This new Phoenix hotel was just named one of Esquire's best of 2024. Here's why

The first hotel from an acclaimed Phoenix restaurateur was named one of Esquire's 41 best new hotels in North America and Europe for 2024.

Esquire included The Global Ambassador in Phoenix on its list of the world's best hotels for 2024. The Global Ambassador was one of 31 U.S. hotels on the list.

This is Esquire's third annual best hotels list and the first to feature an Arizona hotel.

The 141-room Global Ambassador is the brainchild of James Beard Award-nominated restaurateur Sam Fox, whose portfolio of restaurants includes Culinary Dropout, Blanco Tacos and Tequila, Olive & Ivy, Flower Child and North Italia. The hotel, inspired by Fox's world travels and featuring five restaurants, opened in December 2023 after nearly a decade in development.

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Sam Fox: "We poured our heart and soul into creating this hotel"

Fox, in a statement provided to The Arizona Republic, said the recognition from Esquire acknowledges the work he and his team put into The Global Ambassador.

“Wow! We’re thrilled to be recognized as one of Esquire’s Best New Hotels in North America," he said. "We poured our heart and soul into creating this hotel, and we continue to work tirelessly every day to provide our guests with an unparalleled experience. This is an amazing acknowledgment of the efforts put forth by our team and we look forward to creating even more memorable moments for our guests in the years to come.”

What Esquire liked about The Global Ambassador

Fox spoke of The Global Ambassador's food-first approach in interviews with The Republic ahead of the hotel's opening. "Sometimes I forget that we even have rooms here because we lead with food and beverage, that happens to have hotel rooms around it," he told dining reporter Endia Fontanez.

Esquire was complimentary of that approach, describing it as "less a hotel than a collection of places to eat with a place to sleep between meals."

In his summary of The Global Ambassador, Esquire writer Joshua David Stein compared the variety of international cuisines represented in its restaurants to the Disney theme park ride "it's a small world." He named three restaurants as highlights: the Mediterranean rooftop restaurant théa (where he enjoyed "flaming saganaki against the sunset"), the French steakhouse Le ?me, and the Peruvian/Mexican poolside bar the Pink Dolphin.

First Arizona hotel recognized on Esquire list

The Global Ambassador is the first Arizona hotel included on Esquire's annual best new hotels list since the first one was published in 2022.

Hotels that Esquire selected for inclusion "prove that a hotel that goes against the grain of ho-hum luxury can change the vibrations of its neighborhood and its city" and the way people see a destination, according to Kevin Sintumuang, Esquire's Lifestyle & Culture Director.

Other hotels on the 2024 list include the newly reopened The Lafayette in San Diego (named the best new hotel of the year); the Fontainebleau Las Vegas; Drift Palm Springs in Palm Springs, California; Field Station Moab in Moab, Utah; and Mollie Aspen in Aspen, Colorado.

Michael Salerno is an award-winning journalist who’s covered travel and tourism since 2014. His work as The Arizona Republic’s consumer travel reporter aims to help readers navigate the stresses of traveling and get the best value for their money on their vacations. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @salerno_phx.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Esquire's best new hotels 2024 includes Sam Fox hotel in Phoenix