INTO THE WILD
sedona’s red rocks are the main attraction at Ambiente, North America’s first landscape hotel, opening in January, but in a way you’ve never seen them. A relatively new concept in hospitality, landscape hotels allow nature to take center stage, nestling guests within the surrounding topography and using lowimpact, sustainable construction. Each one of Ambiente’s 40 glass-walled units, called atriums, sits on steel piers perched over some of Sedona’s best real estate, a wedge of pristine desert surrounded by national forest and threaded with a series of ancient waterways and natural, amphitheaterlike elevations. It’s the brainchild of Two Sister Bosses, a Sedona-based luxury-hotel development and management company run by siblings Jennifer May and Colleen TeBrake. Noting that almost half of each atrium is glass, May calls the surrounding views “Sedona on IMAX.”
While Mother Nature is the hotel’s most stunning amenity, there are notable manmade creature comforts as well. Atriums feature cozy kitchens and on-demand wine dispensers with a selection of Northern Arizona vintages, while the poolside restaurant offers full breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. There’s also a three-room spa that will specialize in healing and relaxation therapies (as of this writing, the services are still being finalized). Carts make rounds throughout the day laden with coffee, gourmet snacks, pressed juices and craft cocktails—convenient for grabbing an early-morning pick-me-up on the way to the private trailhead and a sundowner upon your return.