A good hostess is friendly and welcoming. It doesn't make a good first impression for any hotel if they're aloof and noisy, as happens at Belmond Maroma Spa and Resort.
It takes just 25 minutes on a ferry, across from the mainland port of Chiquila on the northern tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsular, to reach Isla Holbox.
Arriving at Banyan Tree Mayakoba, you need to do a double take. Are you still in Mexico? The hotel is just a few miles outside Playa del Carmen, the lively party beach and party town on the coast of Quintana Roo on the Yucatan Peninsular, so this should definitely feel like Mexico.
Lisbon, the sun-drenched harbor capital of Portugal, has long been one of Europe's best-kept secrets. Here, antique trolley cars share winding roads with shiny new Peugeots, and historic churches outfitted with tile frescos mingle among modern art galleries, boutique hotels, and chic outdoor tapas restaurants.
What defines a luxury hotel? Is it the food, the design, the service or a combination of it all? If anyone knows it's the Good Hotel Guide, and as the 36 year old institution releases its 2017 edition, they give us 10 of their best luxury hotels in England.
Some people love a parade, some love a rainy night. I love a beach. And as they are predicting a long, hard winter this time around…. Aruba - and your fabulous beaches - here I come!
Life is hard. Vacationing should be easy. The Villa del Palmar Resort in Loretro, Mexico, on the Baja's east coast, figured out that vacationers yearn for the opposite of their hectic life back home.
Before I left for Mallorca, all I knew about the island was that it was off Spain's Mediterranean coast. And that it was the largest of the four Balearic Islands that are popular destinations because of the beaches, beautiful landscape and warm weather.
Sydney Australia's iconic Opera House is famous throughout the world for its distinctive shell-like roof and prominent place in Sydney Harbor.
Rees Jones is listening. The man known internationally as “The U.S. Open Doctor” paid homage to golf industry pushback by designing a Baja peninsula masterpiece that he considers one of his finest creations. Jones sees his dance in the desert design to be a rare best-of-both-worlds golf communion.
Palm trees, bright skies, bruschetta, burrata, pear tarts, cannoli and espresso on a hotel terrace facing a lake. Italy, right? Sure, but that also describes Switzerland in the southern region known as Ticino.
The grandeur of Madrid emanates from its expansive beating heart, the incomparable Plaza Mayor.
Inhabiting what was once the Kimpton's Monaco hotel, The Marker has placed its own original Joie de Vivre stamp on the centrally-located San Francisco property.
The moment you approach The Mark Hotel on 77th Street in New York City, a block from Central Park, you realize this is a very special place.
There's a famous quote that says: “Paradise is not a place, it is a state of mind.” Wrong. Paradise is, very much, a place. Once at this “place,” your state of mind kicks in and then, voila: Paradise! This was my profoundly pleasurable experience recently on my first visit to Costa Rica.
