Here’s a round-up of luxury travel stories that have caught the eye this week. To make sure you receive these new weekly alerts in your web browser, please click on the red bell icon in the bottom right hand corner of the page and click ‘subscribe’ (works on desktop only – for other ways to subscribe, please click here). This will also alert you to any other posts on the blog. Should you wish, you can unsubscribe at any time, by clicking on the icon again and selecting ‘unsubscribe’.
Inside Kim’s $275-a-night luxury hotel room in Hanoi
A luxury hotel in the heart of downtown Hanoi is where DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un will stay during his round of talks with US President Donald Trump. Kim arrived in Vietnam Tuesday morning by train for his first official visit to the country and the second summit with his American counterpart… [read more]
Trump stays in luxury hotel for Vietnam summit, avoids ‘Hanoi Hilton’
During his summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, President Trump is staying a few miles from the notorious Vietnam War prison known as the “Hanoi Hilton” — in significantly plusher digs. Trump and his White House entourage are quartered at the five-star J.W. Marriott Hanoi, which bills itself as “a world unto itself,” featuring seven on-site restaurants, a jazz club, a spa, and an indoor pool… [read more]
The best retreats for barefoot luxury travel
Luxury is a subjective notion – for some, it’s as simple as a hot bath; for others, it might be somewhat more lavish, involving lashings of vintage champagne (or perhaps a combination of the two). But when it comes to hotel design, the term can ring alarm bells – all too often ‘luxury’ is a byword for diamanté-encrusted bling and dark-polished surfaces, a concept that can leave us cold… [read more]
Yurts, domes and luxury tents — next level glamping is here
“Roughing it” isn’t something that has ever appealed to Dorian Santos. She has always preferred the creature comforts of a high-end hotel — that is, until she woke up in a luxurious tented cocoon perched high above Big Sur last fall… [read more]
Marriott to add more than 30 luxury hotels internationally in 2019
Marriott International has announced that it is projecting to open more than 30 luxury properties in 2019, furthering the company’s global perspective on luxury travel with its ensemble of eight distinct luxury brands. Through the world-renowned hospitality hallmarks of The Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, St. Regis, W, The Luxury Collection, EDITION, JW Marriott and Bulgari, Marriott International continues to push boundaries, creating new guest experiences which meet the needs of the evolving luxury traveller… [read more]
We really enjoy hearing from our readers and would love to hear your views on any of these stories! Please click on the comments below and share your thoughts. Thank you.
Have a story you’d like to share? Please contact us for details.
Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.
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7 Comments
To be absolutely honest $275 for a suite at the Melia Hotel is pretty good value. Granted that the cost of living in Northern Vietnam is a lot lower than what many westerners suffer at home but that Melia price – for that level of indulgent luxury – is still a steal when compared to some of the other luxury hotel prices in Hanoi. Not that the North Korean leader will be out and about but Hanoi is a fascinating city.
A decade ago I really was a five star luxury hotel girl and nothing else would do. Steadily I’ve grown used to the idea of glamping and now I can really appreciate the thinking behind this next step-up to domes and yurts etc. Too often hotels actually detract from the environment, they take away from the beauty that you are supposed to be enjoying. Glamping puts you into beautiful settings, merging in with the environment rather than spoiling it.
Travellers might get excited by Marriott’s plan to build another 30 luxury hotels. There’s a stingy little corner of my brain that wakes up and thinks “more competition, lower prices”. Yet what we fail to appreciate is just how the world tourism industry continues to grow and grow. It seems that everybody wants to see more of the world and stay in luxury. Long gone are the days of a two week holiday, we all want to be travelling all the time. As soon as these hotels are built we’ll be filling them up and room rates will be on that upward curve that rarely seems to offer bargains.
If you drop into ALTB’s regular travel news features you get the impression that the travel Industry continues to grow. Wherever you are in the world, the footfall just keeps on increasing. Also it seems that much of the growth is at the top end of the market. The package holiday industry has shrunk and today it’s more about designing what each consumer wants. The travel industry seems good at customising experiences to satisfy different market segments.
Yet again we are talking about defining luxury.
How many times during A Luxury Travel Blog’s illustrious history have we become embroiled in defining the L word?
As the Livingetc piece quite rightly says luxury is a subjective notion – we all have our own definitions of luxury. It all depends so much on context. At the end of a hot dusty safari drive my definition of luxury will be a cool local beer. After a week of fine dining in Paris my definition of luxury will make very high demands on the wine list …
Fascinating piece on the Hanoi Hilton, the notorious POW Camp. I can remember seeing those last choppers leaving Saigon with people trying to cling on to them. Back then I thought that I’d never see westerners visiting Vietnam in my lifetime, nor did I imagine it becoming such a holiday hotspot.
Looking at the picture of that hotel room in Hanoi it crosses my mind that sometimes a hotel room can be too large. I really agree with the idea that a bedroom is for a bed and sleeping and not much more. That room is so large that I think the acres of space would disturb me. I wouldn’t settle to sleep.
