The Wanderlist: Style statements, private escapes and other luxury travel news | Canada Voices

Our first-ever digest of the year’s luxury travel newsmakers includes the growing buzz around Capella hotels, Air Canada’s new business-class pod and Venice’s latest must-visit centre for art and craft. Across the map, they’re upping the ante on private escapes, shifting how much wellness and cultural immersion influence a choice of destination and reimagining the mementoes we collect along the way

Hotel merchandise is becoming a style statement as much as a souvenir

A couple of years ago, I attended a conference in Cannes. What I remember most is the uniform that the beach club staff wore at the Carlton hotel. It was a simple white top that exuded understated nautical luxury, with the hotel’s name in blue lettering. I wanted to buy one, but they weren’t for sale.

At many other properties today, that’s changing. A piece of branded hotel merch is quickly becoming a status symbol among travellers, signalling to others that they’ve accessed exclusive spaces and allowing guests to relive their stay every time they put it on. These collaborations aren’t limited to sweatshirts, ball caps and tote bags. You can completely make-over your travel kit at Hotel Byblos in Saint-Tropez. This summer, the property launched its first boutique stocked with co-branded swag – think luggage by Globe-Trotter, polo shirts by men’s swimwear label Orlebar Brown, and dishware by Tuscan ceramic stalwart, Ginori 1735.

The Ritz-Carlton has partnered with makeup brand Merit on limited-edition travel kits that pair with in-room beauty services at select North American hotels including its property in Toronto. And in Scotland, Glen Dye Cabins & Cottages, swanky stays on a 15,000-acre private estate in Aberdeenshire, opened Gladstone’s, a new luxury homeware store, on-site. There you’ll find a selection of sweaters, stationery and blankets.

For hotels, these brand extensions are a way to foster loyalty and dress a legion of ambassadors. The key is to develop products people actually want to wear and use, keepsakes that exude in-the-know affluence, not an advertisement.

Poised for expansion beyond Asia and Oceania, Capella is the hotel brand to watch

You can be forgiven if you’ve never heard of Capella Hotels and Resorts. The Singapore-based brand has focused its growth on the Asia-Pacific region, with properties in China, Southeast Asia and Australia. But that reach is expanding, with its arrival into Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, in 2027 and Florence, Italy, in 2028.

Capella’s differentiator is a commitment to destination-specific cultural heritage that is as strong as its ability to deliver luxury spaces and services. Earlier this year, Capella opened its doors in Kyoto, a hotel infused with the work of local artists and ateliers: baskets from the traditional bamboo workshops at Takesada Shoten, a company founded in 1877; textiles from Hosoo, a weaving house dating back to 1688.

Each property offers a menu of experiences that brings its city’s cultural assets to life. In Kyoto, one session includes a day spent learning about the art of lacquer, meeting a master maker and taking part in a hands-on session to create a bowl or chopsticks. Consider a stay a full immersion into what makes one place different from the next.

Vancouver-based Monos is expanding its influence from chic baggage to travel wardrobes

Canadian-travel brand Monos continues to expand outside the rigid dimensions of the hard-case luggage that catapulted its name into the mainstream. In 2024, a refined collection of wallets was launched for travel and everyday use. In 2025, the company partnered with Brooklyn Coachworks, which restores and custom-builds Land Rovers, for a purpose-built Defender 90 in Arles Blue, one of Monos’s limited-edition luggage colours.

This summer, it debuted a sunglasses line called Mira. “Mira signals an intentional step for Monos as we evolve into a lifestyle brand,” says Victor Tam, the company’s CEO and co-founder, adding that eyewear is one of the more personal items a traveller can wear. “They quite literally shape how you see the world. The light, the colour, the mood.” The six-style collection uses Mazzucchelli acetate in its frames and Zeiss lenses, both of which offer durability to match the design – essential for life in transit.

Air Canada introduces a cozier take on business-class flights

If you’re an Aeroplan member, you’re likely witnessing the rollout of revamped Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés across the country. The in-air experience is getting a makeover, too. Eventually debuting fleet-wide, but coming first to new A321XLR and Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners, reimagined Signature Class cabins are attuned to user experience in a refreshed way that’s all about the details (think a built-in tablet holder and Bluetooth connectivity at every seat).

