There is excellent air connection between Australia and Mauritius via Singapore Airlines, and, once on the Indian Ocean island, plenty of luxury resorts await.  I went to check out two of the newest, both members of the just-renamed The Lux Collective.

New York’s 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge has so many touchpoints I keep on thinking, in retrospect, of yet more things. Opened in February 2017, it is adjacent to Brooklyn Bridge Park, a conversion, thanks to then-Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg, from old warehouses. It is an 11-floor structure, a glass and metal new-build by Marvel Architects, with interiors by INC Architecture.

Shanghai is one of those world cities that seems to launch new luxury hotels with every new moon, and of course, all of them seem to be successful in an environment that craves the latest and where innovation abounds. Someone, for instance, has had the brilliant idea of using the city’s heritage.

Girlahead Mary Gostelow explores three of Beijing’s newest luxury properties: The Peninsula Beijing, Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa Center and Bulgari Hotel Beijing

Many had waited with anticipation to see the stunning new Murray in Hong Kong. Ever since the 25-floor, open-square building was designed by Ron Phillips in 1969 some must have thought it would make an excellent hotel. Finally, on January 15th, 2018, the Cotton Tree Drive building, re-imagined by Foster+Partners, opened as The Murray, a Niccolo Hotel, Hong Kong – and the first visitors, amazingly, were Ron Phillips and his family. 

Tel Aviv is fast becoming one of the world’s most with-it beach destinations – think Bondi, or, in the US, Miami Beach in Florida, Venice in California. Now, at the southern end of Tel Aviv’s highly popular Charles Clore Park beachfront, the old-town area of Jaffa has two stunning new hotels, both combining history with today.

For those wanting a beautiful luxury resort in California overlooking the Pacific, the gorgeous Montage Laguna Beach fits the bill, and nicely (although in retrospect I should not have tried leaving the Beverly Hills area of Los Angeles at 3pm on a Friday – that was my fault and I was three hours on the road, much of it in solid traffic rather than driving south, as intended).

Athens has so much to offer it is a ‘Greek tragedy’ that so many first-time visitors merely schedule flying in and going on a cruise, perhaps to some Greek islands, the following day.

Santorini, named for St Irene, is one of Greece’s most popular islands, and from June to September hotels are jam-packed. Mary Gostelow, Girl Ahead, took in two of the regions fabled cliff-side retreats: Iconic Santorini and Grace Santorini.