The sexiest new hotels for 2024

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This is the time when we start thinking of travels for 2024. Will we go back to our old favorites? Try somewhere new? Or strike out towards somewhere we'd never imagined going, purely to stay in a new hotel we like the look of?

This list tries to do just that - spotlight the hotels opening (or reopening, as one of them is) in 2024 that make us want to visit for the hotel alone. Properties with a little bit of oomph - the sexy hotels of 2024, as we like to call them.

With the caveat that most of them are still under construction, so we have renderings rather than photos, here are 24 of our favorites opening this year.

Matca means "queen bee" in Romanian - and while that's officially in homage to the onsite colony (as well as the beekeeping tradition in Transylvania), it also doubles as a nickname for the hotel, which is bringing new levels of luxury to the Carpathian mountains, not far from the city of Brașov. Transylvania's bucolic landscapes have long been a favorite of those in the know - the UK's King Charles has a house two hours north - and hilltop Matca fills its 16 rooms with the spirit of the region, from handcarved rustic wooden beds and wardrobes, to traditional rugs slung over the floorboards and rough, almost putty-ish walls. The main hotel, with a spa and local-sourcing restaurant, is located across two fortified farmhouses, and there are also 10 private villas scattered amid the grounds. Opened January 1.

From $417

Only one thing can cheer up the perma darkness of a Finnish winter: a fancy new hotel. The Maria is already ready and waiting for you - it flung open its doors on December 15. Two more things to get you through the cold snap: a wellness concierge and, for high rollers, "spa suites" with in-room soaking tubs, plus private saunas or steam rooms.