Luxury travel
Unleash your inner starlet at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills
Hollywood is nothing without its stars, so why should you be treated like anything less than A-class? On your next visit to Los Angeles, stop by the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills and embrace your inner starlet with their new cabana packages, meant to indulge your every command (and provide a little pampering, too).
Now through September, the hotel is offering poolside cabana packages ranging in themes from power couples to cast party, offering everything from Tory Burch sandals to spa treatments. Here's the deal:
FULL ENTRYNew hotel trends for summer travelers
Beer brewing and beer tasting is a new trend in luxury hotels.
It's the little luxury items we look forward to: chocolates on our pillows, a complimentary glass of champagne upon arrival or fuzzy slippers at our beside for turndown service. But all that's about to change, according to one PR company.
Hawkins International PR, based out of New York City, recently revealed their list of the top luxury hotel trends for this summer, looking at what's in, what's out, and what's happening at luxury hotels around the world. Whether you're into food, cocktails or amenities, you might enjoy something different this summer. Take a look:
Top Hops
What's Out: Cooling down with a fruity cocktail
What's In: Cooling down with a beer
Forget fancy cocktails with sugary names and even sweeter taste. This summer, hotels are inviting guests to beat the heat with cold brews. The Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC is serving up an exclusive Centennial Pale Ale to celebrate their 100th anniversary, while Omni Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, NH teamed up with local New England brewery Peak Organic to create the resort's signature Organic Amber Ale.The new Hotel Vermont in Burlington has partnerships with multiple local breweries including Drop-In Brewery and Wolaver Brewery.
The Bermuda resort "buy out" package
If owning your own resort on an idyllic island has always been a dream of yours, one Bermudian resort is ready to make your dreams come true.
Elbow Beach in Bermuda is giving guests the option to buy out the 50-acre beachside resort - the whole resort - for you and 199 of your closest friends. The Resort, the new package offered by the property, comes with everything. Literally. Because it would be yours in its entirety.
If you're not convinced that you would be the most popular person among your friends and co-workers by taking advantage of this package, here's a few things to help convince you:
New York City spotlight: The most expensive hotels
The St. Regis New York was ranked the most expensive hotel in New York City. Photo credit: St. Regis/Facebook
New York has it all -- theater, restaurants, shopping. It's also one of the most expensive cities in the world. But if you've got the dough to drop, New York can be one of the best playgrounds in the world.
Imagine for a moment you do have a few extra grand to spend -- how would you spend it in New York City? Shopping on 5th Avenue? Dining at five-star restaurants? Private chauffeurs and shoppers? And where would you stay?
NewYorkHotels.org compiled a list of the most expensive luxury hotels in New York City, and calculated the average room rate for the most affordable double room in each hotel from May 2012 to April 2013. The results: The St. Regis tops the list as the most expensive hotel in New York City with an average of $823 a night for the most affordable room.
The hotels that made the list have everything you'd expect -- luxury amenities, stellar service, and fine dining options and in some cases a spa, but are they worth the cost?
FULL ENTRYTurnberry Isle Miami: An oasis in Aventura
Sunrise on one of Turnbery Isle Miami's 18-hole golf courses.
Mention southeast Florida and the first thing that most people think of is South Beach - white sand beaches draped from end to end in bikini-clad sun-worshippers, volleyball nets, parasailing and partying in the streets. Sure, South Beach has its finer points - a little further down the road and you'll find yourself in Bal Harbour, the tony village coveted by luxury travelers, and you really can't be the entertainment factor on Ocean Drive on any given night. But for those who want a little more privacy and recluse, there's something a little less flashy but just as luxurious only minutes from Miami Beach.
Turnberry Isle Miami, one of Marriott's newest Autograph Collection hotels, is located just minutes from Fort Lauderdale and Miami in the city of Aventura, and is a welcome escape from the mayhem synonymous with South Beach and southeast Florida.
Turnberry Isle Miami sits on two 18-hole championship golf courses, boasts a 25,000 square foot Four-Star Spa, three heated pools and four restaurants. And that's just the beginning.
