Luxury hotels are offering ever more exclusive experiences as travelers look to get away while keeping fellow vacationers at arm’s length.
BY PAUL BRADY OCTOBER 11, 2020
Editor’s Note: Travel might be complicated right now, but use our inspirational trip ideas to plan ahead for your next bucket list adventure.
As the pandemic has spurred huge demand for personalized escapes, hotels are moving beyond presidential suites and club floors. “We’re seeing a lot of private-use options, and they are being well received, particularly by multigenerational groups,” says Keith Waldon, a family-travel expert and a member of T+L’s Travel Advisory Board. “Anything with villas or individual casitas is in great demand.”
Belmond’s Fleur de Lys river barge, one of seven available for charter in France. COURTESY OF BELMOND
Belmond (from $25,788 for a seven-day itinerary) has just expanded its fleet of river barges available for charter in France; each of the seven vessels carries between four and 12 passengers along quiet waterways in enchanting destinations like Burgundy and Champagne. At Las Ventanas al Paraíso, a Rosewood Resort (doubles from $770), guests arriving by private jet can now take care of immigration formalities on property, rather than at the airport in San José del Cabo.
On Mexico’s Caribbean coast, the resort Palmaïa, the House of Aïa (doubles from $700, all-inclusive) started offering full-floor bookings in July, letting guests reserve up to nine suites at a time, along with private transfers from Cancún International Airport and a reserved section of beach. And in Park City, Utah, the bobo-chic Washington School House Hotel (doubles from $450) now does full-property buyouts, with its 12 white-on-white rooms that promise any group a serious step up from the typical ski-bum crash pad.
A version of this story first appeared in the October 2020 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline Taking Privacy to the Next Level.
