Black-owned hospitality doesn’t live in a single price point, continent, or type of trip. This year’s honorees reflect that range, from safari camps and design-driven retreats to intimate city hotels, each offering an experience that stood out to our editorial team firsthand.
What connects them isn’t a particular aesthetic or destination. It’s the thought behind the experience: a deeper sense of place, a distinct point of view, and hospitality that feels intentional from check-in to check-out. These properties span three continents and wildly different travel styles, but each expands the picture of what Black hospitality can be.
Together, they make the case that Black hospitality is bigger than a niche category. It’s already global — and these are the stays worth knowing, booking, and talking about in 2026.
The Travel Noire team has more favorites to put you on. Explore the full 2026 Travel Noire Awards.
African Bush Camps (Zimbabwe, Zambia & Botswana)
Founded by Beks Ndlovu, African Bush Camps (ABC) is a top-tier luxury safari defying industry standards. Ndlovu and his team show that Black ownership in the Motherland isn’t simply present in African travel — it can set a standard for sustainable, ethical tourism that invests back into local communities.
Spanning three countries, the brand’s camps deliver a one-of-a-kind immersive wildlife experience for guests. The difference at ABC goes beyond its luxury tents and the well-timed sundowners. African Bush Camps built its business around conservation, community partnership, and reinvesting in the land and the people around it rather than treating them as a backdrop.
African Bush Camps pairs high-end safari with a deeper sense of place, showing what African-owned luxury travel can look like when it grows from within the communities it serves. Founded by someone who knows, respects, and honors the land, the company has built its camps from the inside out — and established a model for luxury safari across the continent.
Hotel Sages (Canggu, Bali)
Black-owned hospitality isn’t confined to the destinations most associated with Black travel, and Hotel Sages is proof of that. Tucked into Canggu, the property is intimate and design-forward, built around a wellness sensibility that fits naturally into Bali’s broader identity as a retreat and wellness destination.
Once you step inside Hotel Sages, you’ll quickly learn why it’s the go-to villa resort for frequent travelers to Bali. While the owners’ original plan for the space was to be an artistic retreat where people could gather, create, and connect, it has evolved into something much more. Hotel Sages has become one of Bali’s most desired boutique hotel experiences, competing directly with Bali’s best, and winning on the merits. For a category built around geographic range, it’s the clearest reminder that Black ownership belongs on every corner of the luxury travel map and not just the ones where people expect to find it.
Ode Hotel (Toronto, Canada)
Ode Hotel, a ten-room guesthouse in Toronto’s Little Portugal, is owned and run by the Herbert family. In a province where more than half of Canada’s Black population resides, representation across certain industries can be hard to find in Ontario. It’s currently the only Black-owned hotel in this multicultural city shaped by the African diaspora.
The family that runs Ode will tell you that they don’t want to be a resort. Their goal is to create a welcoming home base where guests feel genuine connections to the vibrant community it’s part of. Ode reflects Little Portugal’s energy. Each of the ten modern rooms has its own personality, brought to life by local artists and designers. And while Ode may be Toronto’s only Black-owned hotel today, the family hopes it won’t be for long.
Kruger Shalati (Kruger National Park, South Africa)
One of the most unbelievable experiences in South Africa is the product of Black creativity and audacity to construct a dream. Built into the historic Selati Bridge overlooking Kruger National Park, Kruger Shalati transformed decommissioned train cars into one of the more distinctive luxury stays on the continent. Guests can sleep in restored carriages overlooking the river, with wildlife moving through the landscape just beneath the tracks.
A stay here gives travelers a blend of South African railway heritage and what South Africa does best, which is up-close encounters with the wildlife of your dreams against the backdrop of a safari lodge. Kruger Shalati earns its appeal through design alone. It’s a marker of how far Black ownership has moved into South Africa’s luxury tourism landscape, not as an exception, but as a defining presence in one of the country’s most sought-after and stunning settings.
Wanderstay Boutique Hotel (Houston, Texas)
Deidre Mathis, the visionary behind Wanderstay Boutique Hotel, is Houston’s only known Black woman hotelier. It’s a milestone that followed her first one: in 2018, she opened Wanderstay Houston Hostel, the first Black-owned hostel in the United States. After the hostel’s success, Mathis created Wanderstay Boutique Hotel to elevate travelers’ stay experience.
The ten-room, adults-only boutique hotel is located in Houston’s Midtown neighborhood. Mathis transformed a 30-year-old air conditioning warehouse into a 7,000-square-foot property. Each room has its own theme, from the Black and White Art Museum and Safari Escape to Desert Vibes and an ode to Houston sports teams. There’s also a Music Lovers Room and a Winter Wonderland Room.
Beyond the designs and fun themes that create 10 different experiences, Mathis has become a champion for diversifying the industry and increasing Black hotel ownership. The genuine, distinctive guest experience backed by the founder’s mission of actively working to open the door for others is exactly why Wanderstay earns its place on this list.
Discover the full lineup of 2026 Travel Noire Award honorees featuring the people, places, and brands defining Black travel right now.
