Why the Best New Hotels of 2026 Aren’t All "New"

What makes a hotel the best? Not just new, not just beautiful, but worthy of a list that thousands of travelers plan their year around? For Afar senior deputy editor Jennifer Flowers, it comes down to a single test: does this hotel have a story? Not a marketing story—a real one, rooted in the place it sits, the community around it, or the history in its bones. In this episode, Afar editorial director Billie Cohen sits down with Jenn to go behind the scenes of the 2026 Best New Hotels list, one of the biggest the team has ever assembled at 40 properties. Jenn explains how the year-long vetting process actually works (yes, every hotel was personally visited), why she pairs the right writer with the right destination, and what separates a genuine standout from a merely beautiful place to stay. Along the way, Billie and Jenn travel from a nonprofit lodge reachable only by boat or seaplane at the edge of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, to a working dairy farm in Japan’s Tohoku region, to a six-suite, solar-powered lodge on regenerating land in South Africa. They dig into the year’s biggest themes: the rise of women hoteliers at the founder and CEO level, the surprising number of “new” hotels that are actually painstaking restorations of centuries-old buildings, the reinvention of the all-inclusive, and a growing hunger for ethical access to the world’s wild places. See the full 2026 Best New Hotels list at afar.com/bestnewhotels. Chapters 00:00 — What Makes the Best 02:00 — The Story Test 08:00 — A Sleeper Hit 10:00 — Reviving an Icon 14:00 — Earning Your Luxury 18:00 — Part of the Place 20:00 — Surprised in Palm Beach 23:00 — New Hotels, Old Souls 28:00 — All-Inclusive, Reimagined 32:00 — Why Humans Still Matter Stay connected Follow Afar on Instagram and TikTok Follow Billie Cohen on Instagram Follow Jennifer Flowers on Instagram Stay connected Be sure to subscribe to the show and sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠Behind the Mic⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode. And explore our second podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠View From Afar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where we spotlight the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. Unpacked by Afar is part of ⁠Airwave Media⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices