If there’s one thing the world has had enough of, it’s sterile luxury. Marble bathrooms and white-gloved service are all good, but travellers crave an authentic story, a thread of place that holds the gloss together.
Four Seasons seems to have read the room. The Canadian hotel group has just unveiled its plans for 2026: an ambitious roll-out of openings, restorations, and redesigns that stretch from Naples, Florida, to Hanoi, from the peaks of Gstaad to the holy city of Madinah. And it’s not content to stay on land, the company’s first Four Seasons Yacht will sail next year, while its Private Jet Experience continues to circle the globe for those who prefer their passports stamped at 40,000 feet.
A World Tour of Intent
The new openings feel like a brand returning to its roots, elegance with personality.
In Old Naples, Florida, Four Seasons is putting down Gulf Coast roots with a thousand feet of beach, a lively market square and a Tom Fazio-designed golf course. Locals will call it a resort; guests will call it an excuse not to go home.
Naples Beach Club, A Four Seasons Resort
Across the Caribbean, Four Seasons Puerto Rico reopens inside a vast nature reserve at Bahía Beach. There are two miles of private coastline, tropical lagoons, and a backdrop of rainforest that looks painted for postcards. Those who haven’t met the local coquí frogs are in for an evening chorus.
Further east, Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast gets double the glamour. The Four Seasons Resort Red Sea at Shura Island brings six dining venues, a spa and hammam, and three pools facing the Hijazi Mountains. A few hundred kilometres north, the AMAALA at Triple Bay outpost folds regenerative tourism into the mix, with organic spa gardens, stables for horseback rides along the shore, and a golf course that looks directly onto the sea.
Meanwhile, in South America, Cartagena is set for its moment. The new Four Seasons takes over several historic buildings at the edge of the UNESCO-listed Old Town, combining colonial charm with eight dining venues and a rooftop pool. It’s an inspired move: Cartagena’s long been romantic, but never this pretty polished.
Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai, Hoi An
And then there’s Madinah, a delicate project by any measure. The hotel sits close to the Prophet’s Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, blends modern design with cultural restraint. Four Seasons has been careful here; the tone is reverent, not flashy.
Europe, of course, gets its share of pageantry. Venice’s Hotel Danieli, a grand lady of the lagoon, reopens under Four Seasons management after a complete restoration by Pierre-Yves Rochon. Across the Alps, The Park Gstaad returns as a Four Seasons property, all timber, snow, and understated Swiss glamour. And on Mykonos, a brand-new resort perched above Kalo Livadi Bay promises infinity pools, cliffside villas and the kind of sunlight that forgives all sins.
The Art of the Reopening
Alongside the fresh launches are a handful of reinventions.
In Paris, the legendary George V emerges from a three-year renovation as a balancing act between Belle Époque grace and 21st-century efficiency. Expect balconies lined with greenery, upgraded tech, and a view or two of the Eiffel Tower for good measure.
Maui’s Wailea resort has elevated its Maile Presidential Suite into what could be the Pacific’s most decadent apartment, complete with its own wellness retreat.
Milan has returned to its design roots under Rochon’s guidance, while Mauritius, Philadelphia, Mexico City, and Tokyo all see re-imagined suites that quietly redefine what “refresh” can mean.
Four Seasons Resort Red Sea at Shura Island
The common thread is respect for place. Each renovation feels as if it has listened to the street outside and to the people who’ve walked its halls before.
The Call of the Horizon
Just as interesting are the new ways Four Seasons plans to move people between these places.
The company’s first Four Seasons Yacht will launch 2026 a 95-suite vessel charting the Mediterranean and Caribbean with all the understated confidence of a brand that knows its linen thread counts by heart. Suites will open onto private terraces; restaurants will feel more Amalfi trattoria than cruise buffet.
For those who prefer clouds to currents, the Four Seasons Private Jet Experience continues to thread the world together in three-week circuits. The subsequent journeys, Ancient Explorer and International Intrigue, include snorkelling over the Great Barrier Reef, exploring Petra’s rose-red stone, and a sunrise balloon drift above the Serengeti.
It’s experiential travel in its purest form, and perhaps the only version in which champagne is served at 40,000 feet by someone who already knows your breakfast order from the previous leg.
The Fine Print of Luxury
What’s striking in this 2026 preview isn’t the marble or Michelin menus, Four Seasons has always had those, but the way the brand seems to be tempering its polish with something quieter: authenticity. A move toward regenerative tourism in Saudi Arabia, respect for cultural context in Madinah, and sustainable design in Paris and Milan are all signs that Four Seasons is evolving without losing its grace notes.
After six decades, the company still knows how to frame a sunset, but it’s learned how to listen to the dawn.
Because at its heart, the promise of Four Seasons hasn’t changed. It’s less about luxury than it is about memory. The soft landing after a long flight. The concierge who remembers your name from five years ago. The silence of a hotel lobby at midnight when the pianist has gone home and the air still hums faintly with life.
For those wondering whether the art of genuine hospitality still exists, 2026 looks like a reassuring yes.
By Charmaine Lu
BIO:
Charmaine has always had a quiet kind of courage. She grew up in Shanghai, a city that moves at a tempo all its own, and somehow managed to keep her own rhythm studying accounting for the discipline, then the arts for the sheer love of beauty. “I needed both,” she says, “to feel whole.”
When she left China for Sydney in the 1980s, she carried nothing but a degree, a suitcase and a belief that she could start again. The first sea breeze off the harbour felt like permission. She met Stephen, and together they built a family, two children, a home filled with laughter, and a life straddling two cultures without apology.
Work has always been more than a job. Before search engines became the centre of commerce, Charmaine was quietly helping companies be found and read—not just SEO but stories people wanted to click on. That is still her gift: finding connection in a crowded world.
Her life is less a résumé than a testament to grace under change, the accountant’s discipline, the artist’s eye, and a heart big enough for two continents.
