Helena Bay Lodge Named Best New Luxury Hotel of 2016

The honour was bestowed on the $50 million property, located off the Tutakaka coastline in the north of New Zealand, by membership based company Luxury Travel Intelligence (LTI), one of the leading industry authorities on high-end travel and hospitality.

In their run-down of the best and worst luxury hotel openings across the year, LTI said that Helena Bay Lodge is “destined to become one of the world’s best hotels”.

“Expectations are high here when you consider the $5m per guest investment: this unique $50M property has just five suites, accommodating no more than ten guests,” said LTI.

“And while financial investment doesn’t guarantee luxury and service, we are pleased to report that it does here. Every conceivable luxury is to hand. The architecture and décor is intentionally on the bland side, so as not to distract from the beautiful surrounding landscape.”

Runner up to Helena Bay Lodge was the Pink Sands Club in Canouan while completing the podium was Soneva Jani in the Maldives.

The iconic Ritz, Paris, which reopened in 2016 after a $360 million redevelopment, was named as the sixth best luxury hotel opening over the past 12 months.