Developed by sisters Jennifer May and Colleen Tebrake, Ambiente is a hotel like no other. Overlooking the mountains in Sedona, AZ, it is billed as the first landscape hotel in the U.S.
“A landscape hotel is about letting nature steal the show,” said May. “Most hotels are built for you to come enjoy the environment of the building and what is provided for you, but Sedona is its own environment, and it draws people here. Our hotel has minimal impact on the landscape itself, but the rooms are designed in such a way that they feature the beauty of what nature provides.”
The sisters learned of the natural attraction of the area after developing their parents’ restaurant located next door to the property that became Ambiente. A two-and-a-half-story lodge was originally built on the site.
“When this piece of property came available to us, we looked at that design and thought, ‘It’s such a shame to build a lodge, where you just get a very minimal view of this landscape,’” May recalled. “So the idea was to split it up and take those 40 rooms out of one building and put them in individual pods—what we call atriums. We got them up on stilts and moved them around to get the spectacular view in front of as many rooms as possible, while providing the most amount of privacy that we could for our guests.”
The hotel was designed to be adults-only. “All of the atriums were built with king-size beds and three walls of glass from floor to ceiling,” she said. “We just wanted to create an environment where you could come and have a very peaceful, serene stay and really enjoy the tranquility of the environment that Sedona provides.”
In order to make the landscape outside the focus of the design, the atriums feature a “modern, minimal and darker feel,” said May, adding, “All of the textiles in the room are more natural and organic. We wanted to really make you feel like you were tucked into your own private IMAX theater with your view of Sedona outside.”
Each atrium features a rooftop terrace with a fire pit and a daybed for guests to view the landscape or for stargazing.
Guests enter the hotel through a large door made of waterfall bubinga wooden panels into a circular lobby with floor-to-ceiling windows.
“We knew that this was going to be people’s first experience of coming to the hotel, so we really wanted that Red Rock view to be the first thing you see when you walk in,” said May.
The front desk is made of parota root from a tree found in Costa Rica, sourced from an artist in Phoenix. A smaller version was used for the concierge desk.
A spiral staircase from the lobby leads to the Velvet Spa. “Being a smaller property, we didn’t need a huge spa down there,” noted May. “We have a great spa director. She’s super inventive when it comes to different treatments and new treatments with botanicals that are from this area. It’s been a great addition for our guests.”
At the heart of the property are the pool and Forty1 restaurant. It was given that name because it’s housed in the 41st building on the property after the atriums.
“When we designed the hotel, we were going to be a limited-service property,” said May. “We were going to have a bar and a restaurant seating area, and then have all of the meals come out of an Airstream. But when we started getting all of these buyout requests, we realized that we needed a little more from our F&B. So we put an extra kitchen in the back of that main building. That gave us the ability to cook breakfast at that restaurant. Lunch always comes out of the Airstream, which we call The Drifter, by the poolside, while some of the staff is back in the main kitchen prepping for dinner.”
