The best hotels around the world offer guests an authentic local experience, say AHEAD Global awards jury members in this movie Dezeen produced for the awards programme.
The winners of the AHEAD Global awards were announced in January at simultaneous ceremonies at Ham Yard Hotel in London and Crosby Street Hotel in New York, linked by a live video feed.
The event represented the finale of a programme of eight regional events held over two years in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. The winners of those previous events were pitted against each other to determine the best recently opened hotels.
"This isn't about big-box hotels anymore, it's about authenticity and being relevant to the local," said Aliya Khan, jury member and vice president of design strategies at Marriott International. Alila Yangshuo earned the title of Ultimate Winner at the AHEAD Global awards
Among the winners were a considerable number of conversions of buildings with a previous use other than hospitality.
"We're seeing a lot of historical buildings being converted into very nice hotels and very unique hotels, but still they're being true to what the building was before," stated Cristina Laurijssen, director of design at Rosewood Hotels and AHEAD Global jury member.
Alila Yangshuo was an abandoned sugar mill before being repurposed as a resort hotel
Alila Yangshuo, a hotel built by Beijing studio Vector Architects in a disused sugar mill in China's mountainous Yangshu...