Padel courts take over luxury travel at Singapore’s METT, Spain’s Marbella Club, Indonesia’s Nihi Sumba

Time to forget all that breathwork and exhaling — padel is here.

Not done being one of the world’s fastest growing sports, padel (we’ll get to the pronunciation shortly) has entered the sojourn as global resorts and hotels play to the latest holiday fitness must-have and scramble to install lavish new courts.

Yes, padel has graduated from fashionable distraction to a full-blown luxury-hotel obsession.

From Spain’s Marbella Club and Puente Romano on the country’s sun-drenched coast to Indonesia’s Nihi Sumba and Singapore’s stand-out METT, heightened properties are turning the once-niche racquet sport into a reason to book the stay in the first place.

The appeal is obvious, built around ease and sociable competition which delivers a decent workout that ticks several boxes at once — wellness, entertainment, connection and a fresh point of difference in an increasingly crowded market. Because modern luxury isn’t simply lying beside an infinity pool contemplating one’s reflection, it’s having something worthwhile to do after.

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Not familiar with padel? Envisage a Frankenstein coming-together of tennis and squash, a sport played in doubles on an enclosed court with glass walls keeping the ball in play. The racquets are perforated pieces of carbon fibre, voluminous for their size, with balls that look like tennis balls but which aren’t tennis balls.

The court is smaller, the rallies longer and the learning curve mercifully shallow — you can become reasonably competent within an hour or two, which is roughly also the time it takes to become insufferable about it.

I should know. I’m there, living out my middle-aged breakdown on a semi-regular suburban court alongside too many finance bros and other men of a certain age (40-odd, thanks) who’ve recently discovered “wellness”, openly talk about cortisol levels and wear watches that tell us how badly we’re sleeping, with developing opinions about magnesium.

Women play padel, too — though, like most things in life, they avoid the need to tell everyone about it.

Padel is, to be fair, annoyingly fun. That explains the surge in uptake, which itself explains the sport’s rapid and recent excitement at a resort/hotel level.

The International Padel Federation’s latest snapshot claims 38 million global players with more than 77,000 courts (more than 14,000 courts added in the past 18 months) scattered across more than 150 countries. Europe accounts for roughly two-thirds of those courts, with Spain and Italy among the sport’s great strongholds.

According to a Tennis Australia report in April, more than 90,000 Australians have now tried padel, with domestic court numbers growing by more than 50 per cent the past 12 months.

Former tennis world No.1 Pat Rafter was first offered a game of padel 15 years ago.

“It was the south of France — some guy said, ‘You’ve got to play. It’s huge. It’s massive.’ I just said, ‘Yeah, no thanks’.”

That was then. The two-time US Open champion took up the sport a few years ago, playing four times a week, representing Australia at various senior championships and openly outing an obsession.

“Yeah, I’m infatuated with it . . . It’s challenging my mind and I’m learning new things all the time. It’s doubles, it’s got glass and has this squash element to it where you can play off the walls.

“I’m finding, at this stage in my life, that I really want to take on something again . . . And padel is about the competition but it’s also so much fun.”

The 53-year-old also has skin in the game as a partner in cool racquet sport clothing label Rallee (which has also taken investment from former women’s tennis world No.1 and Wimbledon champion Ash Barty and Powderfinger’s Bernard Fanning, among others).

“We decided that racquet sports were going to be our focus — padel, pickleball and tennis. We’re trying to keep it pretty bespoke and a little edgy and we like the idea of a bit of disruption in racquet sports. You know, a lot is happening with racquet sports at the moment, people are talking about tennis in TV shows and pickleball and padel and, as you say, hotels can’t build enough courts. So can we capture some of that market? That’s our challenge with Rallee, and that’s fun,” Rafter says.

Within the hotel sector, padel proves a particularly elegant proposition and a social offer that moves past the solitary ways of a treadmill, a cold plunge or an hour of Pilates. Four people, one court, a little friendly competition followed by a long lunch or dinner involving some grilled fish, interesting salad and a cold bottle of decency.

“Luxury travellers today want more than just a beautiful hotel room,” METT Singapore general manager Marcel Li tells ROAM. “They want connection, community and wellbeing and our padel offering is all of this.”

The METT opened late last year with two striking green courts, set against the backdrop of its listed main heritage building and adjacent to the incoming Madison House private members’ club.

“Padel adds a sense of fun and sociability to the wellness experience, and you don’t need to be an elite athlete to enjoy it,” Li says. “We’re a city hotel surrounded by the lush nature of Fort Canning Park, with a strong focus on dining, wellness, fitness and community through Madison House, and the courts add another layer to that experience. It gives guests a reason to stay active and to socialise.”

Is it, though, a newfound driver to stay?

“Yes, particularly for those who already play or are curious to try it. Though its real value is in how it contributes to the overall energy of the hotel.”

There is also an element of cool draped over the padel court, and what it gifts a property in terms of some youthful cred and, ideally, shareable social media moments (see W Bali and its collaboration with Lacoste across two padel courts and a retail boutique peddling the French label’s first capsule dedicated to the sport).

Some properties have made a particularly convincing case for taking up the sport and holidaying with your own racquet.

At Amanzoe, the extraordinary Aman retreat on Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula, padel sits comfortably within a landscape of stone pavilions, olive groves and private pools.

On France’s Cote d’Azur, Airelles Chateau de La Messardiere offers a more theatrical backdrop. Set within a vast estate above Saint-Tropez, its padel court is surrounded by Mediterranean greenery, with the kind of views that can make even a double fault appear glamorous.

Closer to home — well, Indonesia — and Nihi Sumba offers padel with a side of ocean and jungle, while Marbella’s Puente Romano resort comes with a serious sporting pedigree.

Here the tennis club boasts eight floodlit glass padel courts, professional coaching and the infrastructure to accommodate everyone from the complete novice to the guest who insists they used to be quite good at tennis. The resort’s restaurants and bars are conveniently positioned to reward effort with calories — which is surely the point of exercise in the first place.

In the English countryside, Beaverbrook in Surrey has offered padel since 2018. The hotel’s court has proved so popular that bookings run between 80 to 90 per cent occupancy, according to The Observer.

Across the Atlantic, The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, Miami, has three padel courts within a facility designed by tennis professional Cliff Drysdale. Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa in Southern California has three courts of its own. The Parker Palm Springs added two outdoor courts in 2025, replacing two red-clay tennis courts.

Then there’s a court that gives new meaning to high-performance sport - Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St Moritz, Switzerland, which introduced a combined tennis and padel court at around 1850m above sea level in 2025.

What unites these properties is not merely the courts, it’s the way padel slots into a broader travel proposition. Movement in the morning, restorative treatments in the afternoon, excellent food at night. The sport is accessible enough for couples, families and groups of friends, yet competitive enough to satisfy any guest who finds losing at Monopoly a burn. Padel also offers hotels and resorts a rare commodity — an activity guests will happily organise a day around. Some will book a court during their stay; others may choose a destination because it exists.

In a crowded luxury market where every property promises exceptional service, bespoke experiences and a spa boasting too many essential oils, padel is proving a valuable point of difference.

As for that pronunciation, it’s PAD-el — essentially paddle without making a meal of it. Say it naturally, rather than pah-DELL, and nobody will suspect you only just discovered it at Rosewood Phuket.