Famous Luxury Hotels: Which Ones You Can Book in 2026
We checked 19 famous luxury hotels in September 2026. Two are closed. Verified room counts, opening dates and the errors other lists keep repeating.
Sammie O
These 19 hotels turn up on almost every luxury hotel roundup. We checked each one against the hotel’s own material and public records in September 2026. Two of them are closed. Several are described wrongly nearly everywhere else, so the corrections are listed at the end.
Two of these hotels are closed right now
Jumeirah Burj Al Arab, Dubai
Closed since April 2026 for a phased restoration expected to run about 18 months. Jumeirah has not confirmed a reopening date. Reporting points to late 2027.
It opened on 1 December 1999 with 198 suites. Tom Wright of Atkins designed it and it stands 321 m tall. It is the tallest all-suite hotel in the world. It is not the tallest hotel. Ciel Dubai Marina took that title at 377 m when it opened in November 2025.
Amangani, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Closed since 7 April 2025 for refurbishment. Aman targeted summer 2026. That date has passed and Aman now says only that it will reopen soon.
It opened in 1998 as Aman’s first property in the United States. Ed Tuttle designed it. It is built into East Gros Ventre Butte with a heated outdoor pool facing the Tetons.
Modern luxury hotels you can book
Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora
107 keys, made up of 100 overwater bungalow suites and 7 beachfront villa estates. It opened in September 2008 on Motu Tehotu, with views across the lagoon to Mount Otemanu. Didier Lefort and Pierre-Jean Picart designed it. A Gaw Capital fund has owned it since 2017 and Four Seasons manages it.
Ritz Paris
142 rooms and suites at 15 place Vendome. It opened on 1 June 1898, founded by Cesar Ritz with Auguste Escoffier. It closed in August 2012 and reopened on 6 June 2016 after a renovation costing about 140 million euros. The room count dropped from 159 to 142 in that work. A fire on 19 January 2016 pushed the reopening from March to June.
Aman Tokyo
84 suites on levels 33 to 38 of Otemachi Tower. It opened on 22 December 2014, designed by Kerry Hill Architects. The lobby atrium is a washi and timber structure about 30 m high, modelled on a paper lantern. The indoor pool runs 30 m.
One&Only Palmilla, Los Cabos
174 rooms and suites plus two four-bedroom villas. The original Hotel Palmilla opened in 1956 with 15 rooms. It became One&Only Palmilla in 2004 after a refurbishment Kerzner puts at 90 million dollars. The golf club next door is a 27-hole Jack Nicklaus course. The spa runs 13 treatment villas across 22,000 sq ft.
Giraffe Manor, Nairobi
12 rooms sleeping 29, split between the Historic Manor and the Garden Manor. The house was built in 1932 for Sir David Duncan and modelled on a Scottish hunting lodge. Rates start at 1,168 dollars per adult per night and cover meals, most drinks, laundry, Giraffe Centre entry and Nairobi transfers. The six Historic Manor rooms only take guests who also book another Safari Collection property. The resident herd is Nubian giraffe, reclassified from Rothschild’s. The house closes each year from mid-April to mid-May.
Faena Hotel Miami Beach
179 rooms and suites at 3201 Collins Avenue. It opened in late 2015 inside the 1948 Saxony Hotel building by Roy F. France. Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin directed the design. Damien Hirst’s gilded mammoth skeleton, Gone but Not Forgotten, stands on the property in a gold-framed case. It raised 11 million euros at an amfAR auction before it was installed in December 2015. Faena Group and Accor have jointly managed the brand since January 2021.
Soneva Fushi, Maldives
71 villas, 63 on the island and 8 over water, ranging from one to nine bedrooms. It opened in 1995 with 48 villas on Kunfunadhoo Island in Baa Atoll, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. The eight Water Retreats opened on 25 September 2020. The one-bedroom runs 6,286 sq ft and the two-bedroom 9,224 sq ft. The resort added the first observatory in the Maldives in 2008 and the first hot glass studio in 2014.
Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok
331 rooms including 60 suites, on the Chao Phraya River at 48 Oriental Avenue. It opened in 1876 and traded as The Oriental until it was formally renamed in September 2008. The Garden Wing dates from 1958. The River Wing was renovated in 2019 at a cost of 90 million dollars. The hotel marks its 150th anniversary in 2026.
Historic hotels you can book
Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island
388 rooms, each decorated individually. It opened on 10 July 1887 and was built in 93 days. The front porch runs 660 ft, which the hotel advertises as the longest in the world. It became a National Historic Landmark on 29 June 1989. KSL Capital Partners bought it in September 2019, ending nearly 90 years of Musser family ownership. 2026 is its 140th season.
Compare stays on Mackinac Island
The Roosevelt New Orleans
504 rooms including 125 suites. It opened in December 1893 as the Hotel Grunewald and was renamed The Roosevelt on 31 October 1923, for Theodore Roosevelt rather than Franklin. It closed after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and reopened on 1 July 2009 as a Waldorf Astoria. The Sazerac Bar runs the Stormin’ of the Sazerac every 26 September, marking the day in 1949 when women forced their way into what was then a men-only bar.
The Beverly Hills Hotel
210 rooms and suites plus 23 bungalows at 9641 Sunset Boulevard. It opened on 12 May 1912 to a Mediterranean Revival design by Elmer Grey. Paul R. Williams did the 1940s work. The Polo Lounge opened in 1941 and the banana leaf wallpaper went up in 1949. Beverly Hills named it the city’s first historic landmark in September 2012. The Brunei Investment Agency owns it and Dorchester Collection manages it. A boycott over Brunei’s penal code has run since 2014.
Compare stays in Beverly Hills
The Ritz London
111 rooms and 23 suites at 150 Piccadilly. It opened in May 1906 to a design by Charles Mewes and Arthur Davis. It was one of the earliest steel-framed buildings in London, clad in Norwegian granite and Portland stone. Historic England lists it Grade II star, first listed on 10 March 1965. The restaurant holds two Michelin stars. The Barclay family sold it in March 2020 to Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri for 800 million pounds. A renovation begun in 2022 runs to 2028 and moved the restaurant to a temporary atrium space in May 2026.
The Plaza, New York
282 rooms including 102 suites, plus 181 private condominiums in the same building. It opened on 1 October 1907 to Henry Janeway Hardenbergh’s design. It became a National Historic Landmark on 24 June 1986. Katara Hospitality bought it in 2018 for about 600 million dollars. Fairmont manages it.
Fairmont San Francisco
606 rooms and suites at 950 Mason Street on Nob Hill. It opened on 18 April 1907, one year to the day after the earthquake. The Reid Brothers and Ira Wilson Hoover designed it. Julia Morgan led the reconstruction after fire gutted the interior, which is not the same as designing the building. Delegates drafted sections of the UN Charter in the Garden Room in 1945. The Tonga Room opened the same year. Mirae Asset Global Investments has owned it since November 2015.
Compare stays in San Francisco
The Peabody Memphis
463 rooms and suites at 149 Union Avenue. The hotel was founded in 1869 at Main and Monroe. That building was demolished. The current building opened on 1 September 1925 at Union and Second, designed by Walter W. Ahlschlager. The duck march runs daily at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. It began in the 1930s as a prank by the general manager. Edward Pembroke served as the first Duckmaster for more than 50 years. The hotel closed in 1975 and reopened in 1981 after restoration.
Wentworth Mansion, Charleston
21 rooms and suites at 149 Wentworth Street. Francis Silas Rodgers built it in 1886 as a private house, in Second Empire style by architect Daniel G. Waynes. The Scottish Rite Cathedral Association bought it in 1920 for 100,000 dollars. It became a hotel in 1997 after a restoration of about 7 million dollars. It holds original Tiffany stained glass and a rooftop cupola open to guests. It is the only property here that was never purpose-built as a hotel.
