borsari in the town of Martigny will offer 51 rooms in a destination surrounded by gorges, thermal springs and mountain hiking trails. The additions take the Design Hotels offering in Switzerland to 15 distinctive properties.
And in Georgia, the Rooms Batumi Hotel on the Black Sea is the fifth hotel in the country to join the collection. The 120 room hotel has a strong 1970s design feel, and features a rooftop pool and cocktail bar.
Growing presence in the US and Mexico
In the US, new additions include another Firmdale Hotel, the Warren Street Hotel in New York’s Tribeca district. The 69 room hotel opened in early 2024, and is the eleventh property for the brand led by husband and wife team Tim and Kit Kemp. And boutique brand ASH has also signed its Ulysees hotel in Baltimore, and The Dean in Providence to the collection.
There have also been signings in Mexico, where the combination of opened and pipeline hotels has grown to 26 hotels. Among those is the Tinte Hotel, which is planned for a 2026 opening in a UNESCO world heritage site, south of the Yucatan peninsula. In Merida, the Hotel Sevilla is being created from a restored colonial villa, dating from the 16th century. And delivering another experience that simply cannot be found elsewhere will be the Hotel Humano, a boutique hotel built into the rocks at the end of the beach in Puerto Escondido. Both these latter properties will open during 2025.
