Ever dreamed of sleeping on sacred Aussie soil? Well, this might just bowl you over. To celebrate the first Test of the Ashes, cricket legend Mike Hussey (better known as Mr Cricket) is opening the gates of Perth’s iconic WACA Ground for one extremely lucky (and probably cricket-mad) Airbnb stay.
That’s right, instead of watching from the stands, you’ll be camped out on the pitch. Forget the five-star hotel; this is more like five stumps under the stars. Up to four guests get the honour of dozing off, where legends have dived, sledged, and sworn at umpires, and yes, it’s all free. Whaaat?
The experience includes a guided tour of the WACA and its museum, a backyard-style game with Hussey himself (start stretching now), a proper Aussie dinner, and a movie night on the field. Sunrise brings brekkie and another hit-out with Mike, just in case you fancy testing your cover drive before coffee.
To top it off, you’ll also score tickets to Day 2 of the sold-out Perth Ashes Test and your very own personalised pickets around the ground.
The catch? There isn’t one…except that you’ll need lightning-fast fingers when bookings open at midday (AEDT) on Friday 7 November. Travel’s on you, but bragging rights? Priceless.
Paris has always been dramatic, but this autumn, it’s officially gone full sci-fi. Le Meurice, the impossibly elegant Dorchester Collection hotel that’s been seducing artists for centuries, has teamed up with the design wizards at Things From. to create Suite 1835 – an immersive pop-up that’s both luxury stay and sensory hallucination.
Available from the 8th of October to the 31st of December, this suite isn’t just somewhere to dump your bags; it’s an interactive art installation where the furniture glows as you move, the carpet is made of aluminium, and the walls seem to hum with the future. Basically, it’s Versailles meets Blade Runner.
Guests can even wander into a neighbouring meditation room – think mirrored cube, AI-generated visuals that react to your “energy,” and a quadraphonic sound system.
Naturally, this kind of transcendental weirdness doesn’t come cheap – rooms start at AU$6,883 per night – but hey, enlightenment has never been part of the breakfast buffet. The silver lining? Some of the profits go toward scholarships at Ensaama, so at least your trip to another dimension helps fund the next generation of French designers.
If you’ve ever wanted to experience Paris through light, sound, and slightly trippy introspection, Le Meurice’s Suite 1835 is your one-way ticket to the future. Who wants in?
Melbourne doesn’t exactly have a shortage of hotels, but the brand-new Hotel Indigo Melbourne on Little Collins isn’t here to blend in. Sitting pretty at 288 Little Collins Street, it’s smack in the middle of the city’s action – coffee, street art, and impulse shopping sprees all just a stroll away.
Inside, it’s not your standard beige sleep box. Each room is splashed with bold design nods to Melbourne’s fashion and laneway culture, with plush beds and floor-to-ceiling windows so you can spy on the city without actually leaving your robe.
And then there’s Fern Bar & Dining, where cocktails are crafted with the same seriousness Melburnians usually reserve for flat whites. Menus lean seasonal, plates lean generous, and the vibe says “I’m on holiday” even if you’re just here for an overnight work trip.
Of course, there’s also a gym if you’re that way inclined, and spaces that are as happy hosting laptops as they are late-night catch-ups. It’s slick without being stuffy and playful without being try-hard, acting as the perfect reminder that this vibrant city does boutique hotels better than most.
Want a stay that feels like Melbourne turned down the clichés and turned up the personality? Hotel Indigo on Little Collins has the keys.
If you thought camping meant wet socks, lumpy mattresses, and suspicious rustling in the bushes, Phuket’s new Twinpalms Tented Camp is here to ruin those low expectations in the best possible way.
28 swanky one and two-bedroom tents (yes, with actual walls, air-con and all the mod cons) have been pitched right on Bangtao Beach or in the lagoon gardens a short stroll away, with winding waterways wrapping around them like nature’s own infinity pools, and all we can think about is getting there asap.
Since opening, this adults-only hideaway has been whispered about as Phuket’s best-kept secret, but Twinpalms clearly doesn’t do subtle for long. They’ve just upped the ante with a wellness revamp: think sunrise yoga, lotus petal folding workshops, and a fitness studio kitted out with sleek German gear.
