Alessandra Manzanares

🏡 The Muraka at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island is the first underwater villa, 5m below sea level, featuring glass walls and ceilings, for a starting price of €40,000 per night. Treehotel in northern Sweden offers unique treetop cabins, including the "UFO" and "Mirrorcube", starting at €523 per night, with 4-star hotel amenities and green energy. Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort in Finnish Lapland has glass igloos for viewing the Northern Lights, ideal from December to March. Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, Kenya, allows guests to dine with giraffes peering through windows, popular on Instagram. Skylodge Adventure Suites in Peru offers transparent capsules suspended on a cliff near Cusco, accessible by rock climbing or zip-lining, perfect for a digital detox and star gazing, but not for those with vertigo. These unique accommodations are part of companies' strategies to enhance employee wellbeing and incentive programs.

🏡 Orient Express La Minerva, the first hotel to bring the famous rail brand to a land-based structure, opens today in the heart of Rome at Piazza della Minerva 69, near the Pantheon. This initiative, a result of a shared vision between the French group Accor and Italian Arsenale Group led by Paolo Barletta, was celebrated with notable attendees like Rome’s Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, Orient Express CEO Gilda Perez-Alvarado, Arsenale Group CEO Paolo Barletta, and Nicola Bulgari of Annabel Holding. The hotel features 93 rooms, including 36 suites ranging from 25 to 235 sqm, is designed by architect and artist Hugo Toro, and pays homage to historical figures like Stendhal and Herman Melville. Orient Express La Minerva boasts three F&B outlets, including La Minerva Bar, Gigi Rigolatto opening in May 2025, and Mimi Kakushi expected by the end of 2025, which has already achieved acclaim in Dubai and the World’s 50 Best Bars 2024. The hotel is set to become a prime destination for private and corporate events with five exclusive spaces.