Are these the world’s most futuristic hotels?
Feeling the pull of future-forward travel, we decided to reprogramme our next trip in a more innovative direction. If you're on our bandwidth, here are six sci-fi stays that download the future straight to your room.
Words: Hannah Ralph
04/06/2025
The pool and steam room at Six Senses Ibiza
The one that’s bio-hacking human potential
Six Senses Ibiza, Spain
You might remember Six Senses got a shoutout in our ‘Can travel really make you live longer?’ report, and for good reason – its pioneering wellness programme is literally turning back the biological clock. Available exclusively at Six Senses Ibiza in the island’s rugged north, the brand’s revolutionary RoseBar is symptomatic of a new Ibiza, one that’s all partied out and now wants a go at reversing the potential damage incurred. You’ll hop between hyperbaric chambers and red-light therapy panels, IV drips and the world’s only automated ice bath – all in the name of eternal youth. More advanced still, you can have your DNA assessed and biological age (how old are you at a cellular level?) revealed.
High Life says: The future is… recording your best-selling album while on holiday? In the hotel’s Cave Royale – a mega suite built into the side of the cliff – a secret door leads to your very own private recording studio. Groovy.
The AI-powered Otonomus Hotel, Las Vegas
The one run by AI
Otonomus Hotel, Las Vegas
Philippe Ziade, founder and CEO of Las Vegas’ latest hotel, isn’t shy about its primary USP: “We are the first true AI-powered hotel in the world,” he says. And so, while more and more hotels toy with the possibilities of AI, Ziade went the full hog, running his entire 303-suite property, just off the infamous strip, on the back of two proprietary AI systems. The first, KEE, builds up a guest avatar to personalise your stay using all your most diva preferences (how hot do you take your coffee?), and even a social media sweep if you’ll allow it (all AI here is optional). The second is FIRO, which handles room logistics like it’s 2049. If a booking requires three double beds, FIRO will interconnect and unlock internal doors on individual suites to create the unit needed.
High Life says: All that AI intrusion left you feeling dirty? Ah, never mind. Go and have a refreshing dip in Otonomus’ adults-only ‘O-Pool’ – you’ll need a reservation via the KEE app to access it.
The one that looks like a spaceship
Shebara Resort, Saudi Arabia
“Saudi lives in 3025,” says one viral Instagram post. In it, a row of metallic pods appear to levitate gently over the sea, an infinity pool spilling out from each one into the open air… This is Shebara Resort, a hyper-luxe development with sci-fi levels of sustainability, just off the Red Sea coast (home to a dedicated airport served by Jeddah and Riyadh). Part of wider efforts to position Saudi Arabia as a carbon-neutral, conservation tourism mega-star, Shebara is powered by a single 110,000sqm solar farm, with a 100 per cent electric transportation infrastructure and its own desalination plant. Those metallic pods we mentioned? All 38 of them are made from polished stainless steel, designed to melt into the environment as a pearl-like chain, floating above biodiverse waters.
High Life says: The villas themselves are full of (inter)stellar touches: sliding doors pulling back at the touch of a button, TVs that vanish into cabinets, mini-bars that open like cosmic alien eggs and a customisable shower with mist and colour-changing effects.
Cabanas at El Cosmico, Texas (also opening image)
The one that’s 3D-printed
El Cosmico, Texas
Did you know that, right now, the world’s first entirely 3D-printed hotel is rising from the dust, layer by layer, on a 60+ acre campground in the outskirts of West Texas? Hotelier Liz Lambert, founder of the original El Cosmico cult campsite, has made a futuristic bedfellow in ICON, a cutting-edge 3D printing firm that will be following Lambert’s vision for a bigger and altogether more modern complex. ICON’s 16ft-tall printer is currently dispensing a specially-concocted cement mixture to create the curvaceous walls of 43 hotel units, working to the designs of Danish jaw-dropper, the Bjarke Ingels Group – the very same architect with whom it broke ground on Project Olympus, Nasa’s 3D-printing mission to put roads and homes on the Moon. Besides its otherworldly suites, 3D-printed cabanas will wrap around a central pool and there should be a 3D-printed spa and restaurant, too.
High Life says: Don’t try to visit yet – this trailblazing project may be underway, but the big reveal is set for 2026.
Balcony king room at Eccleston Square Hotel (Veerle Evens); Hästens massage beds come as standard
The one with the massage bed
Eccleston Square Hotel, London
It’s rare for an independent hotel to have quite so many technological bells and whistles, but such is the case at this Grade II-listed Belgravia townhouse, which scooped the ‘In-Room Technology Innovation’ gong at the European Hospitality Awards just six months after opening. We’ll start with the beds – the “world’s best” from Swedish sleep savant Hästens. Much like the hotel, they combine timeless craftsmanship (each one is layered with horsehair and takes 90 hours to make) with high-tech wizardry (they’re electronically adjustable and can deliver a full-body massage). The capital’s first ‘smart hotel’ also has very clever bathrooms, with glass doors that turn a modest opaque at the touch of a button. Powered curtains, mood lighting, temperature tweaks and more can all be controlled from your iPad concierge.
High Life says: Eccleston Square was one of the first hotels in the world to offer 3D TVs. Now, all 39 rooms have Samsung 49-inch 4K UHD Smart TVs with Apple TV integration.
The space-age Universal Aventura Hotel, Orlando
The one with the robots
Universal Aventura Hotel, Orlando
Even the most dedicated hotel employee can’t make room service deliveries 24/7, 365 days a year – but Relay the robot can in Orlando. Give or take the occasional battery change, it’s a life of limitless corridor-whizzing, room-service fetching and amenity-delivering for Universal Aventura’s fleet of handy helpers. The robots – now a popular selfie target for the hotel’s snap-happy families – were acquired from Cali-based Relay Robotics to become some of the first used within the theme park resort space. As for humanising these whizzy little teammates, the cheerful dances and jokes (Why was the robot angry? Because someone kept pushing his buttons!) certainly help.
High Life says: Head to the second floor for Aventura’s very own VR games room, complete with headsets and a selection of interactive 3D games. Also worth noting: all rooms come with a smart control tablet, which is just one way to contact your old friend Relay.