There’s also a Bali-sourced ice bath carved from a boulder because nothing says you need a holiday reset like voluntarily freezing yourself in paradise.
Guests can also float in a brand-new tropical pool overlooking the lagoon before wandering over to the Spa Tent for a massage so good you won’t remember you were ever stressed in the first place. And evenings wrap up around a central campfire with sticky rice and sunset stories, proving that luxury can still feel soulful (and delicious).
Twinpalms has basically redefined camping: no bug spray required, just bikinis, cocktails and maybe a brave plunge into that icy rock bath. One thing’s for sure, roughing it has never looked this good.
Don’t like roughing it in the wilderness? Thailand’s new Visama Explorer tented camp has officially declared that camping should come with cocktails, king-sized beds, and a French press. Opening December 1st, 2025, this eco-luxury hideaway in Nan province proves that “under canvas” doesn’t have to mean damp socks and questionable instant noodles.
Set among rice fields and mountain backdrops so pretty they could have their own Netflix special, the camp keeps things small and comfortable: just eight high-comfort tents, each with air con, ensuite bathrooms, plush bedding, private decks, and minibars (a necessity when camping, of course).
But the real star might just be the Ambalama outdoor fireplace. Inspired by Sri Lanka’s old traveller resting places, it’s where guests gather nightly for fireside chatter, open-air cinema screenings, and snacks that put s’mores to shame.
And when hunger calls, head to the Monmanee creek-side restaurant, where Northern Thai specialties cosy up alongside Western classics, all paired with wine and cocktails. Yes, this is technically camping, but it’s more like ‘clink champagne glass’ camping than ‘I think there’s bugs in my sleeping bag’ camping.
Between gourmet dinners and movie nights, guests can tree-plant, workshop, hike, bike, temple-hop, and waterfall-chase. Getting here is easy too: an 80-minute flight from Bangkok, followed by a two-hour drive through scenery so jaw-dropping you’ll forget you’re in transit.
The Sunset Strip has had more reinventions than Madonna, and its latest glow-up comes in the form of The Sun Rose Hotel (formerly known as Pendry West Hollywood), ‘til it decided a new name (and personality) was in order.
Named after its already-famous live music venue, The Sun Rose is a love letter to West Hollywood’s Technicolour soul. When Stevie Wonder serenades your opening party, you know you’ve hit the right note. The place now leans harder into art, music, and design, basically bottling the Strip’s kaleidoscopic chaos into a tasty five-star cocktail.
Of course, the glitz hasn’t gone anywhere. The rooms still whisper ‘luxury’ even if the rest of the hotel is screaming ‘let’s party.’ At the top, Merois – helmed by the legendary Wolfgang Puck – remains a rooftop dining temple, where Asian-inspired flavours flirt with skyline views. Think crispy suckling pig in one hand, a Negroni in the other, and the Hollywood Hills twinkling like a backdrop someone spent too much money on.
Since its transformation, this place has become a stage, a canvas, and a front-row seat to the Strip’s never-ending show. Whether you’re there for the food, the tunes, or just to say you brushed shoulders with a rock star in the lobby, The Sun Rose Hotel is reinventing what it means to check in on Sunset.
Spring 2026 is about to get a whole lot fancier: Aman is dropping its newest resort, Amanvari, onto the wild and wonderful East Cape of Baja California. That means desert dunes, turquoise waves, and a brand-new excuse to perfect your ‘out of office’ email.
This coastal sanctuary will be keeping things exclusive with just 18 casitas (fewer neighbours, more peace and quiet), plus a collection of dreamy residences for anyone ready to go all in on the Aman lifestyle. Elevated above the landscape, the casitas offer knockout views of the Sea of Cortez, the Sierra de la Laguna mountains, and skies that are practically begging to be your phone’s screensaver.
The design brief was clearly nature meets minimalism with a Baja twist. Think sand-hued palettes, natural stone, tropical hardwoods, and bespoke Mexican ceramics sprinkled throughout. Chic, but without trying too hard.
On the ‘treat yourself’ front, Amanvari will deliver global dining (Italian, Japanese, and Baja’s finest bounty), and a spa that includes a modern take on a temazcal sweat lodge, open-air yoga pavilion, and enough serene corners to make you believe inner peace is, in fact, real (jury’s still out).
