The world's best new hotels

Hundreds of hotels open their doors each year, but how many open your eyes? Travel Leisure's Guide to the best new hotels showcases the newcomers that are redefining service and design -- and even the way we travel.

Hospes Palacio del Bailío, Córdoba, Spain
Hospes Palacio del Bailío, Córdoba, Spain
This 16th-century palace is the most dramatic property in the stable of a Spanish haute-design hotel group.

Location: Situated on a whitewashed street in Córdoba, the eighth-century seat of the Moorish caliphate, the hotel is a 15-minute walk from the famous Mezquita, or mosque, and has also become an attraction in its own right.

Pedigree: Hospes, Spain's smallest--and hippest--hotel group, has a knack for turning crumbling architectural marvels into pitch-perfect contemporary hotels, with the help of archaeologists and art historians.

Style Design: A fluid melding of modernity and antiquity; sleek hallways are set off by 15th-century doors; public spaces and bedrooms are lit by cutting-edge Italian fixtures from Catellani & Smith. The star is the soaring atrium, which has a restored 19th-century fresco and a glass floor overlooking a Roman-era villa that was discovered beneath the building's foundations.

Service Amenities: A top-notch multilingual staff, anchored by chef Periko Ortega, who serves Andalusian cuisine, with Arabic influences, in the popular Senzone restaurant; the Bodyna spa incorporates Roman bath-inspired design.

Rooms to Book: Ask for room No. 109, where the walls are covered in 18th-century frescoes, and where Fernando de Cordoba, the Moorish warrior who first called this palace home, slept. The room leads to a tiny private patio with flowers and views of the fountain below.

10 Calle Ramírez de las Casas Deza; 34/957-498-993; www.hospes.es; doubles from $295.

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.