We’re starting fresh, with intel and developments that will make this another exciting and busy year in travel. Buckle up for what’s coming:
- No more visa-free travel to Europe and the UK (sorry, Yanks)
- Hotels are leaving the building (they’re everywhere else)
- Heading for cooler climes (sorry, Med)
- Reaching for the stars (no, the real ones)
- Nature is, as ever, the answer
Got Your Europe and UK Visa Yet?
Bad news, Americans: The days of rolling into Rome, Paris, and London without filing out some paperwork beforehand are running out. In 2025, Europe and Great Britain are launching travel authorization programs to register short-term visitors.
Let’s start with the Brits. Starting January 8, non-UK residents entering England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland need to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for visits of up to six months. Applying is easy, through the ETA app or online, and approval should be granted within three working days. The ETA will be valid for two years, can be used for multiple entries, and costs £10 (roughly $12).
On to Europe.
Sometime mid-year (exact date TBD), Europe will roll out the Entry/Exit System (EES) to register (and track) non-nationals entering European countries for visits of up to 90 days within any 180-day period. Six months after EES launches, those non-nationals will need to apply for European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) travel authorization to enter 30 countries in Europe. Here too, applying through the ETIAS website or mobile app is easy, and approval should take a few minutes. The ETIAS costs 7€ (just over $7) and will be valid for three years or until your passport expires.
Chin up, Yank: Our British and European friends have been buying ESTAs, the equivalent authorization for travel to the United States, since forever. Fair is fair.
Hotels Have Left the Building
“Experience” is the biggest overused buzzword in hospitality, and the hotel industry is taking this to heart by taking guest experiences beyond traditional hotel walls — to the rails, the seas, the home, and the club. This is a longer-term trend you’ll start seeing soon.
On the Rails
At his media briefing at ILTM, the International Luxury Travel Market conference, in December, Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin said it was time to “stop asking clients to go to the product” and instead to “bring the product to the people.” To that end, this spring the hotel conglomerate’s Orient Express brand will launch La Dolce Vita in Italy, a train line offering one- and two-night journeys roundtrip from Rome to Venice, Portofino, Matera, Tuscany, and Sicily. With so little time in each stop, these trips seem to be more about the journey than the destinations. We’ve toured the trains — modern and handsome, with a strong mid-century vibe, they’re boutique hotels on wheels.
In other Orient Express news, Belmond — in addition to their estimable hotel collection — operates the classic Venice Simplon-Orient-Express train. (This line is not related to Accor’s Orient Express, and, no, we’re not trying to confuse you. Two totally different companies.) March will see the debut of L’Observatoire Suite, an insanely opulent (and opulently priced) private train carriage designed by French artist JR. It sleeps two and will run on the Paris-Istanbul route. In July, Belmond will debut Britannic Explorer, the first luxury sleeper train to tour England and Wales, on three- or six-day journeys from London’s Victoria Station into Cornwall, the Lake District, and Wales. The travel will be slow and relaxed. The scenery through countrysides and national parks and coastlines will be beautiful. The excursions will include hikes, picnics, swims, and cute villages. And the F&B options will be excellent because the culinary program is overseen by three-Michelin-starred chef Simon Rogan, and we can personally vouch that this man can work wonders in a tiny, moving kitchen.
Also this spring, Accor’s Orient Express will open La Minerva in Rome, the brand’s first (actual, traditional, physical) hotel. Their second will be Palazzo Dona Giovannelli in Venice, though probably not this year.
So, in other words, hotel companies are making trains and train companies are making hotels.
On the Seas
Things may be clearer on the high seas, though it will take longer to get there, with luxury hotel companies launching yachts. (And whatever you do, please don’t refer to these elegant sails as mere cruises.) Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection added Ilma, its second ship, in late 2024 and will add Luminara in 2025. Destinations include Asia, the Caribbean, the Med, and Northern Europe and the Baltics. Four Seasons will launch its yacht, with suites designed by Prosper Assouline, in the Caribbean in January 2026. Accor’s Orient Express is here, too: Orient Express Silenseas will sail in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean in 2026. Aman Hotels has been sailing Amandira, a five-cabin Phinisi sailboat for a few years, but we’ll have to wait until 2027 for the 50-cabin motor yacht from Aman at Sea. Here’s another insider industry tidbit: It seems clear that emerging luxury cruise company Explora Journeys is hoping to tap the luxury hotel magic. They recently hired former Aman Hotels Chief Commercial Officer Anna Nash as their new President.