And because Aman doesn’t do things halfway, the resort is part of Costa Palmas, a private playground with organic farms, a golf course, a yacht club, and three miles of swimmable beach. We suggest starting to brush up on your Spanish now.
We get it. Camping’s a tough sell. But what about if you’re cocooned in a swanky safari tent that’s perched on a private deck with Mount Hood photobombing your sunrise (the perfect PNW backdrop)? That’s the vibe at Under Canvas’s brand-spanking-new glamping spot in Washington’s Columbia River Gorge, sprawled glamorously over 120 acres in the White Salmon River Valley.
Each tent has comfort for days: a king-size bed with plush linens, a gas fireplace to keep you toasty when the Pacific Northwest air gets bossy, and an ensuite bathroom with a piping hot pull-chain shower. Even your phone’s battery gets VIP treatment with handy USB packs, so there’s no excuses for not posting that dreamy sunrise snap (see intro).
The communal hub keeps the fun rolling with local artworks, trendy West Elm furnishings, café-style dining, board games, morning yoga, acoustic jams, and, naturally, nightly s’mores, because toasted marshmallows?? Like, end of sentence.
The real drawcard, though, is where you are. Adventure practically throws itself at you here: white-water rafting on the White Salmon River, hiking the trails around Mount Hood, sipping your way through more than 10 nearby vineyards, or popping into the charming towns of White Salmon and Hood River for a dose of small-town charm. All of it framed by soaring peaks, cascading waterfalls, and hillsides bursting with wildflowers.
Under Canvas Columbia River Gorge is nature turned up to eleven – luxurious, adventurous, and it’s perfect for besties, couples, fur-babies, or anyone who swears they’re “outdoorsy.”
In a town known for racehorses, rowing champs, and seriously good coffee, Cambridge, New Zealand, has just added another thoroughbred to its stable – The Clements Hotel. Fresh from a multi-million-dollar glow-up, this boutique beauty has transformed the town’s original 1866 Beaux-Arts Masonic hotel into a 29-room haven of polished charm and old-school glamour.
Named after Irish-born Archibald Clements (the bloke who built the original hotel), the revamp is all soaring ceilings, stained-glass windows, red brick walls, and a staircase that was made for dramatic entrances. Think Claridge’s in London, but with more gumboots and fewer paparazzi.
Leading the charge is Scottish hospitality whiz Cameron Kellow, who swapped Scone Palace and 20,000 acres of Scotland for the rolling Waikato. His mission was to make The Clements the place for luxe stays, long lunches, and the kind of events you’ll still be talking about when you’re 80. Spoiler alert, he succeeded.
Guests can snooze in Edwardian splendour or wake up under attic beams with leafy views. There’s a café and wine bar for your morning pastry-to-evening-aperitivo journey, a garden-view restaurant serving locally inspired global goodness, and, from October, a speakeasy called “1866” hidden in the basement.
If that’s not enough, the old horse stables are now private luxury suites (fireplace and bathtub included), and the on-site distillery has crafted a bespoke gin using an 1860s recipe because history tastes better with tonic. Duh.
Move over, party hotels – Bali’s got a new kid on the block, and she’s swapping bottle service for breathwork. Opening August 22, Noema is the freshest face in Pererenan (just a coconut’s roll from Canggu), and she’s got curves in all the right places: rooftop rituals, climbable art, spa scrubs, and cocktails with a view.
Yes, this place is a beach resort, but it’s also a mindfully designed, art-infused playground for surfers, families, nomads and dreamers who prefer their holidays with a side of soul. Think Korean rooftop spa scrubs, mythical kraken-inspired play towers, and restaurants that could win awards and win over your stomach.
Noema’s got 157 airy rooms (including a penthouse), two stellar restaurants – Mamaloma and Paparempa – and even a wellness centre that believes exfoliation is a spiritual experience.
At its core, Noema is built on one lovely little idea: that you can come to Bali and actually relax. *Gasp*. So, whether you’re here for the seafood sambal, the Saturday brunch, or to chase your inner calm around a vertical playground, Noema’s ready to welcome you barefoot and blissed out.
Oh, and don’t miss the three-day launch fest from August 22–24. There’ll be culture, cuisine, connection, and maybe even a kraken or two.
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