The Cutting-edge Hotel Brands Reshaping Luxury Travel in Asia
Famous Asian hotel brands like Aman are synonymous with luxury. But the region’s upstart hospitality companies are the ones to watch now.
Credit: Hongbo Ma/Songtsam Resorts
Capella Hotels & Resorts, Mandarin Oriental, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts. Aside from being household names, these global brands have another thing in common: they all have roots in Asia. The first Aman resort opened in Thailand in 1988. Capella, Raffles, and Shangri-La all began in Singapore, and both Mandarin Oriental and Peninsula Hotels started off in Hong Kong.
"Europe may have given the world its grand hotels, but Asia taught the world how to take care of people," says T+L A-List advisor and Asia specialist Tyler Branco. "Across the region, there's a deep cultural respect for hosting. Generosity, comfort, and care for others aren't just service principles here; they're part of everyday life. That foundation translates naturally into luxury hospitality."
But it's the brands that haven't yet made it big outside the continent that are pushing hotel design forward. Across the region they're hard at work, layering regional craft traditions and design sensibilities onto forward-thinking hospitality. These companies, which often offer excellent value, may be lesser known to American travelers—but that's sure to change as their legends grow.
Sala Ayutthaya, in Thailand. Credit: Wison Tungthnya/Sala Ayutthaya
CHINA
Songtsam has 20 exceptionally stylish stays in small villages across Tibet and Yunnan, a collection of luxurious lodges that take design cues such as rammed-earth walls and sloped shale roofs from monasteries and traditional homes. Sunyata pursues a more contemporary approach with its outposts in Beijing, Chongqing, Dali, and Shaxi. The brand specializes in architectural statements, as with its restoration of a 120-year-old church in Chongqing, now the beautiful 25-room Sunyata Mountain Alley. Hong Kong–based Artyzen , meanwhile, centers on urban China, with art-focused hotels including the Neri&Hu-designed Artyzen New Bund 31 Shanghai and the breezier Artyzen Habitat Dongzhimen Beijing.
INDIA
Oberoi and Taj Hotels might be the country's two most recognizable hotel brands, but the Postcard Hotel group is making strides. Since launching in Goa in 2018, the company has expanded to Bhutan and Sri Lanka, and now has a dozen properties across the region, including on beachfronts and historic tea estates. It's just the start: planned additions include a riverside hotel in Nepal's rhino-populated Chitwan National Park and three safari-style camps in the tiger and leopard reserves of central and northern India. Mumbai-based Abode Boutique Hotels , meanwhile, has slowly grown into a small collection of craft-forward stays around India and Sri Lanka. Its latest outpost, Abode Jaipur, occupies a 300-year-old family home in the heart of the UNESCO-listed walled city, with 21 pastel-colored rooms bedecked in Rajasthani textiles, intricate woodwork, and handmade tiles.
Hoshinoya Nara Prison, set inside a refurbished penal building in Japan. Credit: Hoshino Resorts
JAPAN
Hoshinoya puts a contemporary spin on the traditional ryokan, with high-concept stays in cities including Karuizawa, Kyoto, Nara, and Tokyo. Expect shoji-paper screens, tatami floors, and futon-style beds, all reinterpreted through Hoshinoya's modern lens. The same company also runs the onsen-centric Kai brand and the budget-friendly Omo , which has 18 basic but still chic city hotels. Meanwhile, Tokyo-based Trunk feels a bit like a Japanese version of Ace Hotels, with three buzzy outposts in the capital city, including the ultra-plush Trunk (House), which is more like a private residence than a hotel. Trunk also has new openings slated for Kobe and Sapporo.
THAILAND
From Chiang Mai to Koh Samui, some of the country's most boldly designed boutique hotels are part of the Bangkok-based Sala group, which now has eight properties across Thailand, with resorts in Koh Pha Ngan and Krabi in the works. Thai architecture studio Onion is a longtime collaborator and draws on the hotels' surroundings, such as the crumbling temple ruins of Ayutthaya or the iron-rich soil of Khao Yai National Park, for soft-edged rooms and statement swimming pools that blend beautifully into their surroundings.
A version of this story first appeared in the October 2026 issue of Travel + Leisure, under the headline "The New Guard."
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