Month: February 2026

For many years the phrase “all-inclusive resort” conjured images of buffet lines, watered-down cocktails, and cookie-cutter rooms filled with overweight families on spring break. W Hotels just ripped up the rulebook. Their brand-new flagship property in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic represents something radically different: an all-inclusive experience built for discerning adults who “refuse to compromise on design, dining, or cultural resonance.”

Situated on 15 prime beachfront acres, W Punta Cana is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Marriott Bonvoy, Grupo Puntacana, and MAC Hotels. The adults-only destination is designed to “channel the bold energy of W Hotels through a new lens of all-inclusive luxury,” where “diverse dining, dynamic design, and immersive programming invite guests to escape convention.”

“W Punta Cana marks a bold and exciting evolution for W Hotels as we enter the all-inclusive space with the same tuned-in spirit and magnetic energy that defines the brand,” says George Fleck, Senior Vice President and Brand Leader, W Hotels. “This isn’t just another resort—it’s the brand reimagining the concept entirely, where everything from elevated dining to immersive experiences reserved for adults-only are thoughtfully curated and included.”

“Set against the stunning natural backdrop of Punta Cana’s pristine beaches and lush landscape, this destination is the perfect location for the brand to debut its first-ever all-inclusive,” he notes. “W Punta Cana is turning the traditional model on its head—delivering luxury through detail-driven design, exceptional service, and story-worthy experiences that immerse guests in local culture through the lens of W Hotels. This resort is a statement that all-inclusive can be anything but expected.”

“W Hotels has been breaking the mold since 1998 – and we’re just getting started,” adds Brian King, President of Marriott International, Caribbean and Latin America. “Tucked between lush jungle and the electric blues of the Caribbean Sea, W Punta Cana is everything W Hotels is known for—daring design, unexpected moments, and a totally new spin on all-inclusive luxury. This isn’t just a resort—it’s a vibe, a movement, a new way to travel.”

Spain-based Zanobia Arquitectura crafted the resort’s contemporary aesthetic, weaving Dominican heritage, like thatched palapa roofs, into every detail. The architecture channels the island’s rich history through natural materials that evoke cobblestone streets and Caribbean textures. Design elements inspired by the region’s colonial heritage and tobacco plantations complement aesthetic motifs drawn from Larimar, a rare blue mineral found exclusively in the Dominican Republic, alongside décor influenced by dragonflies and seashells.

The resort features 340 guest rooms and suites, each starting at 700 square feet. There are 46 suites with exclusive swim-up pools, with select units offering full-sized private pools. The Oasis Mega Suites represent the property’s top-drawer accommodations, ranging from two-bedroom layouts at 2,530 square feet to three-bedroom penthouses spanning 4,681 square feet. These VIP suites feature full-sized private pools, butler service, full kitchens, and separate living and dining areas. The three-bedroom penthouse accommodates up to eight guests and includes a wet bar area with a record player and curated vinyl selection.

The property’s sinuous layout is designed to resemble a lively, creative village with pockets of privacy. The impeccable quarter-mile of beachfront is enhancedwith the W brand’s signature WET Deck and a 260-foot infinity pool—larger than Olympic size. Set off from the beach meanwhile, the Chill Pool offers a serene ambiance for laid-back moments, complete with a swim-up bar, as well as a menu of healthy bites, and plenty of sunbeds.

With 12 distinct restaurants, bars, and lounges, the resort delivers an ambitious culinary experience. Trade Market offers an interactive dining experience with live-action stations inspired by global street food and fueled by fresh, local ingredients. At Scena, a chef-driven concept reimagines contemporary Dominican and Caribbean-inspired cuisine. Additional highlights include Noodle Bar, serving Pan Asian street fare, and Sensazioni, a versatile bar and events theater.

The resort’s mixology program reflects abar-centric philosophy. Signature venues include Taproom, a modern reinterpretation of a traditional microbrewery and beer hall, and Taman Beach Club, the resort’s social hub, “seamlessly blending the energy of the WET Deck with the laid-back vibe of the shoreline.” Living Room Bar crafts artful cocktails with a Dominican twist, highlighting house-made infusions and locally inspired ingredients. And later at night the super-cool 33 1/3 Speakeasy offers an exclusive hideaway where “vinyl records set the tone and spontaneous, unscripted mixology defines the experience.”

Entertainment at W Punta Cana is of key importance and deeply rooted in local culture. The live music lineup, developed by the brand’s Music Director of the Caribbean and Latin America, Sinego, in collaboration with Dominican-based electronic music collective Chinese Laundry, blends global influence with local soul. Guests can immerse themselves in innovative experiences such as DJ-led “sound baths,” beachside silent discos, vinyl libraries, and nightly rooftop sessions.

