Luxury Hotels Atlas / The Maison / Viceroy

Viceroy hotels

Architecture sets the scene, from white forms over water to villas in the jungle.

Viceroy makes individually designed hotels and resorts whose architecture, dining, and experiences respond to the destination. The brand began in Santa Monica in 2000 and later joined Highgate, developing its attention to local culture and wellbeing across a small international collection.

12 Viceroy hotels in 7 countries on the Luxury Hotels Atlas (1 not open yet), each placed on the six LHA Tiers.

• Owned by Highgate
• Worldwide: 11 luxury lifestyle hotels and resorts across 8 countries, plus 4 residential/branded-residence projects in operation and a growing pipeline across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (three safari lodges added via African Bush Camps partnership in late 2025)
• On the atlas: 1 Grand Luxury, 6 High Luxury, 2 Core Luxury, 3 Accessible Luxury

History

Kelly Wearstler’s early interiors helped give Viceroy a distinctive design identity under Brad Korzen. Later changes in ownership affected the collection’s direction and pace of growth. Highgate’s acquisition introduced a new operating chapter, with greater attention to local experiences, wellbeing, and individual destinations.

Timeline

• 1999 — Brad Korzen of Kor Hotel Group, with designer Kelly Wearstler, his wife, launches the concept during a Beverly Hills boutique-hotel revival; the Avalon Hotel Beverly Hills, their first project, establishes the partnership that will define early Viceroy aesthetics.
• 2000 — Viceroy Hotels & Resorts is formally launched; Viceroy Santa Monica opens, becoming the brand's originating flagship and first expression of the "Hollywood Regency meets California coast" identity that Wearstler brings to it.
• 2001 — Viceroy Palm Springs opens in a converted 1930s property (former Estrella Inn); Wearstler calls it her "most accomplished work" at the time.
• 2008 — Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, acquires a 50% stake in Kor Hotel Group/Viceroy, becoming co-owner alongside Korzen.
• 2009 — Viceroy Anguilla opens (soft opening December 2009), the brand's first international resort, designed by Kelly Wearstler; Viceroy Snowmass opens in Colorado Rockies. Viceroy Miami (Icon Brickell) opens.
• 2010–2011 — Malaysian financier Jho Low acquires equity stakes in Viceroy from Korzen's partners using funds later alleged to be misappropriated from Malaysia's 1MDB fund; Mubadala retains co-ownership.
• 2011 — Viceroy Hotel Group rebrands Abu Dhabi's Yas Hotel as Yas Viceroy, the brand's first Middle East address, built straddling the Formula One Yas Marina Circuit and designed by Asymptote Architecture.
• 2012 — Brad Korzen sells his remaining stake and departs; Viceroy Hotel Group continues under Mubadala and Jho Low–linked ownership.
• 2012 — Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort opens on Saint Lucia's former Jalousie Plantation site, following a three-year, $100 million-plus renovation; the brand enters the ultra-luxury Caribbean segment.
• 2015 — Viceroy Palm Springs (Avalon rebranding) and Avalon Beverly Hills exit the Viceroy flag under Korzen's new Proper Hospitality company.
• 2016 — Viceroy Anguilla transitions to Four Seasons management (reopening October 2016 as Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Anguilla), marking the brand's first major Caribbean departure.
• 2017 — Viceroy Chicago opens in the Gold Coast, 180 rooms inside a reimagined 120-year-old building with a new glass tower.
• 2018 — Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi rebadges as W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island under Marriott management; Viceroy exits the property. Viceroy Los Cabos opens in May as the brand's 15th property, converting Miguel Angel Aragonés–designed Hotel Mar Adentro.
• 2020 — Hotel Zena (Viceroy Washington DC, 14th Street) opens in October 2020, a 191-room art-forward concept celebrating women's contributions; Viceroy Washington DC (Rhode Island Ave) also operating. U.S. Department of Justice auctions L'Ermitage Beverly Hills (formerly Viceroy L'Ermitage), which had been seized from Jho Low; it eventually ceases operating as a Viceroy property by October 2021.
• 2021 — Sugar Beach completes a significant five-month renovation, new bungalows, expanded spa, revamped pools, nine additional accommodations.
• 2022 — New York–based Highgate, a hospitality investment and management firm with over $20 billion in assets under management, announces agreement to acquire Viceroy Hotels & Resorts; the deal closes early 2023. At the time, Viceroy is ranked in Travel + Leisure's top 10 hotel brands globally.
• 2023 — Viceroy Kopaonik Serbia opens, the brand's first ski resort in Eastern Europe and first property in Serbia, with 118 rooms in Kopaonik National Park.
• 2024 — Viceroy at Ombria Algarve opens (October 1, 2024) in the hills north of Loulé, Portugal, 151 rooms and residences across 153 hectares with an 18-hole golf course, the brand's first property in continental Europe. Brand undertakes a full visual relaunch, commissioning a distinct logo design per property to emphasize destination individuality.
• 2025 — Viceroy Africa expansion announced: three safari lodges (Thorntree River Lodge, Zambia; Lolebezi, Zambia; Atzaró Okavango Camp, Botswana) added via African Bush Camps partnership. Brand launches experiential travel relaunch, shifting marketing from individual properties to brand-wide identity.
• 2026 — The Observatory Sun Valley, A Viceroy Resort (Ketchum, Idaho) slated to open Fall 2026, 73 rooms and 12 penthouse residences in Sun Valley's first purpose-built luxury hotel.

