The Best New Hotels in the World: 2023 Hot List

"In a region where hotels tend to rely on being the biggest, boldest, and most expensive to draw attention, The Ned Doha has chosen instead to embody supreme stylishness. Housed in a brutalist former government ministry, the look inside is utilitarian but sultry: Geometric features and original waffled concrete ceilings are softened by layered fabrics, bold patterns, and Murano glass chandeliers. Rooms exude 1970s glamour, with vintage references including Roberts radios, clunky rotary-dial phones beside the beds, and TVs hidden behind tapestries designed by local artists. The terrazzo balconies look out over the sea, Al Bidda Park, or the Amiri Diwan palace, where camels patrol throughout the day. Walnut-clad walls double as gallery space for the hotel’s collection of more than 350 pieces, many by Qatar-based artists and most by women. As with its big sister in London, which is also a members’ club, The Ned Doha’s social scene centers on a circular stage with nightly live music, surrounded by the hubbub of diners in Cecconi’s and Millie’s Grill. Outdoors, sunshine filters through overhead drapes at Malibu Kitchen, which serves colorful Californian cuisine next to a pool flanked by striped daybeds and cabanas. But the best spot to reflect on what this atmospheric hotel brings to the city is at a table loaded with excellent Levantine meze, salads, and grills beneath the frangipani trees at Hadika." - CNT Editors