The brand’s signature AWAY Spa is of course present at the new property, offering ten treatment rooms and a menu inspired by local healing traditions, incorporating turmeric, arnica, and the single-pressed moringa seed oil, known as “miracle oil” on the island. Guests can unwind in the steam room, Himalayan salt room, sauna, or the expansive indoor pool. The spa is complemented by a 1,500-square-foot W-branded FIT gym and wellness space accessible 24 hours a day.

“At W Punta Cana, we set out to create a destination that’s as rich in cultural connection as it is in world-class amenities,” says Omar Rivera, the property’s General Manager. “This is a space for the curious, the creative, and the culturally connected. Every corner of the resort invites guests to explore, engage, and experience the Dominican Republic in a way that’s intriguing, elevated, and often unexpected.” Punta Cana being the perfect vantage point.

The resort’s dedicated W Insiders and Whatever/Whenever team specializes in making guests feel like VIPs. They can arrange private tours of Punta Cana and surrounding national parks, or charter boats and yachts for diving and snorkeling around the island. Whatever/Whenever is W Hotels’ signature concierge service with the tagline “as long as it’s legal”—meaning guests can request virtually anything and the hotel will try to make it happen.

W Hotels, part of Marriott Bonvoy, has become an iconic luxury lifestyle brand defined by “bold design, vibrant social spaces, and a distinctive point of view.” Since its debut in 1998, W Hotels has sought to “redefine the luxury hospitality landscape with a forward-thinking approach to style, music, fashion, and culture.” It now sits along such storied brands as EDITION, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis and The Luxury Collection in the top tier of the prestigious Marriott Bonvoy portfolio. 

H. Moser & Cie. has built its avant-garde reputation on daring design choices, from using futuristic Vantablack in watches to releasing a “Swiss Mad” timepiece with a case made from actual Swiss cheese.

But somehow, the irreverent watchmaker had never crafted a watch from ceramic—a material that has become relatively commonplace in luxury horology—until now. Last week’s unveiling of the Streamliner Tourbillon Concept Ceramic marked something of a minor milestone in the Zurich company’s design repertoire.

“We never introduce a material simply because it is fashionable,” H. Moser & Cie. CEO Edouard Meylan told Maxim. “Ceramic has been widely used in watchmaking for years, but we wanted to approach it in our own way, when it felt meaningful for the Streamliner and aligned with our philosophy of purity and innovation. The Streamliner is a very sculptural, fluid design. Ceramic allows us to enhance that silhouette while delivering exceptional lightness and durability. It was not about following a trend, but about reinterpreting a contemporary material through the lens of Moser that felt technical, refined, and discreetly bold.”

The new model utilizes an anthracite grey ceramic for its 40mm case and bracelet. The eye-catching red fumé Grand Feu enamel dial was created by engraving a hammered pattern onto a white gold base before applying translucent enamel pigments. That material then underwent successive firings in a kiln to achieve a striking gradient effect that darkens toward the edges. The ceramic stunner also features the Streamliner collection’s signature alternating polished and satin-finished surfaces, including flourishes on the bracelet links and circular brushing on the case. The dial has no indices or logo, all the to better draw the eye to its blood-red enamel and the mechanical movement at the bottom of the display.

“What I find most compelling is the contrast,” Meylan continued. “You have this dark, architectural ceramic case and bracelet, extremely modern and technical, paired with the warmth and depth of a Grand Feu enamel fumé dial. That tension between cutting-edge material and traditional craftsmanship is very Moser. And of course, the one-minute flying tourbillon with our double hairspring remains at the heart of the piece. Even in a contemporary execution, the watch is fundamentally about precision and mechanical integrity. The Concept approach, with no logo or indices, reinforces that purity and allows the material and the product to speak for themselves.”

The tourbillon referenced by Meylan is positioned at 6 o’clock, for a floating appearance above the dial. The watch is powered by the HMC 805 automatic caliber, an in-house movement with a three-day reserve and a double hairspring made by H. Moser’s sister company, Precision Engineering AG. With two matching hairsprings, the movement is said to compensate for “gravitational displacement” as the springs expand, which, according to H. Moser, improves the watch’s chronometric accuracy.

The movement is dramatically visible through the sapphire crystal case-back, revealing an 18-carat red gold skeletonized oscillating weight and anthracite-finished bridges. The ceramic case of this covetable collector’s piece is said to be surprisingly durable and water-resistant to 120 meters, making it suitable for everyday wear.

Asked about what unexpected materials may come next for H. Moser’s playfully inventive ethos, Meylan didn’t reveal much. “Ceramic opens interesting possibilities for us as part of a broader dialogue about modern watchmaking,” he said. “You can expect us to continue experimenting, sometimes where it is least expected, but always in a very Moser way.”

The H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Tourbillon Concept Ceramic is available now for $112,100.

