Makes the T+L’s It List 2018, the annual collection of the best new and reborn properties worldwide.

New York based T+L is the preeminent voice for the sophisticated traveller, serving up expert intelligence and immersive, inspiring travel lifestyle content. Every year, Travel + Leisure editors look at thousands of hotel openings and renovations around the globe with one mission in mind: what properties will truly be game changers for our readers. A great location, thoughtful design, and intuitive service are a given. What’s harder to define is a little thing called buzz-factor.

This is what they have to say about Wild Coast Tented Lodge:

“Sri Lanka is poised to become the next ‘It’ safari destination, and this otherworldly retreat just outside of Yala National Park has everything to do with it. The secluded, beachfront property comprises 28 cocoon-like suites clustered around manmade waterholes meant to attract jackals and peacocks, but the real action goes down on game drives through the quietest corners of the national park, home to wild elephants, crocodiles, and elusive Sri Lankan leopards. After a full day exploring, lounge around the hotel’s enormous infinity pool or unwind in your colonial-chic suite, which has canvas walls, porthole windows, teak floors, and freestanding copper tubs. The open-air, bamboo-clad restaurant is an atmospheric setting in which to enjoy the authentic Sri Lankan cuisine, but for the ultimate in romance, opt to dine on the beach under a star-studded sky.”

Source: http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/it-list-the-best-new-hotels#asia-wild-coast-tented-lodge