WATG and Wimberly Interiors in the Global Press: August 2026

Preservation and place ran through August’s coverage of WATG and Wimberly Interiors. Lagen Island Resort drew sustained editorial attention across design and lifestyle press as four separate outlets each explored the completed transformation from a different angle. Coverage also included continued recognition for Four Seasons Cartagena on Robb Report’s 50 Best Luxury Hotels list, recognition for Wimberly Interiors’ role on the Four Seasons Guangzhou renovation, WATG Advisory’s strategic role at Ras El Hekma, and a rise to #7 on Interior Design’s 2026 Hospitality Giants list.

Vogue Philippines published a travel feature on the resort, naming WATG, Wimberly Interiors, and Henning Larsen as the team behind the redesign. Ayala Land Hospitality creative director Paloma Urquijo Zobel de Ayala, who worked alongside the design team on the project, talked about how they approached Filipino culture in the space:

“From the outset, we wanted Filipino culture to shape the experience of Lagen rather than simply decorate it. Rather than extracting indigenous motifs and applying them as decorative elements, we looked to the stories, craftsmanship and philosophies behind them.”

Hospitality Design published an in-depth project feature on the renovated resort, with Paolo De Simone, Creative Director at Wimberly Interiors, and Chiara Calufetti-Lim, Principal and Studio Director at WATG, speaking to the design team’s preservation-first approach across the resort’s arrival sequence, guestrooms, and new Sunset Bar.

SPACE Magazine delivered a full project write-up crediting WATG for architecture and advisory and Wimberly Interiors for the interiors, tracing the cultural references embedded throughout the resort, from Tagbanua, Tausug, and Maranao weaving motifs to a chapel and Sunset Bar both modelled on traditional Filipino watercraft.

Imagicasa also published a feature on the resort, crediting WATG and Wimberly Interiors, in collaboration with Ayala Land Hospitality, for a transformation built around conservation and regeneration. The piece walked through the project’s preservation-first strategy, from retaining nearly all of the original structures to repurposing existing Narra wood flooring as new wall finishes, alongside the Filipino weaving and woodcarving traditions woven through the reception area, guest rooms, and furnishings.

Colombia One reported on the hotel’s inclusion in Robb Report’s 2026 list of the World’s 50 Best Luxury Hotels, the only Colombian property to make the ranking, naming WATG and Wimberly Interiors among the firms behind the project’s architecture and interiors.

Interior Design gave the hotel a dedicated feature as part of its Hospitality Giants coverage, crediting WATG’s site plan and architecture work navigating the property’s heritage, zoning, and code constraints, and Wimberly Interiors’ interiors throughout — including the Umari Spa and the studio’s collaboration with Catroux on the guest experience.

36Kr Europe reported on Wimberly Interiors’ role leading the renovation of all 340 guest rooms and suites at Four Seasons Hotel Guangzhou — still the world’s highest Four Seasons, occupying floors 69 to 100 of the West Tower of Guangzhou International Finance Center. The piece noted the design team’s approach of minimizing demolition and prefabricating new elements into modules for on-site assembly, reducing both transport pressure and environmental impact.

The Middle East Observer named WATG as adviser on the hospitality strategy behind Ras El Hekma in a wider piece examining whether Egypt’s North Coast investment wave can convert into a year-round tourism economy. The piece cited WATG’s figures on the development’s scale, more than one million people planned across 17 precincts, with nearly 30 hotels, seven of them within the first-phase Wadi Yemm resort district.

Hospitality Net cited WATG Advisory’s 2026 trends report in an opinion piece on hotel restaurants driving guest bookings, referencing the firm’s identification of hotel F&B venues as “third spaces” and its data on weekday local dining traffic stabilising cash flow in markets like Singapore, Tokyo, and Bangkok during slower tourism periods.

Interior Design published its 2026 Hospitality Giants ranking, with Wimberly Interiors placing #7, up from #9 in 2025, on the strength of $20.5M in design fees and a 91-person design staff. The ranking comes as the hospitality sector posts a 22% year-over-year rise in design fees industry-wide, with hotels still the largest share of the sector’s work.

Read our insight piece here.