Resort Review: Of course we’re kidding when we say that “Honua Kai,” the newest resort in Maui, is Hawaiian for “Wow.” It’s not – but it should be! Because we were blown away by this spectacular, first-class resort. In fact, when we told a leading chef on Maui that we were staying at the new Honua Kai Resort & Spa, he easily acknowledged the resort’s top-rated status, raved about it in general, and told us, “It’s the best place to stay on Maui – even more high-end than the Ritz or the Four Seasons.”
We couldn’t agree more. We’ve stayed in some spectacular resorts all around the world, and the Honua Kai is one place we don’t think we’ll ever get enough of. We had two nights in sybaritic splendor here, and believe us when we tell you it was hard to leave.
The Start of Something Special
What makes the Honua Kai so spectacular?
First, the resort is the first new whole ownership condominium resort to be built on Kaanapali Beach in more than 25 years. Its goal: to redefine the resort experience. It does that by integrating all the services and amenities of a luxury resort hotel with spacious homes that easily blend indoor and outdoor living. The vision – which it has achieved -- was to heighten the bar, and set a new standard for resort living.
Luxury Resorts: Imagine a place surrounded by private beaches and scattered with mountainous terrain; a place where the sweet smell of hibiscus lingers in the air; and a place where the number of staff exceeds the number of guests. While such a place seems like a fairytale, we assure you it does, in fact, exist; and it goes by the name of Peter Island.
Located just four miles south of Tortola, Peter Island is by far the largest private island in the BVI and unarguably the most lavish. The island is only accessible via boat and after crossing the Sir Francis Drake Channel, guests will be amazed as they set their sights on the luxurious Peter Island Resort.
The resort features 52 guestrooms and three villas, including 20 BeachFront Junior Suites and 32 OceanView Rooms. The BeachFront Junior Suites are outfitted in rustic décor with stone and rough-cut cedar walls, large Spanish-tiled bathrooms with Jacuzzi tubs and oversized showers, and a private terrace or balcony overlooking Deadman’s Bay Beach.
Luxury Resorts: Thirty years ago, Caroline Rose Hunt took a simple yet powerful concept and began turning it into one of the world’s most acclaimed and respected hospitality brands. Now Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has 17 iconic properties around the globe, including Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, its original hotel; The Carlyle in New York; Las Ventanas al Paraíso in Los Cabos, Mexico; and Rosewood Little Dix Bay on Virgin Gorda. Through the years, the collection has garnered numerous guest accolades and the travel industry’s highest honors.
Community, Environment, History and Culture
For Hunt, the art of Rosewood is as much about style as quality. After she opened The Mansion in 1980, it quickly became her template for success. The Italian Renaissance-style home of cotton and oil magnate Sheppard King offered a unique setting for the Rosewood brand of hospitality. She and her children had visited Europe for many years, and preferred the small, boutique type of hotels. There were no chains that provided this type of ambiance and service, so once she realized how special The Mansion was, she hired a group of hospitality professionals to extend the idea, and that’s how Rosewood was born.
Hotel Review: Quite possibly, the only thing better than escaping to a Hawaiian resort for a vacation is getting away to your own private, Hawaiian vacation home. This is exactly what the Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas are offering: your own private piece of paradise, equipped with everything you need, set on the beautiful island of Maui.
Ka’anapali is surrounded by Maui’s amazing mix of lush environments from thick rainforests to serene beaches of sugary sand. While you are not exploring the island, the Westin Ka’anapali has made sure its accommodations are above and beyond what you will need to relax for the day or entertain your kids. Local Polynesian, Asian and European cuisine is served all over the island due to the area’s rich community of culinary talents and the resort’s talented and experienced estheticians bring you the perfect massage to end the perfect day.
Hotel Review: After a $10 million renovation, the The Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa is poised to make itself one of the leading luxury and green-minded resorts in the New Year. Inspired by the resort’s expansive art collection and existing architectural details, the resort’s fresh take on classic design is both invigorating to the senses and conscious of the environment.