Inside Kim’s $275-a-night luxury hotel room in Hanoi
A luxury hotel in the heart of downtown Hanoi is where DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un will stay during his round of talks with US President Donald Trump. Kim arrived in Vietnam Tuesday morning by train for his first official visit to the country and the second summit with his American counterpart… [read more]
Inside Kim’s $275-a-night luxury hotel room in Hanoi
A luxury hotel in the heart of downtown Hanoi is where DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un will stay during his round of talks with US President Donald Trump. Kim arrived in Vietnam Tuesday morning by train for his first official visit to the country and the second summit with his American counterpart… [read more]
Trump stays in luxury hotel for Vietnam summit, avoids ‘Hanoi Hilton’
During his summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, President Trump is staying a few miles from the notorious Vietnam War prison known as the “Hanoi Hilton” — in significantly plusher digs. Trump and his White House entourage are quartered at the five-star J.W. Marriott Hanoi, which bills itself as “a world unto itself,” featuring seven on-site restaurants, a jazz club, a spa, and an indoor pool… [read more]
The best retreats for barefoot luxury travel
Luxury is a subjective notion – for some, it’s as simple as a hot bath; for others, it might be somewhat more lavish, involving lashings of vintage champagne (or perhaps a combination of the two). But when it comes to hotel design, the term can ring alarm bells – all too often ‘luxury’ is a byword for diamanté-encrusted bling and dark-polished surfaces, a concept that can leave us cold… [read more]
Yurts, domes and luxury tents — next level glamping is here
“Roughing it” isn’t something that has ever appealed to Dorian Santos. She has always preferred the creature comforts of a high-end hotel — that is, until she woke up in a luxurious tented cocoon perched high above Big Sur last fall… [read more]
Marriott to add more than 30 luxury hotels internationally in 2019
Marriott International has announced that it is projecting to open more than 30 luxury properties in 2019, furthering the company’s global perspective on luxury travel with its ensemble of eight distinct luxury brands. Through the world-renowned hospitality hallmarks of The Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, St. Regis, W, The Luxury Collection, EDITION, JW Marriott and Bulgari, Marriott International continues to push boundaries, creating new guest experiences which meet the needs of the evolving luxury traveller… [read more]
We really enjoy hearing from our readers and would love to hear your views on any of these stories! Please click on the comments below and share your thoughts. Thank you.
Have a story you’d like to share? Please contact us for details.
To be absolutely honest $275 for a suite at the Melia Hotel is pretty good value. Granted that the cost of living in Northern Vietnam is a lot lower than what many westerners suffer at home but that Melia price – for that level of indulgent luxury – is still a steal when compared to some of the other luxury hotel prices in Hanoi. Not that the North Korean leader will be out and about but Hanoi is a fascinating city.
A decade ago I really was a five star luxury hotel girl and nothing else would do. Steadily I’ve grown used to the idea of glamping and now I can really appreciate the thinking behind this next step-up to domes and yurts etc. Too often hotels actually detract from the environment, they take away from the beauty that you are supposed to be enjoying. Glamping puts you into beautiful settings, merging in with the environment rather than spoiling it.
Travellers might get excited by Marriott’s plan to build another 30 luxury hotels. There’s a stingy little corner of my brain that wakes up and thinks “more competition, lower prices”. Yet what we fail to appreciate is just how the world tourism industry continues to grow and grow. It seems that everybody wants to see more of the world and stay in luxury. Long gone are the days of a two week holiday, we all want to be travelling all the time. As soon as these hotels are built we’ll be filling them up and room rates will be on that upward curve that rarely seems to offer bargains.
If you drop into ALTB’s regular travel news features you get the impression that the travel Industry continues to grow. Wherever you are in the world, the footfall just keeps on increasing. Also it seems that much of the growth is at the top end of the market. The package holiday industry has shrunk and today it’s more about designing what each consumer wants. The travel industry seems good at customising experiences to satisfy different market segments.
Yet again we are talking about defining luxury.
How many times during A Luxury Travel Blog’s illustrious history have we become embroiled in defining the L word?
As the Livingetc piece quite rightly says luxury is a subjective notion – we all have our own definitions of luxury. It all depends so much on context. At the end of a hot dusty safari drive my definition of luxury will be a cool local beer. After a week of fine dining in Paris my definition of luxury will make very high demands on the wine list …
Fascinating piece on the Hanoi Hilton, the notorious POW Camp. I can remember seeing those last choppers leaving Saigon with people trying to cling on to them. Back then I thought that I’d never see westerners visiting Vietnam in my lifetime, nor did I imagine it becoming such a holiday hotspot.
Looking at the picture of that hotel room in Hanoi it crosses my mind that sometimes a hotel room can be too large. I really agree with the idea that a bedroom is for a bed and sleeping and not much more. That room is so large that I think the acres of space would disturb me. I wouldn’t settle to sleep.