By Nikki Ekstein, Bloomberg
For someone whose job is seeking out the new and notable in travel, 2025 was a year when the old guard came out on top.
Why? Hotel prices remained sky-high, leading us to look for places delivering maximum value. Established hotels often have deeper ties to their destinations, making them more solid conduits for local experiences — so long as they aren’t resting on their laurels. They’ve also had time to figure out how guests move through their space, what they want from their experience and how best to deliver. Fresh debuts, on the other hand, may offer buzz, but they take time to find their sea legs. When an older property emerges from a major renovation, you get the best of both worlds: design that feels fresh paired with time-honored services and a seasoned staff.
With that in mind, here are the top five hotels I visited in 2025, in descending order; in four of them, longevity is central to their success. Consider this your motivation to revisit an old favorite in 2026 — or to base at least one trip on a friend’s tried-and-true.
5. Eden Roc Cap Cana, Dominican Republic
This hotel has been around for more than a decade and on my hotel bucket list for almost as long — in no small part because it has a stellar reputation among families with young kids. The resort delivered. When I checked in with my children, then 6 and 2 years old, our spacious pool villa was stocked with luxuries such as a play tent, swim diapers, sunscreen, a diaper pail and training potty. (I’d never seen the latter in a hotel room before!) On the dining table, along with the requisite fruit platter, were sets of silicone toddler utensils.
Near the main resort pool, an ice cream and smoothie truck was stationed next to a lending library of beach toys, both equipped with step stools that enable little children to feel independent. Some of our best memories of the summer came courtesy of the concierge team, who set us up with horseback riding at a stunning stable five minutes away and ensured that even our toddler could saddle up with the rest of us.
Not that the hotel isn’t showing its age. Notably, a noisy woodpecker had set up a nest in our villa’s roof tiles, and the food at the two restaurants was a bit uninspired though perfectly fine. For the latter, we found an easy fix: driving our golf cart to the new St. Regis resort next door, where all the restaurants are open to the public and showcase Dominican produce and flavors.
4. Grace Bay Club, Turks and Caicos
(Courtesy of Grace Bay Resorts)
I wasn’t expecting to love Grace Bay Club — a legendary resort on one of the world’s best beaches — as much as I did. In fact, the idea to go there really wasn’t mine: I was on a reporting assignment and had no say about the hotel. But fresh off a renovation, the property has shed its tired decor and replaced it with chic nautical tones and a relaxed, barefoot-luxe vibe.
The suites are highly residential, with full kitchens and space to entertain, plus sweeping balconies that survey the pool and beach. Just as much attention has been lavished on the dining spaces below, including Infiniti, a sushi bar and modern seafood restaurant, and Off Shore, a tacos and cocktails spot with tables set right in the sand. All this made it feel like a brand-new hotel.
Yet the secret sauce was in the service. Every morning, hosts and servers at the lavish breakfast buffet greeted us by name. They remembered the outings we’d planned the day before and asked us how they went. Later, at lunch, they remembered the kids’ drink orders and shared stories about their own broods. That kind of detailed familiarity is the hallmark of a staff that feels at home where they are, deeply proud of their work and invested in their guests.
3. Sea Island Resort, Georgia
Moss-draped Southern hospitality on a beach only a three-hour flight from New York? It’s a wonder more people don’t know about Sea Island, a sprawling 97-year-old resort on a tiny barrier island in Georgia. But those who know, know — and many make a visit an annual tradition. I can see why.
Our Cloister room felt like the stately guest quarters at a grand American castle; but rather than wearing ball gowns, most guests were in golf and tennis whites or in Lilly Pulitzer coverups as they headed for the pool. My favorite spot? The spa, set in a stunning Spanish Colonial building with a dramatic fountain at the arrival and the largest solarium I think I’ve ever seen, plus a thermal pool circuit under dark beamed ceilings with huge windows flanking a lush garden. It took all my discipline to leave that perfect perch.
Over the years, Sea Island has found ways to sprawl across its little slice of Lowcountry paradise, adding features that include a complex of cottages and a beach club, a falconry center and shooting school. The pool complex has its own playground on the beach, a giant water slide and chalkboard signs listing real-time water temperatures in all four swimming areas. And should you get stuck with a rainy day, there’s an arcade where all the machines are free — plus a very fancy bowling alley on site that looks more like a cigar lounge, with a menu that includes loaded nachos and skillet brownies heaped with ice cream.
With time, one generation of staffers has given way to another. The guest services employee who was most helpful during my stay proudly told me her mom had worked the same job decades earlier before rising through management ranks; a boat captain who took us out looking for bald eagles and dolphins shared a similar story. Both volunteered there was nowhere else they’d want to work. I could see why.
2. Hotel del Coronado, San Diego
In April I wrote that 100-year-old resorts in the US were finding a second wind, uncovering in the process a slice of history revealing America as the birthplace of leisure resorts. Even as a hotel expert, I’d always thought such leisurely complexes were a European invention. With its red-turreted Victorian building dating to 1888, Hotel del Coronado plays a central role in the story, being both one of the longest-surviving resorts in the country and also one of the most lavishly renovated. (This year, the hotel wrapped a $500 million-plus glow up and expansion.)
Rooms at the Del, as locals call it, range in style, from compact digs with maximalist styling in the historic main building to sprawling multiroom apartments in the Shore House. All are unified by a boardwalk that’s open to the public and lined with bike rentals, a taco shack, platforms for live music and a full-time professional sandcastle builder. Stroll the resort grounds and you’ll find a candy shop next to a retro-looking confectionery that sells paletas, or gussied-up ice pops, plus a few cute nods to “Some Like it Hot,” the iconic 1959 film that was partially shot here. A grab-and-go bakery and lunch spot has a big, refrigerated section that’s actually a tiny outpost of upscale chain Erewhon.
What really gives the property energy is the way that it’s become a fixture for the local community, with families walking dogs, roller-skating down the boardwalk, commissioning sandcastles to mark anniversaries, or settling onto the hotel’s grand lawns for sundowners with a soccer ball.
1. The Chancery Rosewood, London
Embed from Getty Images
My favorite hotel of the year ran away with the title — no small feat, given that I stayed there just three weeks after it opened. While the hotel is brand-new, unlike the others on this list, history is one of the things that makes the Chancery shine: The hotel, perched on the edge of a leafy square in Mayfair, occupies the former US Embassy in London, a stunning 1960s building designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen. You wonder a lot about what those walls would say if they could talk.
As at Sea Island, a key draw is the generosity of space and the amenities that come with it. But unlike Sea Island, the Chancery sits in the heart of one of the world’s largest and most dynamic cities. This is a true urban resort, with a sprawling spa and half a dozen restaurants, including an outpost of the highly acclaimed Italian-American restaurant Carbone that reportedly has thousands of people on its daily waitlist.
All the rooms are suites, all with deep soaking tubs and some with dining tables that seat eight And while flimsy hotel slippers have become the norm even at the highest-end properties, here every last detail feels considered and plush, from the bedside footwear to the complimentary amenity kits in the bathrooms: recycled leather bags crammed with full-size tubes of custom-scented lotion and other niceties. I was obsessed with the lint roller in the closet, finding its leather sheathing very aesthetically pleasing. (What kind of hotel spends so lavishly on details like that?)
The service, too, was nearly flawless. To execute at this level while the paint is still drying is a triumph. I look forward to revisiting the Chancery when it’s even better worn in — and seeing the ways it’s sure to get better with time.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Leave a Reply