Resort Review: The Island Shangri-La is indeed a little island of respite in Hong Kong’s metropolitan mayhem. A master of Hong Kong hospitality and size with grace, the Island boasts 531 spacious guest rooms and 34 suites. Our guest room offered a well-appointed office desk, a bathroom one could very well live in, and best of all, postcard perfect views of Victoria Harbor. I appreciated our room’s free Wi-Fi, complimentary minibar, and daily fresh fruits, but found Island’s amenities more impressive. The fitness room makes working out an art and the pool, partnered with two Jacuzzis, overlooks the serene Hong Kong Park and neighboring high rises.
Luxury Resorts: Amidst 400 acres of Sonoran Desert and against a backdrop of imposing Catalina Mountains lays an enchanting oasis known as Miraval Resort. Located just north of Tucson, Arizona, Miraval Resort is a place where Mother Nature and modern day luxuries blend together to achieve an overwhelming sense of harmony and balance.
The Miraval Resort offers a wide array of desert experiences with activities ranging from horseback riding and rock climbing to meditation and yoga. Guests can take advantage of the more than 100 unique programs offered at the resort, which are all designed to rejuvenate both the mind and body.
Hotel Review: In a packed and disjointed city, a hotel that makes itself a regal retreat is a must on my list. The Grand Hyatt Beijing is so well situated and superbly accommodating that one will forget the city’s serious traffic and its immense scope. Beijing’s top sites, including the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and modern Wangfujing Street, are all within walking distance of the Grand Hyatt. The hotel staff consistently provided choice tips and sent us safely off to gem finds, such as a luxury foot massage spa and the shopper’s sanctuary, the Silk Market. I must admit, however, it was hard to leave the stunning Hyatt. Consistent with Grand Hyatts world-wide, Beijing’s houses a number of exotic restaurants, our favorite being “Made in China,” a buzzing open-kitchen concept where you can see your Peking Duck get cooked and prepared feet away. We were also enchanted by this Hyatt’s Club Oasis Fitness Centre and Spa, which features an immense Vegas-size indoor tropical pool area rimmed by palm trees and a dazzling evening sky.
Alas, the problem with staying at a Grand Hyatt is that you’ll never want to leave it and explore the city in which you’re visiting. I think that’s an okay problem to have in the grand scheme of things!
Resort Review: Luxury travel is exactly what it sounds like. Lavish amenities, superior service, fine dining and uninhibited relaxation. There are a great many luxury hotels and resorts around the world and very few live up to the standards that we have all come to expect. So, it is quite a rarity that a property rises above the rest; the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel does exactly that.
Nestled into Southern California’s bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, sits the The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel. Recently renovated, the property is beautiful and serene; an ideal place for a beach vacation. In fact, the beach was the inspiration behind the new décor adorning the resort, a departu...
Resorts & Spas: Amid a jungle of overgrown skyscrapers and a sea of serious money moguls, a bounty of luxurious hotels, restaurants and spas have cropped up in cosmopolitan Hong Kong. Here are my latest finds on a recent adventure to China’s gem city.
The Mandarin Oriental Spa
Count me as another fan of this iconic Hong Kong property. The Mandarin Oriental still holds court as the city’s to-be-seen hot spot for afternoon tea and executive lunches.
I was treated to an elaborate 2-hour spa treatment in the Mandarin spa’s intimate sanctuary stories above the bustling streets below. I had no idea what my treatment entailed and neither did anyone else: I was booked for the spa’s “Time Ritual,” which reserves time for a guest so that a service is custom built. The Time Ritual is one of the Mandarin’s unique treatments, all of which are designed around Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic philosophies.
I entered an enormous treatment room, more like a good-sized apartment, complete with showers, a hot tub, flowers, waiting room, and lounges. My therapist, a proper and sweet professional with exceptional English, guided me through a soothing foot ritual and assessed my Yin and Yang levels, selecting an essential oil that would sooth my “fire” soul. She used intense, downward massage strokes (so energy would leave my kindling heart), although I still drifted away in a blissful Zen state. Afterwards, I was shown a few exercises that would “stretch” my heart as well as foods ideal for balancing my Yang levels. (No red meats, but raisins are great.)
