One 12 months in the past we had been engaged on Condé Nast Traveler‘s annual Hot List problem as we anxiously watched this new sickness advance the world over like a storm entrance. A few weeks earlier than we needed to ship the journal off to the printers, our groups in New York and London had been despatched dwelling. There was one thing awkward, we acknowledged, about publishing an inventory of one of the best new addresses in a second when everybody was immediately sequestered of their houses; as we wrote on the time, “We all know that proper now you are in all probability questioning when you can take your subsequent journey. Once you do, although, we encourage you to make use of these distinctive openings and launches as your information. It is going to be definitely worth the wait.”
Properly, one lengthy unusual 12 months later we’re nonetheless at dwelling, although many people have traveled at the very least a bit of bit. However as we bow a brand new version of the Scorching Checklist—our twenty fifth!—I’m completely satisfied to say that the wait is reaching an finish. And this 12 months’s incarnation of the listing is a testomony to the resilience and innovation of the journey trade as a complete, which has soldiered by means of adversity to open resorts and debut merchandise, typically rejiggering them on the fly to maintain individuals protected and comfy. I say “the journey trade as a complete” as a result of whereas hotels at all times have been and at all times would be the soul of this listing, this 12 months we have opted additionally to incorporate the brand new and notable from eating places, transportation suppliers, and locations, a nod to the truth that every little thing is linked in journey, simply as it’s on the planet at giant. As well as, we have rounded up among the soon-to-be-launched tasks we’re most jazzed about within the the rest of 2021. And as for the brand new properties right here, you may discover a standard theme: in a method or one other they’re all about attempting one thing new, flipping the script, discovering the great within the unhealthy. It is what we have all needed to do, however few have done it better than hotels.
Identical to final 12 months, spring has arrived in a glory of cherry and magnolia blossoms as we put the Scorching Checklist problem to mattress. In 2020, although, spring felt like a merciless tease. In 2021, it feels prefer it comes with infinite prospects.
This text appeared within the Might/June 2021 problem of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.