In the House
Hotel residences are another thing you’ll be seeing more of, as hotel companies start investing in longer-term stays. The pitch is clear: Guests get all the services of a luxury hotel combined with the permanence of a private home. Four Seasons launched their private residences in 1985 and now has 55 properties in 21 countries. Mandarin Oriental, another big player in the space, already has a dozen Residences by Mandarin Oriental in Bodrum, Beverly Hills, London, and New York. Madrid and Vienna will open in 2025, while Vietnam, Miami, Maldives, Athens, and Dubai are up thereafter. Aman, which has residences at 13 hotels, will open more private homes on the Sea of Cortez in Mexico this year and Miami in 2026.
Second-homers with an affinity for sustainability and wellness will be interested in the Six Senses Private Residences in Fiji, Turkey, and the Alps. Coming this year are London, Dubai, and the Red Sea; coming later are Austria, Belize, Fiji, Thailand, Loire Valley, Napa, the Bahamas, Telluride, and — wait for it — western Pennsylvania (a destination we didn’t expect).
Casa J.K. Place Roma will launch this summer with 15 one- and two-bedroom apartments by JK Place hotel designer Michele Bonan. Maybourne, of Claridge’s and Connaught fame, will launch their first home project in Paris with 23 branded residences in the discreetly glamorous 7th arrondissement in 2027 or 2028. (Hey, you can’t rush these things.)
In da Club
Finally, the hotel members club trend (see: Casa Cipriani in New York and Milan, Fasano Fifth Avenue, and wellness club Surenne at the Emory in London) isn’t letting up. Here too, the appeal is clear: An audience of permanent locals can be a steadier revenue stream than transient, short-term travelers. The Natirar Club at the new Pendry Hotel in bucolic New Jersey debuted this fall, and Beach Club at The Boca Raton opened yesterday. London import The Twenty Two will have a members club at its Manhattan outpost, with options to join both locations. Six Senses will launch Six Senses Place, its social and wellness club concept at its new hotels in London and Bangkok. And looking ahead to 2027 when humanitarian chef José Andrés launches his first hotel, The Bazaar House, in Georgetown, not only will it have outstanding room service (obviously) but also a members club.
Destinations Are Trending
Nature Is the Prescription
When a new year rolls around, everybody resolves to take care of their health. Better than any elixir or pill is spending time exploring the parks, trails, and monuments in our enormous National Parks Service system, which experienced record-breaking numbers in 2024. (Shout out to Jimmy Carter, a lifelong conservationist who worked to preserve some 100 million acres of land, create many parks, and protect endangered species.) This will be a great summer to cruise, yacht, sail, and hike the iconic wilderness of Alaska’s Glacier Bay, which celebrates its 100th year with the NPS. Maybe you’re considering Oregon’s Crater Lake over the Grand Canyon, which saw a big uptick in Google searches last year. A concerted effort from conservation groups and Native American tribes to permanently protect lands has brought a few monuments into the spotlight, like the incredibly peaceful Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante in southern Utah and the newly designated Avi Kwa Ame National Monument (Spirit Mountain) in Nevada. These places are central to the creation stories of tribes with ties to the area. Indigenous tour guides can show you around.
