Inside the Condé Nast Traveller Hot List party
On a balmy April evening, what began as a regular Monday took a glamorous turn as Condé Nast Traveller editors and hoteliers from this year’s hottest properties pulled up in front of Grosvenor Square’s Carbone. The occasion was none other than the Hot List 2026 party, where writers, photographers, hotel founders and representatives gathered to celebrate Condé Nast Traveller’s edit of this year’s best new hotels, cruises and restaurants – Carbone among them – and applaud the winners taking bold new steps.
A light spring rain was starting to sprinkle, urging guests down a plush red carpet into Carbone (aka the former US Embassy), the now-viral Italian-American eatery that needs no introduction. Despite its sprawling size, the event felt like an underground gathering packed to the rafters, where guests washed down tuna tartare and black truffle arancini with Bollinger and Eau de Provence.
James D Kelly sauntered through the crowd with his coveted camera, as top hoteliers picked up copies of Condé Nast Traveller stacked on low-lit tables mid-conversation, to show fellow partygoers their own properties splashed across the pages.
Spotted in the crowd were Maria Bradford, winner of CNT’s Best New Chef in the UK’s Top New Restaurant Awards, Joss Kent, Boo George and acting senior fashion editor Harriet Elton plotting their next moodboard, Star Asia founder Malcolm Maclean, whose Gora Kadan might boast Japan’s best views of Mount Fuji, The Thinking Traveller’s ever-chic co-founder Rossella Beuagié, award-winning photographer Tom Parker, and Henry Conway, never one to miss a good party.
Global Editorial Director Divia Thani dazzled in Dima Ayad as she greeted Rosewood The Chancery’s Michael Bonsor, as well as the teams behind other Hot Listers such as the Six Senses London, and Armir Sejdaj from Jnane Rumi, and the team from .Here, who flew in from the Maldives to celebrate making the cover. “The Hot List is not just a list,” announced Thani. “It is a celebration of curiosity, craftsmanship, human endeavour, cultural connection and the thrill of discovery. It is curated by our editors across all eight of our markets, who, through first-hand experience, identify the most exciting new hotels, cruises and restaurants of the past year.”
“The Hot List is a recognition of quality, but also a snapshot of the direction that travel is heading in,” Thani told the gathered crowd. “Travel is the most powerful way we have to broaden our perspectives and to embrace the extraordinary diversity of the world.”
Even after the last of the bubbles were poured, Carbone’s terrace – dusted with fallen magnolia blossoms and the odd cigar butt – remained awash with those not ready to hail a black cab just yet. This is Mayfair, after all.
#EauDeProvence #LuxuryLifestyle #RoséWine #LondonEvents #WalpoleSummit #LuxuryBrands #FineWine #Provence #Hospitality #MayfairLondon #CondéNastTraveller #LuxuryExperience
