Introducing Directions: A New Hedonism

As Design Hotels celebrates 30 years, we’re looking ahead to new ways of travel, new ways of crafting hospitality, and new ways to discover joy through the latest issue of our magazine, Directions.

Each edition of our biennial magazine explores movements in travel, art, design, food and wellness, and how they affect the way we live and move around the planet. Featuring artists, thinkers, writers, photographers, and designers, Directions explores a different theme in each release, collating the insights of voices from around the world into a rich travel compendium. 

For our 18th issue, we’ve taken up the theme “A New Hedonism” to explore contemporary ideas surrounding pleasure, optimism, design thinking, and storytelling in our current cultural landscape. Contrasting the traditional definition of hedonism, which conjures notions of unquenchable desire and thoughtless spontaneity, the magazine seeks to reinterpret the word by looking at what it means to live well and to enjoy oneself while still making responsible choices. In the inspiring stories spread across more than 200 pages, writers and photographers navigate new neighborhoods, linger on balconies, rest on trains, and step into strangers’ homes, all while musing on what responsible hedonism means within travel today. 

Highlights from this year’s issue include: 

• A thematic manifesto by Rosie Flanagan, who writes that “through making our quest for pleasure conscious, travel can engender mutual flourishing, becoming an act that nurtures not only the self, but others and the earth.”
   
• A reflection on how Gen Z is cultivating the travel of tomorrow, written by futurist and cultural strategist Holly Friend. Through the analysis of statistics and research-based findings, Friend explores how Gen Z engages in a socially responsible form of hedonistic travel—one that prioritizes people and the planet just as much as pleasure.
   
• Documentation of a road trip that uncovers the historic, modern, and underground charms of Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro. Journalist Gisela Williams and photographer Primož Zorko follow the path of the coastline, with stops for contemporary art and local delicacies intersecting with layers of history, tradition, and energetic mysticism.
   
• A destination story focused on Indonesia, where journalist Annette Lin and photographer Arianna Lago traverse the unspoiled island of Lombok—a place where two recently opened Design Hotels properties are setting new standards for ecotourism with their deep connections to the land and its people.

In addition, the issue surveys how a group of artists find queer joy in Berlin, a city known for its hedonistic underbelly but also the city Design Hotels is proud to have always called home.

This homage to the meaningful infrastructures of our city is complemented by an ode to the homes our hoteliers create for their guests. At the center of the magazine, readers will discover the Locator—a concise encyclopedia of all properties in the Design Hotels collection.

The new edition of Directions is now available to purchase online via the Design Hotels Store and at select magazine shops in Berlin, London and New York. 

About Marriott International
Marriott International, Inc., (NASDAQ: MAR) is based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and encompasses a portfolio of nearly 8,200 properties under 30 leading brands spanning 138 countries and territories. Marriott operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts all around the world. The company offers Marriott Bonvoy®, its highly awarded travel program. For more information, please visit our website at www.Marriott.com, and for the latest company news, visit www.MarriottNewscenter.com. In addition, connect with us on Facebook and @MarriottIntl on Twitter and Instagram.