The houses to know

1. Viceroy Bali, Ubud, Indonesia — The hotel is in Ubud, Indonesia.
2. Viceroy Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Mexico — An adults-only private-villa resort on a relatively undeveloped stretch of Caribbean coast, seven miles north of Playa del Carmen.
3. Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort, Soufrière, Saint Lucia — Set between the twin Pitons in a UNESCO-inscribed volcanic landscape, on the site of an 18th-century sugar plantation.
4. Viceroy Chicago, Chicago, United States — A downtown Gold Coast hotel fusing a 120-year-old Chicago landmark with a new modernist glass tower, Art Deco bones in one of the U.S.'s premier gateway cities.
5. Viceroy Los Cabos, Los Cabos, Mexico — Entirely designed by a single architect-auteur: Miguel Angel Aragonés created the architecture, interiors, and cascading linear pools.
6. Viceroy at Ombria Algarve, Loulé, Portugal — The Algarve resort occupies a 153-hectare estate in the countryside of southern Portugal.
7. Viceroy Kopaonik Serbia, Kopaonik, Serbia — Viceroy’s first Eastern European ski resort stands on Serbia’s Kopaonik mountain.
8. Viceroy Bocas del Toro Panama, Bocas del Toro, Panama — The announced Caribbean project plans an overwater-villa stay within the Bocas del Toro archipelago.
9. Viceroy Washington DC, Washington, D.C., United States — The former Mason & Rook gives Viceroy an intimate Logan Circle address on Rhode Island Avenue.
10. Viceroy Santa Monica, Santa Monica, United States — The brand's founding address, the hotel that launched Viceroy in 2000 and first carried Kelly Wearstler's Hollywood Regency language to the California coast.

Newest openings

• Viceroy at Ombria Algarve — Loulé, Portugal — opened October 1, 2024 — The brand's first continental European property: 151 rooms and residences across 24 buildings arranged as a village on 153 hectares, with an 18-hole Jorge Santana da Silva–designed golf course, eight dining and bar venues, spa, kids club, and an organic farm. Within its first operating season, it ranked among Portugal's top-five hotels.
• Viceroy Africa — Zambia and Botswana — announced December 2025 — A partnership with African Bush Camps brought three lodges into the collection: Thorntree River Lodge near Victoria Falls, Lolebezi on the Zambezi River, and Atzaró Okavango Camp in Botswana. The lodges remain individually managed by African Bush Camps, founded by Zimbabwean guide Beks Ndlovu.

Opening next

• The Observatory Sun Valley, A Viceroy Resort — Ketchum, Idaho, United States — expected Fall 2026 — confirmed, under construction (topped out, interior work underway as of mid-2025). 73 hotel rooms and 12 single-level penthouse residences; amenities include a 5,000 sq ft spa with thermal pool, cold plunge, steam room, and sauna; a restaurant and bar; a café/equipment shop designed as a social hub; and a professional-grade telescope and observatory built within Idaho's Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve. This will be Sun Valley's first purpose-built luxury hotel. Named for W. Averell Harriman, who built the original Sun Valley Resort in 1936. (Boutique Hotel News; Viceroy website)
• Viceroy Bocas del Toro — Bocas del Toro, Panama — expected late 2026 — announced/under development. Planned as 42 overwater villas on 457 acres of Caribbean archipelago, accessible by boat, seaplane, or helicopter, adjacent to San San Pond Sak wetlands (a protected habitat); designed by Zurcher Arquitectos.
• New Orleans — New Orleans, Louisiana, United States — timeline unannounced — Viceroy has signed a deal for a "small, jewel box property" in New Orleans, per brand president Mark Keiser in July 2025.
• Portugal (additional) — locations not yet announced — pipeline confirmed for additional Portuguese properties beyond Ombria Algarve.

Every Viceroy hotel on the atlas

United States

• Viceroy Chicago — Chicago · High Luxury
• The Observatory Sun Valley, A Viceroy Resort — Ketchum · Core Luxury · Opening soon
• Hotel Zena Washington DC — Washington, D.C. · Accessible Luxury
• Viceroy Santa Monica — Santa Monica · Accessible Luxury
• Viceroy Washington DC — Washington, D.C. · Accessible Luxury

Mexico

• Viceroy Los Cabos — Los Cabos · High Luxury
• Viceroy Riviera Maya — Playa del Carmen · High Luxury

Indonesia

• Viceroy Bali — Ubud · Grand Luxury

Panama

• Viceroy Bocas del Toro Panama — Bocas del Toro · Core Luxury

Portugal

• Viceroy at Ombria Algarve — Loulé · High Luxury

Saint Lucia

• Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort — Soufrière · High Luxury

Serbia

• Viceroy Kopaonik Serbia — Kopaonik · High Luxury

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Every house in The Maison

How the six LHA Tiers work