For Dubai visitors and citizens, flight-sharing will soon be just a phone tap away. Uber has just announced that rides from its all-electric air taxi service, Uber Air, will be bookable in the jet-setting United Arab Emirates’ destination this year. The futuristic transportation feat that’s been pondered and dreamed about for decades is finally becoming a reality through the ride-sharing service’s partnership with Joby, a California-based maker of taxis capable of electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL

The companies are promising an experience that sounds every bit as easy has hailing an automobile thanks to “one-tap booking” Integration with the Uber app. Riders will simply punch in their destination and book an entire multimodal journey that combines the Uber Black luxury car ground transport with Uber Air flights operated by certified commercial pilots.

Capable of accommodating four passengers, each Uber Air x Joby taxi utilizes six tilting propellers to perform vertical takeoffs and landings before transitioning into high-speed forward flight, reaching speeds up to 200 mph with a 100-mile range on a single charge. Joby engineered the aircraft specifically for urban integration with multiple levels of safety redundancies and an acoustic profile that promises to “blend into the ambient sounds of a city’s streets.” The company has previously claimed that the air taxi is “100 times quieter” than a conventional helicopter.

“We’ve long believed in the power of advanced air mobility to transform how people move through cities,” Sachin Kansal, Chief Product Officer at Uber, said in a prepared statement. “With Uber Air, riders will be able to book Joby’s electric air taxi through a simple and familiar, one-tap experience on Uber, seamlessly connecting every leg of their journey – making ground-to-sky travel even more effortless.”

“We set out to build a new layer of urban transportation,” added Eric Allison, Chief Product Officer at Joby. “Our focus has always been on creating a flight experience that operates quietly and integrates naturally into the rhythm of city life. By partnering with Uber, we’re making this new mode of transportation familiar and accessible, connecting the ground and the sky through a system designed to save people time and fit seamlessly into how they already move.”

This isn’t the first that Uber has tried going airborne. In 2016, Uber Elevate was announced as an aerial ridesharing platform that would operate in U.S. cities like Los Angeles and Dallas, as Yahoo! Finance points out. The promise never came to pass, and instead, Joby acquired the internal project, which included Uber’s aerial ridesharing software, in 2020. That same year, Uber upped its investment in Joby from $50 million to $125 million that same year. Now, the partnership has yielded a market-ready air taxi product.

“2026 will mark a key inflection point for Joby,” said JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, in a Wednesday earnings announcement. “After a year full of rigorous full-transition flight testing and meaningful progress across every part of our business, we’ve begun to shift our focus from how and when we’ll go to market, to how many aircraft we can produce and where to deploy them.”

While no timeline has been announced for stateside Uber Air deployment, Joby did add that it’s pressing forward with an official U.S. launch: “The company has completed over 50,000 miles of flight testing and is currently in the final stage of the FAA certification process, marking a significant milestone in its path to carrying fare-paying passengers.”

The Maxim Cover Girl judging panel is close to crowning the first Workout Warrior champion—and trust us, the competition was fierce. Behind the scenes, our creative team is already buzzing about what’s next, including whispers of an upcoming competition featuring a major runway opportunity. Let’s just say… heels may be required. Want to be the first to know? Follow @maximmag_covergirl on Instagram for exclusive updates, announcements, and behind-the-scenes moments. In the meantime, meet this week’s five Friday Features contenders:

Ally Hickey (@_allyhickey_)

Ally Hickey knows beauty runs deeper than a flawless photo—it’s about confidence, resilience, and unapologetic authenticity. A proud Oklahoma Sooner alum with unmistakable spunk, Hickey thrives on adventure and embodies modern femininity.

Khristen Murdock (@bodiedbymurda)

Khristen Murdock is proof that strength and glamour aren’t opposites—they’re a power move. A retired U.S. Army officer turned master esthetician and fitness model, she uniquely incorporates military discipline into her current hustles. The health and wellness guru channels precision, confidence, and undeniable presence into everything she touches.

Kaylee McGuigan (@kayleeshaemarie)

Drawn to emotion-driven photography, Kaylee McGuigan loves capturing moments that feel raw and real. When she’s not in front of or behind the lens, she’s staying active, discovering new music, and embracing the kind of confidence that radiates from within.

MJ Niche (@mj_niche)

As a petite Native American model, MJ Niche has never aimed to fit the mold. Over the years, she’s carved out her own space in the industry through discipline, resilience, and an unshakable belief in herself. Niche represents visibility, perseverance, and the power of standing confidently in your own story.

Dana Altieri (@dana.images)

As a four-time cancer survivor, Dana Altieri truly loves life in a way only she can. A devoted mom to her two daughters, Altieri is known for her spontaneity, razor-sharp wit, and a personality that keeps everyone on their toes. She’s equally fluent in 1980s WWF wrestling lore and Prince lyrics.