Three Design-Led Hotels Worth Booking This November
A bank turned grand hotel in New Orleans, a pink-and-green Palm Beach heartbreaker and a frescoed Florentine palazzo: the November openings with the best interiors.
A vault, a pink-and-green palette and a 15th-century fresco walk into November, and the result is the best trio of design hotels November 2026 has to offer. Plenty of properties open this month. Three of them have interiors worth planning a trip around.
Fairmont New Orleans: a bank with a ballroom
New Orleans has no shortage of small boutiques with outsized style. Big hotels that punch above their design weight are much harder to find, which is what makes the new Fairmont New Orleans interesting. It moves into the former Bank of New Orleans building, with the Rockwell Group, the firm behind the revamped W New York – Union Square, handling the design. The brief for its 250 keys: reflect the interplay between the city’s vibrant cultural heritage and the natural environment.
The food and drink side has a recognisable name attached. Chef Emeril Lagasse oversees the restaurants and bars, among them the 1970s-inspired Delmonico Steakhouse. Then there’s the grand ballroom, with a ceiling of local cypress wood and vintage Italianite chandeliers. It’s set to host lavish galas and society balls, so pack accordingly.
You’ll find it at 1010 Common St, New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Nora Hotel: pink, green and very Palm Beach
If you know Hotel Chelsea, The Bowery Hotel or The Ludlow Hotel, you know the people behind The Nora Hotel. Hotelier Sean MacPherson and BD Hotels founders Richard Born and Ira Drukier have collaborated for years in New York. This is their first hospitality project outside the city, and it anchors West Palm Beach’s emerging Nora District.
The 201-key hotel was designed by Gachot, a name on Wallpaper*’s US400 list. It nods to its address and to the downtown aesthetics of the independent hotels that put the trio on the map. The palette is a Palm Beachy pink and green. Cypress woodwork, mood-setting lighting and custom furnishings fill the rooms, and The Madison Melle Agency curated the art collection.
The dining plan is already a draw. New York-born bistro Pastis lands in Florida, there’s a seductive lobby bar, and a rooftop handles poolside dining, sunset drinks and dinner. The address is 1135 North Railroad Avenue, West Palm Beach.
La Réserve Firenze: Florence, with the frescoes intact
The quietest of the three may be the most romantic. La Réserve Firenze brings founder Michel Reybier’s distinctive hospitality ethos to a 15th-century palazzo on Florence’s historic Via Santo Spirito. Owners Gregory and Olivia Marciano restored the building meticulously, in partnership with interior design duo Gilles & Boissier. They preserved the coffered ceilings, carved woodwork and frescoes, then introduced contemporary charm through local stone, terracotta flooring and artwork from the owners’ personal collection.
This is not a big-hotel experience. There are six apartments, from one to three bedrooms, decorated with four-poster beds, warm tones and rich textiles. The design nods to the district’s artistic pedigree and its residential past, so it reads less like a lobby-and-lifts hotel and more like borrowing a very well-edited Florentine home.
Guests also get a gym, a library, a private lounge and a rooftop terrace overlooking the Arno River. The address is Via Santo Spirito, 6, Florence.
How to choose
All three are listed among the openings for November 2026, and each answers a different mood. Fairmont New Orleans is the one for a dress-up weekend, with a steak under a 1970s glow and a ballroom that was built for an occasion. The Nora suits anyone who wants downtown New York attitude with a Florida tan, and a Pastis table within walking distance of the bed. La Réserve Firenze is for slow mornings under frescoed ceilings, then a rooftop view of the Arno.
The month has other openings worth a look, including the hotly anticipated Kimpton in Bali and a stylish mountain resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, just in time for ski season. These three, though, are the ones where the interiors do the talking.
Via Wallpaper*