WATG and Wimberly Interiors in the Global Press: April 2026

Preservation, place, and cultural authenticity ran as a common thread through April’s media coverage of WATG and Wimberly Interiors. Publications across Asia, Australia, Latin America, and the Middle East turned their attention to completed projects, hotel openings, and the design thinking behind them – with international media seeking out WATG voices on some of the broader conversations shaping the hospitality industry in 2026.

Lagen Island Resort, El Nido received its most notable coverage in The Times, which ran a full travel feature offering an immersive first-hand account of the redesigned property. The piece directly credited Wimberly Interiors by name as the design firm to “bring this vision to life”, as well as referencing our wider portfolio of projects including the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, Four Seasons at the Pearl in Doha, and Rosewood Baha Mar in Nassau.

Additionally, Sleeper Magazine, one of the world’s leading publications dedicated to hotel design and development, ran a dedicated piece on the project. The feature explored WATG’s preservation-first approach to the renovation of the private island retreat on the northwestern tip of Palawan, highlighting how the multidisciplinary scope of the project – spanning advisory, architecture, and interiors – was guided by a deep respect for the island’s natural environment and cultural heritage.

The renovation also attracted the attention of the Palawan tourist board, with Visit Palawan reporting on the project’s wider significance for eco-luxury tourism in the region and its alignment with the island’s broader commitment to responsible, high-end travel.

“The refresh focuses on eco-luxury, combining sustainable materials and modern design to elevate the guest experience while minimizing environmental impact.”

Sustainability credentials were also highlighted strongly by both HospitalityNet, detailing WATG’s innovative approach to material reuse, structural conservation, and region-specific design and Travel and Tour World, emphasizing large-scale remote eco-tourism. Travel and Tour World described the renovation as setting “a new benchmark for the hospitality sector” in terms of integrating luxury within environmental sustainability, especially in Southeast Asia.

Following its opening in July 2025, The Peak Magazine Singapore, one of the region’s most prestigious luxury lifestyle publications, published a hotel review of the InterContinental Halong Bay Resort, crediting WATG’s design team for navigating the considerable constraints of building within a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This month saw the grand opening of the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Cartagena, with WATG and Wimberly Interiors credited as part of the design team behind the multi-year restoration of several historic buildings in the city’s Getsemani neighborhood by the official Four Seasons Press Room. Special recognition was given to Wimberly Interiors‘ work on the Ballroom de la Veracruz, where the studio designed the modern chandeliers that now hang beneath the restored historic venue’s dark vaulted ceiling.

This press release was further distributed via PR Newswire, reaching a broad global audience and subsequently picked up by Yahoo Finance, LATTE Luxury News, Breaking Travel News, and Finance Colombia, the latter providing additional context around the opening’s significance for investment and tourism development in the region.

Monocle, a global media organization covering business, design, and culture, featured WATG CEO, David Moore, for their May 2026 issue. The piece explored how investment in staff wellbeing generates measurably higher revenue, referring to WATG’s master planning of the Patina Maldives, Fari Islands.

“Engaged staff deliver better service, this drives repeat guest visits, loyalty and, ultimately, higher revenue”

Love That Design featured an in-depth interview with Edouard Gillon, Associate Principal at WATG, exploring his journey into architecture and his work across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as on the growing role of artificial intelligence in architectural practice.

“In practice, WATG’s approach is deliberate. The design teams are leveraging this tool to streamline digital service line workflows, visual queries, and data integrations, enabling the firm to accelerate the transitions from idea generation to design concepts and high-fidelity visualizations.”