Oliver Ripley travel tips

Saudi Arabia’s ambitious mega-development Neom continues to announce small boutique hotels. With more than half a trillion dollars at its disposal, Neom could build the biggest hotels in the world, but, for now, is opting to unveil properties no more than 100 keys in size.

Lifestyle hotels continue to be the must-have item in the hospitality industry.

Ennismore, the fast-growing lifestyle hospitality company that’s an Accor joint venture, said Thursday it had entered into a strategic partnership to run and market as part of its family of brands the experiential luxury hotel brand Our Habitas.

Located at the edge of the UNESCO protected Al-Reem Biosphere Reserve, famous for its lunar landscape and Richard Serra sculpture, the resort allows guests to experience Qatar’s coastal desert in a unique way

Saudi Arabia’s Belgium-sized city of Neom has unveiled another giga-project. It’s called the Gulf of Aqaba and will contain many of the futuristic hotels the $500 billion project has announced in recent months.

The ethos of the hotel company Our Habitas is sustainable practices in natural settings with a dose of relevant luxury mixed in. So it makes sense that its latest property is Our Habitas Atacama in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile in the pristine, unique Atacama Desert known to be the most arid non-polar landscape on earth but one also with lunar rock formations, salt flats, volcanoes, geysers and hot springs, a cornucopia of dramatic nature. The hotel opened its doors a few days ago.