Best New Stays
Art-filled Houston stay named one of Esquire's best new hotels for 2026
It's the only Texas property to make the list.
Men’s lifestyle magazine Esquire has named a Houston property to its best new hotels list for the third year in a row. The Hotel Daphne in the Heights is one of 43 properties worldwide — and the only one in Texas — included in this year’s edition, which is titled The Best New Hotels in the World 2026.
Published Tuesday, April 7, Esquire selects its the hotels the old fashioned way — by actually visiting the properties. The magazine named the Collegio alla Querce in Florence, Italy as its hotel of the year.
The Hotel Daphne opened in December as Houston’s second property from Austin’s Bunkhouse Hotels. The five-story, 49-room property has earned acclaim for its museum-worthy contemporary art collection, sourced the Ackerley Family Collection, and its all-day Italian restaurant Hypsi, which is led by Houston chef Terrence Gallivan (The Pass & Provisions, ElRo Pizza & Crudo). All of that impressed Esquire contributor Joshua David Stein.
“Daphne, like the Heights, balances luxury and soul,” Stein writes. “The building is new, but the oaks around it are old. The furniture is trippy and upholstered, arts and crafts meets botanic psychedelia. The all-day restaurant, Hypsi, has a mozzarella cart with stracciatella and caviar. It’s as close to utopia as you’re going to get.”
The hotel’s art collection is particularly distinctive, as almost all of the works are by living Texas artists such as Vernon Fisher, Kent Dorn, Kelli Vance, Dorothy Hood, and Matt Kleberg.
“99-percent of collectors have no relation to the artists. They look at it as an investment and have no emotional connection to the work or the person behind it,” co-owner Ben Ackerley told CultureMap in December. “Whereas, we collect people we hang out with. We support living, contemporary Texas artists, and 80-percent of what you’ll see in this hotel is that — there is plenty of cool art.”
The Daphne is only in phase one of its development. It will add a dedicated bar in the coming weeks. Phase Two construction, scheduled to be completed next year, will add bungalows, a resort-style pool, and a dedicated events space.
Last year, Esquire recognized the Hotel Saint Augustine, Houston’s other Bunkhouse property, with a spot on its 2025 Best New Hotels list. In 2024, it included The Thompson Hotel, a 172-room property across from Buffalo Bayou Park.
Nightly rates at the Hotel Daphne start at $359.
