Annua Signature Hotels has opened Son Xotano, an intimate estate hotel nestled in the rural heartland of Mallorca.
The property – Annua’s fourth destination, and its first on the Balearic island – is presented as a timeless retreat rooted in landscape, memory and material.
Set just outside the inland village of Sencelles, the estate occupies a 12th-century possessió – a traditional rural manor house – surrounded by ancient olive trees, working vineyards and lavender fields.
The property distils Annua’s ethos into a Mallorcan expression, with design grounded in place and architecture as a form of memory.
“We wanted to create a space that felt like a homecoming,” says Álvaro Sasiambarrena, co-founder and creative director of Annua Signature Hotels. “A place where every texture, every scent, every silence evokes something essential – something remembered.”
To bring this vision to life, Sasiambarrena enlisted a creative team from across Spain and the Balearics. Architectural restoration was led by ClapésPizà, a Mallorca-based studio headed by Adrià Clapés and Joan Pizà, with the brief to preserve the layered character of the centuries-old estate while adapting it to the needs of contemporary travellers.
Rather than overwrite the past, ClapésPizà amplified it – restoring dry-stone walls, repointing original beams and reintroducing historical elements like the marès sandstone arch at the entrance, quarried from the estate itself.
To promote sustainability, the project began with preservation – the decision to restore, rather than rebuild – and every phase of the process has followed a principle of low intervention and long-term care.
The original stone structure was retained in full, reducing the environmental impact of new construction. All building materials were locally sourced or reclaimed, from timber beams and antique tiles to ironwork and ceramics.
The estate is oriented for passive cooling, with cross-ventilation and shaded walls reducing the need for mechanical systems. Traditional techniques are woven throughout, chosen for their inherent sustainability.
Interior design was led by long-time Annua collaborator Virginia Nieto. Drawing directly from the island’s essence and local materials – Mallorcan clay, pine, linen and brushed metal – Nieto curated a soft and sensorial palette throughout the hotel, with light blues that echo the sky and earth tones to ground the space.
Every material, from linen and brushed metal to local clay, was chosen for how it feels as much as how it looks, and a calm atmosphere has been created through open-plan rooms with bespoke furniture, open-sky bathrooms, private gardens and interiors that invite pause. Many furnishings were custom designed by Nieto’s studio, blending artisan collaboration with personal detail.
Son Xotano offers 22 guest rooms, including 14 suites, each uniquely designed yet united by a shared architectural language of natural light, noble materials and a sensorial sense of calm. Energy efficiency is integrated through natural insulation, cross-ventilation and traditional thermal systems, which reduce reliance on mechanical cooling.
Rooms are thoughtfully proportioned, often featuring arched windows, vaulted ceilings or stone thresholds that open onto private gardens, loggias or balconies. Locally sourced textiles, such as Mallorcan-made roba de llengües fabrics, appear as accent cushions or headboard panels, while bedding is crafted from 100% washed linen in neutral tones by Bassols, custom-made exclusively for Annua.
Bathrooms are expansive and elegant, featuring walk-in rain showers, sandstone basins and matte brass fixtures, and handcrafted ceramic tiles – some glazed in a custom chalky green – nod to traditional island craft while remaining contemporary.
Suites include lounge areas, freestanding bathtubs and fireplaces for cooler months. Select rooms feature private plunge pools or walled patios shaded by olive trees, offering a sense of privacy in the Mallorcan countryside.
Each space is layered with breathable materials including linen, stone, hand-thrown clay and locally sourced wood, and natural light animates spaces as it shifts through wooden shutters and filters through pergolas.
Son Xotano celebrates Mallorcan identity as a vibrant, living tradition, rooted in authenticity and carried gracefully into the present. From textiles to tableware, the hotel celebrates the work of local artisans and makers, including roba de llengües (traditional ikat patterns) used on ceiling beams and glass lighting from Gordiola, an 18th-century glassblowing atelier in Algaida.
At the heart of the hotel, a restored lobby has been designed to feel more like a private home than a hotel entrance and the piazza beyond acts as an informal town square, bringing together rooms, pathways and culinary spaces in a natural architectural choreography.
Art is woven through the property through sculptural furnishings, framed local photography and bespoke artisan pieces, and the subtle fragrance concept – lavender from the gardens, fig leaf and sun-warmed stone – echoes the natural surroundings and deepens the sense of place.
Outside, the hotel’s landscape design, also led by Nieto Studio, draws from the traditions of Mediterranean agriculture. Ancient terraces and dry-stone cisterns have been restored, while native species – carob, olive, rosemary, fig – thrive under a xeriscape strategy that minimises water use supports biodiversity.
Rainwater harvesting systems support the estate’s gardens, while an on-site composting system supports soil health and vegetable production. Beyond its own boundaries, Son Xotano is collaborating with ecological organisations to restore several hectares of abandoned farmland nearby, reintroducing native plant species and supporting biodiversity regeneration over a five-year plan.
The pool, which sits amongst the vineyards, is a central feature, discreetly framed by dry-stone walls and tall cypresses, lined with natural stone and flanked by linen-draped pergolas.
The hotel’s dining experiences unfold across several distinct spaces, including El Celler, the estate’s historic wine cellar, which now serves as a rustic-elegant grill restaurant featuring clay walls, soft lighting and local ceramics.
Son Xotano’s approach to wellness begins with architecture, from natural light to sound insulation and materials that breathe, and shaded garden patios and a pine-sheltered pavilion provide spaces for treatments and mindfulness.
While distinct, Son Xotano shares a common DNA with the other properties in the Annua portfolio – its reverence for place, passion for craft and belief that luxury today means space, silence and sincerity.