The Ahwahnee, Yosemite
97 rooms, parlors and suites plus 24 cottages. It was built between 1926 and 1927 and opened in July 1927. Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed it and the concrete was cast and stained to look like redwood. It became a National Historic Landmark on 28 May 1987. It carried the name Majestic Yosemite Hotel from 1 March 2016 until 15 July 2019, during a trademark dispute with Delaware North that settled for 12 million dollars. Anything still calling it the Majestic is seven years out of date. A 34.2 million dollar rehabilitation ran from January 2023 to spring 2025.
What we could not verify
Nightly rates. Eight of these hotels publish no rack rate on their own site. The from prices on booking aggregators are undated, change through the day and carry no season, so we did not copy them onto this page. Giraffe Manor is the exception because The Safari Collection publishes a floor of 1,168 dollars per adult per night, all inclusive. For everything else, check the hotel’s own booking engine or run a live search for your dates.
Room counts carry small conflicts. Historic Hotels of America lists Fairmont San Francisco at 606 and other sources say 591. Faena Miami Beach appears as both 179 and 169. The Ritz London and The Ahwahnee publish no total on their own sites, so those two figures come from secondary sources. We used the most authoritative number available in each case.
Corrections to claims you will see elsewhere
| Hotel | Common claim | What is correct |
|---|---|---|
| Burj Al Arab | Open and bookable, the world’s tallest hotel | Closed since April 2026. Fifth tallest at 321 m. It is the tallest all-suite hotel |
| Amangani | Reopening summer 2026 | Closed since 7 April 2025 with no reopening date from Aman |
| Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok | 393 rooms and 35 suites | 331 rooms including 60 suites, per the hotel’s own fact sheet |
| Giraffe Manor | Rothschild’s giraffe | Nubian giraffe. The population was reclassified |
| Ritz Paris | 159 rooms, owned by Mohamed Al-Fayed | 142 rooms since 2016. Al-Fayed died in September 2023 |
| The Ahwahnee | Now called The Majestic Yosemite Hotel | The name reverted on 15 July 2019 |
| The Peabody Memphis | The building opened in 1869 | Founded 1869. The present building opened in 1925 |
| Grand Hotel Mackinac | Still owned by the Musser family, 600 ft porch | KSL Capital Partners since September 2019. The porch is 660 ft |
| The Ritz London | Owned by the Barclay brothers, Grade II listed | Sold in March 2020 to Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri. Grade II star |
| The Plaza | Owned by Sahara India or by Fairmont | Katara Hospitality owns it. Fairmont manages it |
| Fairmont San Francisco | Designed by Julia Morgan | The Reid Brothers and Ira Wilson Hoover designed it. Morgan led the restoration |
| The Roosevelt New Orleans | Named for Franklin D. Roosevelt | Named in 1923 for Theodore Roosevelt. It opened as the Hotel Grunewald in 1893 |
| The Beverly Hills Hotel | Owned by Dorchester Collection | Owned by the Brunei Investment Agency. Dorchester manages it |
How we checked
We checked every figure on this page in September 2026. Where a hotel publishes its own fact sheet, room count or press release, we used that and ignored the secondary sources that disagree. Where only secondary sources exist, we said so above. We did not publish a rate we could not attribute to a dated source. Two hotels here are closed and we have said so rather than leaving them in a list of places you can book.
Sources
- Jumeirah, Burj Al Arab restoration programme
- Aman, Amangani closure notice
- Aman Tokyo accommodation
- The Safari Collection, Giraffe Manor
- Mandarin Oriental Bangkok fact sheet
- Grand Hotel Mackinac Island facts
- Historic England listing for The Ritz London
- The Plaza, Fairmont
- Historic Hotels of America, Fairmont San Francisco
- The Peabody Memphis rooms
- Wentworth Mansion
- NPR, Yosemite hotels get their historic names back
Sammie O publishes Germ Trips, a travel guide covering hotels, restaurants, airport transfers and chauffeur services. The guides aim for practical detail and a clear recommendation rather than an undifferentiated list. Where a town has no good option, the guides say so and point to the nearest one that does. Guides are AI drafted. A small number have been checked against official listings, and those say so on the page.
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