Top Hotel & Resort News From January 2022

We've made it! The first month of the year is drawing to a close, but it's been quite a busy one for the hotel and resort world.

From announcements about new hotels and resorts, like the new JW Marriott hotel coming to Sao Paulo or China's first Hello Kitty-themed hotel courtesy of Hyatt to resort reopenings after multi-million dollar renovations, like the Sandals Royal Bahamian, there's been a lot to celebrate. There is also a new report about the current state of the hospitality industry, which offers good insight into how the pandemic continues to affect the hospitality sector and offers predictions for the future.

Read on to check out the hotel and resort news you might have missed this January.

The AMR Collection has announced that it will debut its first property in Colombia this April 1. The Dreams Karibana Cartagena Beach & Golf Resort will offer 286 rooms and will also be the first AMR Collection resort in South America.

The historic Boca Raton hotel reopened early in January after undergoing a $200-million renovation to the property, which features five hotels, including the adults-only Yacht Club and the original hotel, the Cloister, which first opened in 1926. The property now boasts the Harborside Pool Club, complete with a lazy river, as well as other improvements.

MGM Resorts has changed its MGM Rewards program to offer guests who don't play in the resorts' casinos ways to earn rewards points, too. Guests who book resort stays at an MGM resort can now earn points to redeem, which can be used on everything from dining to entertainment to other hotel stays.

The first JW Marriott-brand hotel in Sao Paulo, Brazil will open in the spring of this year. The JW Marriott Hotel Sao Paulo will be located in one of the city's biggest business districts and will offer a modern, calming oasis for business and leisure travelers alike.

Earlier in January, Marriott unveiled a new partnership with Allianz Partners that provides travelers who book directly with Marriott the ability to bundle their hotel or resort stays with one of several travel insurance plans. Coverage ranges from roadside assistance to reimbursements for medical emergencies and more.

Hyatt announced plans to build the first Hello Kitty-themed hotel in China, expected to open in 2025. The JdV by Hyatt hotel will be located in Sanya in Hainan Province, China near the future site of the Sanya Hello Kitty Resort, a theme park.

Accor announced it would be welcoming over 300 new hotels and resorts this year alone, including the stunning sister properties of Raffles Doha and Fairmont Doha, seen in the rendering above. Other destinations for its new properties include AlUla, Tbilisi, Paris and Seoul.

The all-inclusive TRS brand will debut in the Mediterranean this summer with the opening of Palladium's TRS Ibiza Hotel. Located on the fun-loving Spanish Balearic island of Ibiza, it'll offer 378 modern rooms with luxurious amenities.

Travelers wanting a more authentic experience and perhaps a night under the Andean stars can look no further than this new boutique, locally owned hotel. StarDome Peru might offer less than ten rooms right now, but it also provides a greater connection to Quechua culture and close access to some of the region's best Incan ruins, including Machu Picchu.

Hyatt announced more plans later in January to introduce its Destination by Hyatt brand to the Asia Pacific with the opening of the independently owned Grand Resort Qingchengshan, opening later this year in China, followed a beachfront property in 2026, also in China.

Singer Pharrell Williams and David Grutman of Groot Hospitality announced they will open a new resort at Atlantis Paradise Island in 2024, called Somewhere Else. The resort will offer 400 guestrooms and suites and is the seventh property on the Bahamian resort island.

Later in January, Accor also announced it would open the first MGallery Hotel & Residences in Mexico in 2024. Designed to be an eco-friendly oasis along the Mexican Caribbean, the Mayaliah Tulum Hotel & Residences - MGallery Hotel Collection might just become the coolest new resort in the region.

Five of Outrigger Resorts' Hawaiian properties were recognized by the Hawaiian government's Green Business Program for their exceptional environmental standards and sustainable business practices this January. The resorts recognized include the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, Outrigger Reef Waikiki Beach Resort, Waikiki Beachcomber by Outrigger, Waikiki Malia by Outrigger and the OHANA Waikiki East by Outrigger.

Hilton announced it had over 2,600 hotels and resorts in development this year and recognized other big milestones it had completed in the past year, including new hotels and resorts in new destinations. The developments and milestones show an optimism for the future of the corporation.

A new report by the American Hotel & Lodging Association was released this January. It predicts an unstable yet eventual path towards a recovery from the pandemic this year, though it does admit a full recovery is expected to be reached as late as 2025.

Hyatt has 45 properties slated to open through 2023 in the Americas, including AMR Collection's Dreams Karibana Cartagena Beach & Golf Resort. Other properties will open in destinations like Montreal, Punta Cana, Denver and more.

Six Senses announced that it will debut new four resorts across the world this year alone. Destinations for the new resorts, which focus on sustainability and wellness, are Rome, Switzerland, the Maldives and in Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea.

Choice Hotels International's upscale Cambria Hotels brand welcomed eight new domestic hotels in 2021, and it's continuing its growth this year with six new properties. Destinations include Austin, Texas; Niagara Falls, New York; Orlando, Florida and more.

A new report by the state of Hawaii found that December 2021's hotel stats are higher than they were prior to the pandemic in 2019, citing a strong increase in travelers to the state despite the uncertainty surrounding the novel Omicron variant.

The Sandals Royal Bahamian has just celebrated a widely anticipated reopening after undergoing a $55-million renovation, welcoming both guests and officials to the resort for its reopening ceremony. It's the first big milestone for Sandals this year as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.