On the 787-10, Air Canada Signature Plus introduces a new pod at the front of the aircraft that comes with a guest seat for flight companions, extended privacy doors, 27-inch entertainment screens and a two-metre lie-flat bed. “We’re talking about an airplane where a six-foot-two-tall customer can lie out without touching either of the ends,” says John Moody, managing director of onboard product for the airline. The XLRs are designed with a full-recline option as well. “It’s the first time a Canadian carrier has installed lie-flat business seats on an airplane like this,” Moody says of the single-aisle configuration.

The visual and tactile environment has been updated, too. “We’re exiting a cool tone era,” says Dzeneta Zunic, Air Canada’s senior creative director. Passengers can expect leather-grain surfaces, quartzite-topped tables and natural materials on soft surfaces.

The next wave of wellness at your favourite property will focus on a good night’s sleep

Pillow menus and lavender sprays don’t cut it anymore. In the continued effort to help travellers sleep better, especially during the dreaded “first night effect” when the brain inhibits the ability to fall into a deep sleep as a response to potential threats in new environments – hotels are taking evening-focused wellness offerings to the next level.

Hotels like the Sofitel Paris Arc de Triomphe have installed AI-powered mattresses in select suites. The technology can detect snoring, adjust firmness or add inclines to help guests breathe better as well as adjust temperature for a sustained slumber. This spring, InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort and Spa in Natadola Bay, Fiji, launched a Sweet Dreams package that includes a pre-arrival consultation with a sleep educator to prep a routine for your stay on the island.

Airlines, too, have started addressing that coveted mid-flight nap. On select long-haul routes to North America, Fiji Airways is offering business-class passengers access to red-light therapy in its Nadi International Airport lounge, and in-flight devices to help with leg circulation and glasses that regulate light exposure.

A reservation on a smaller ship can mean access to lesser-known ports

Luxury cruising is getting smaller. Downsized ships offer passengers access to ports not reachable by traditional cruise behemoths, and more focused itineraries help travellers feel immersed in a region rather than simply docking for a day.

A group of cruise companies is prioritizing destinations accessible only by water. Antara Cruises, a family-owned river cruise operator, offers heritage-focused journeys to destinations in India that aren’t accessible by motor vehicle. Its newest itinerary, Palaces & Rivers of Odisha, explores the river systems in the eastern state, sailing through the wildlife-rich mangrove forests of Bhitarkanika National Park. On board, its ships, which max out at 28 suites, are infused with Indian cultural trademarks – colour and ornate designs.

Ponant Explorations is known for expedition sailings but has expanded its tours to destinations in the Indian Ocean – Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar and the French island outpost of Réunion. “These itineraries feature tiny remote atolls and islands well out of reach of mainstream tourism, affording a rare look into unique ecosystems with their own indigenous species, flora and fauna, and cultural and community connection experiences,” says Samuel Spencer, owner of Oceans & Rivers Travel, a Virtuoso agency. The appeal of this kind of travel, he says, is, in part, bragging rights: “Unique tours and experiences both on the water and onshore in these remote locales can deliver that sense of being a true explorer.”

2026’s buzziest cultural destination is the Venetian passion project of designer Dries Van Noten

For his next chapter, fashion designer Dries Van Noten and his partner, Patrick Vangheluwe, are creating experiences rather than couture pieces. With the opening of Fondazione Dries Van Noten in Venice in April, the duo has developed a space to celebrate and preserve the impact of handmade beauty, whether it be a fashion piece, work of art or home object.

Included in its mission is a belief in “craftsmanship as an act of cultural identity.” Accordingly, the foundation’s first home was a historic masterpiece itself. On the Grand Canal, the Palazzo Pisani Moretta is a 15th-century landmark in the Venetian Gothic fiorito and Rococo styles. Its opening exhibition, The Only Protest Is Beauty, was inspired by American political activist Phil Ochs and featured over 200 pieces intended to provoke thought, emotion and conversation.

This month, the foundation will move into a second space, Studio San Polo, while the Palazzo Pisani Moretta undergoes restoration work. Programming at Studio San Polo will be interactive and focused on workshops, talks and experimental projects.