Take the early morning 3-hour flight to Fort Lauderdale and you can be relaxing at the resort's Laguna pool by lunch. From there, the options are endless.
FULL ENTRYVIRTUOSO TRAVELER magazine picks "experiences of a lifetime"
Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef is a the must-do travel experience. Photo credit: Flickr Sarah_Ackerman
To help entice your wanderlusting side, VIRTUOSO TRAVELER, the magazine published by luxury travel network Virtuoso®, published “29 Experiences of a Lifetime." From snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef to escaping to a private island, and learning how to tango in Buenos Aires, the list of experiences spans the globe and gives travelers a glimpse of adventures just waiting to be experienced.
Sure, some of these trips require a good amount of time and money, but here's the good news: there's plenty of time to save, many are quite affordable, and you might even find some inspiration from some of the trips on this list to create your own.
Here's are a couple "lifetime experiences" from Virtuoso:
FULL ENTRYForbes Travel Guide announces London hotel, spa star ratings
The entrance of the 45 Park Lane Hotel, London, a Forbes Five-Star hotel
If you're planning a trip to London in the near future, Forbes Travel Guide has some insight to share. The international star-rating company released its first ever star-ratings for London last week, and the results are nothing short of luxurious.
In total, London brought eight Five-Star ratings to the city, ranking London in the top five cities with the greatest Five-Star concentrations (New York, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Shanghai round out the top five in the world).
The six luxury hotels in London with Five-Star ratings are:
- 45 Park Lane
- Claridge’s
- Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane
- The Dorchester
- The Lanesborough
- The Savoy
Baccarat plans luxury hotels, spas
Luxury is limitless, especially when it blends the best of all words: travel and retail. So when French crystal company Baccarat announced it was planning to open high-end residences, hotels and spas, luxury lovers around the world perked up.
In a statement released by Baccarat, the company plans to open six hotels, resorts and residences by 2016. The locations have been set:
- Baccarat Hotel & Residences New York (2014, shown right)
- Baccarat Hotel & Residences at Dubai Pearl in UAE (2016)
- Baccarat Residences Shanghai in China (2016)
- Baccarat Hotel Rabat, Morocco (2014)
- Baccarat Spa Resort Marrakech (2015)
- Baccarat Resort & Residences Marrakech (2016)
St. Regis Bal Harbour partners with Neiman Marcus to style guest room closets
There's luxury travel, and then there's "dreams come true" in luxury travel. This post has a little bit of both.
Imagine walking into your luxury hotel room in the heart of the one of the most fashionable cities in America and finding a closet, pre-stocked, with your favorite designer labels in your size and style. Heaven. In a hotel. All for you.
That's the concept from Miami's newest luxury resort, The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort and Residences, and their partnership with Neiman Marcus.
The new service is a spin on the traditional idea of personal shopping. Neiman Marcus, which is located directly across the street from the resort in the trendy Bal Harbour Shops, will personally style a guest's closet in advance of their stay, with items hand-picked from that guest or chosen directly from a Neiman Marcus personal stylist, based on guests' taste and preferences.
FULL ENTRYWorld's most expensive luxury travel package offered at $1.5 million
Want to travel the world? Have one million dollars to drop? If yes to both, there's a trip waiting for you and it's quite possibly the first of its kind, and the world's most expensive.
Pursuitist, luxury blog dishing about all things opulent, published the details of this trip, which includes a two-year travel package for two people that hits all of the UNESCO’s World Heritage sites for $1.5 million. Here's what the blog had to say:
The luxury trip will take in all of UNESCO’s spectacular 962 World Heritage Sites, including the Taj Mahal in India, the pyramids in Egypt and the Forbidden City in China as well as less internationally known sights such as the painted timber houses in Halsingland, Sweden and Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in the US state of Illinois.In total the trip will span 157 countries and take two years, during which time the couple will stay in hotels such as Sandy Lane in Barbados, Hotel George V in Paris and The Plaza in New York.
As part of the package, a donation of $7,500 will be made to UNESCO during the trip.
Check out all the details from Pursuitist.com.
Readers: If you had $1 million, where would you travel to?