Dodging Heatwaves
Record high temps in popular summer destinations (southern Italy, southern France, Southern Spain, etc.) have motivated travelers to head north to cool off. Scotland, the kind of place where you’re likely to put on a sweater in July, has been hosting more travelers than ever in the last two years. The Flow Country, a Hobbit-like landscape of peat moss and bogs in northern Scotland, recently became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and looks like a wonderful place to get lost without sweating. Likewise, cool Scandinavia is poised to become the favored alternative to summers on the Med, with new hotels launching in Copenhagen, Finnish Lakeland, Finnish Lapland, the Norwegian fjords, and Oslo. Greenland’s new Nuuk International Airport (GOH), launched a little over a month ago, now accommodates larger planes, including United Airlines’s nonstop seasonal flights from Newark starting in June. Imagine: from Newark to Nuuk’s summer solstice party in a little over four hours. Sounds like the making of a new tradition.
Asia in the Sightlines
TV fantasies (even the weird, dark ones) translate into real world dollars. Hopefully, the kinds of travelers staying at all the fancy and new Thailand hotels — Andaz, Aman, The Ritz-Carlton, Six Senses — will control their worst White Lotus impulses and dig deep into the country’s scenic, cultural, and historical offerings. The Indonesian island of Sumba, a few islands over from heavily touristed Bali, is drawing travelers with a sustainable mindset and appetite for adventure. NIHI Sumba’s forthcoming sister property, NIHI Rote, will be a very secluded home base for off-grid nature and surfing adventures.
In a major push to restore post-pandemic tourism, Hong Kong unveils a number of upgrades to many galleries, museums, and popular hotels (Four Seasons, Regent Hong Kong, The Fleming), as well as new high-speed sleeper trains connecting Hong Kong to Beijing and Shanghai. Luxury growth is slowing in many sectors, but not Japan! Demand is high for high-end experiences around old traditions (calligraphy, pottery, sumo, bathing) and five-star hotels in even the most rural places. There’s also been an uptick in solo travel, probably because of the country’s reputation for safety and politeness, and the ease (and civility!) of public transportation.
Starbathing
If 2024 was the year of the pop stars, with travelers crossing the globe for Taylor Swift and Beyonce concerts, 2025 will be the year of the actual stars. It’s time to lie down and go astral, relishing in the mysteries and wonders of the galaxies above. When meteor showers rocket across the sky in early January, the strongest group, the Quadrandids, will shoot 25 to 200 meteors per hour. In mid-January, the planets will be partying, as six of our seven neighbors line up to create an arc visible to the naked eye just after the sun sets. March brings a total lunar eclipse that can be seen in Western Europe, parts of Asia and Australia, West Africa, and Antarctica. 2025 is a solar maximum, when the sun reaches the peak of its 11-year cycle, releasing tons of energy and light, and creating extraordinary opportunities to see the northern lights. Translation: This is a peak year to see the aurora borealis. Vacations by Rail offers celestial train rides with clear viewing domes across Norway, Sweden, and Alaska. Adventure company Eleven is launching Coming into the Light at Deplar Farm on Iceland’s Troll Peninsula, a five-day wellness retreat of bathing in northern lights displays and light-pollution-free skies — a remote, off-the-grid winter paradise.
Let’s not forget our galactic BFF, the moon. Paradero Todos Santos recently debuted Power of the Moon, an overnight trip on a 46-foot catamaran during the full moon, where an astrologist will do in-depth astral readings and meditation workshops. After the sail, guests return to the hotel for full-moon celebrations: Aztec healing rituals, temescal ceremonies, and soundbaths.
Dark Sky International certified 25 new designations last year, many in New Zealand and Australia and many more across the United States. Especially exciting are the new policy templates called DarkSky Codes and Statutes, developed in collaboration with ecologists, astronomers, landscape designers, and allies of the dark skies to be easily adapted and implemented by cities looking to curb light pollution and up their standards of sustainable tourism.
And while we applaud these starry adventures, we are not going to encourage anyone to sign up for Virgin Galactic, Space Adventures, SpaceX, Blue Origin, or any other space (or deep sea, for that matter) adventure. (Nope, not even NASA’s astrotourism.) Earthlings, STAY HOME. Admire the skies from terra firma, not the heavens. We want less glitz, more ethics-based decision frameworks. Until then, let’s leave the top of the atmosphere and the bottom of the sea to the scientists.