Luxury Day Spas: Spa Lux is a new business that is off to a great start. The one-year-old luxury day spa in Tulsa, Okla., was named among the Top 25 American Hot Spots by Travel + Leisure magazine. The commendation is the second such achievement award it has received, as DaySpa Magazine also recognized the spa and made it the recipient of its Excellence in Design award.
The largest luxury day spa in Tulsa welcomes men and women with targeted treatments for each. Its full-services menu includes aromatherapies, hydrotherapies, manicures, pedicures, facials and waxing. Holistic treatments are house specialties and used to enable healing and rejuvenation to a client’s entire being. Spa Lux is the only spa statewide to offer products by Sundri, an upscale line of products made 100 percent from organic ingredients.
Luxury Resorts: Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts are different from other chains of luxury hotels, because they recognize the uniqueness of each guest and promise a special experience designed for each visitor.
Founded in 1997, the Jumeirah Group Portfolio has grown to include the world-renowned Burj Al Arab, the world's most luxurious hotel, now recognized as the symbol of Dubai, the multi-award winning Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, Madinat Jumeirah and Jumeirah Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa in Dubai; the Jumeirah Carlton Tower and Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel in London; and the Jumeirah Essex House in New York.
Resort Review: Of course we’re kidding when we say that “Honua Kai,” the newest resort in Maui, is Hawaiian for “Wow.” It’s not – but it should be! Because we were blown away by this spectacular, first-class resort. In fact, when we told a leading chef on Maui that we were staying at the new Honua Kai Resort & Spa, he easily acknowledged the resort’s top-rated status, raved about it in general, and told us, “It’s the best place to stay on Maui – even more high-end than the Ritz or the Four Seasons.”
Luxury Resorts: Imagine a place surrounded by private beaches and scattered with mountainous terrain; a place where the sweet smell of hibiscus lingers in the air; and a place where the number of staff exceeds the number of guests. While such a place seems like a fairytale, we assure you it does, in fact, exist; and it goes by the name of Peter Island.
Luxury Resorts: Thirty years ago, Caroline Rose Hunt took a simple yet powerful concept and began turning it into one of the world’s most acclaimed and respected hospitality brands. Now Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has 17 iconic properties around the globe, including Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, its original hotel; The Carlyle in New York; Las Ventanas al Paraíso in Los Cabos, Mexico; and Rosewood Little Dix Bay on Virgin Gorda. Through the years, the collection has garnered numerous guest accolades and the travel industry’s highest honors. 
Hotel Review: Quite possibly, the only thing better than escaping to a Hawaiian resort for a vacation is getting away to your own private, Hawaiian vacation home. This is exactly what the 
Hotel Review: After a $10 million renovation, the 
Resort Review: The 
Luxury Resorts: Amidst 400 acres of Sonoran Desert and against a backdrop of imposing Catalina Mountains lays an enchanting oasis known as Miraval Resort. Located just north of Tucson, Arizona, Miraval Resort is a place where Mother Nature and modern day luxuries blend together to achieve an overwhelming sense of harmony and balance.
Hotel Review: In a packed and disjointed city, a hotel that makes itself a regal retreat is a must on my list. The 
Resort Review: Luxury travel is exactly what it sounds like. Lavish amenities, superior service, fine dining and uninhibited relaxation. There are a great many luxury hotels and resorts around the world and very few live up to the standards that we have all come to expect. So, it is quite a rarity that a property rises above the rest; the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel does exactly that. 
Resorts & Spas: Amid a jungle of overgrown skyscrapers and a sea of serious money moguls, a bounty of luxurious hotels, restaurants and spas have cropped up in cosmopolitan Hong Kong. Here are my latest finds on a recent adventure to China’s gem city.
Luxury Day Spas: Spa Lux is a new business that is off to a great start. The one-year-old luxury day spa in Tulsa, Okla., was named among the Top 25 American Hot Spots by Travel + Leisure magazine. The commendation is the second such achievement award it has received, as DaySpa Magazine also recognized the spa and made it the recipient of its Excellence in Design award.
Luxury Resorts: 
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