JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa

"The inimitable hotel designer Bill Bensley is a master of fabulation, and here on Kem Beach, on the southern shore of Phu Quoc, he has concocted quite the tall tale. The hotel’s design concept weaves a story around the fictional historic Lamarck University, an homage to the French evolutionary theorist, which was supposedly founded in 1894, then abandoned in the 1940s, and ultimately restored by Marriott. Although he takes the theme to extremes in the public spaces—including the Department of Chemistry (a bar lined with periodic tables), and the Department of Physical Education (the gym, obvs—there are trophies, too)—the effect doesn’t mute the ample luxury of the hotel’s 234 rooms and villas with sea views and private pools."