Robb Report Explores The Best In Luxury Travel
by Richard D’Ambrosio /
Luxury travel is renewed and redefined every year as competition for the segment requires significant investments to maintain elite status among high-net-worth individuals. Every June, Robb Report explores the latest developments in its annual “Best of the Best” issue.
In a 24-page lush spread, Robb Report describes hotels, resorts, spas, vacation homes, cruises, golf courses and more that have either debuted or relaunched after extensive renovations since March 2016.
Among the top hotels, the Peninsula Beijing has renewed its position as a top luxury property in the Chinese capital, following a $123 million renovation completed this past May that cut the number of rooms by more than half to 230. The “most refined refuge” in Beijing, the Robb Report calls the property a completely new hotel within its original shell.
Meanwhile, Hoshino Resorts has opened an authentic ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, in the heart of Tokyo’s Otemachi financial district, replete with a hot-spring bath.
Also listed in the luxury hotel and resort category are Trisara, in Phuket, Thailand, which opened the new Jara Spa, The Lowell, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and the Ritz Paris. The 18-suite Matesti River Lodge is featured following a $10 million renovation that “significantly upgraded” the property near Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls.
Accommodations at the 18-suite Matesti River Lodge
Few luxury travelers will be surprised by Robb Report’s list of hot destinations. St. Barts, Lake Como, London, Los Cabos and the Maldives. Italy’s Lake Como sports both the brand new glass and steel lakefront Il Sereno Lago di Como, as well as the Grand Hotel Tremezzo, a 107-year-old villa, opened to the public for the first time.
According to Robb Report, the action in London has shifted East, from traditional locales like the West End and Knightsbridge, to places like the southeast corner of the City of London.
On the seas, Robb Report loves the Crystal Mozart, introduced in summer 2016. The 154-passenger Mozart is praised for its “modern and meaningful itineraries,” signature excursions like private concerts, and a “swanky” observation lounge.
Also highlighted are the Regent Seven Seas Explorer, the Seabourn Encore and Belmond’s 20-cabin, luxury locomotive, the Grand Hibernian.
Villas, spas and resort
Robb Report offers a full page for Tanzania’s 20-acre Thanda Island, which hosts up to 26 guests at a time in its villas and bungalows, and a half-page for the recently opened 800-acre Helena Bay, on the rustic coast of New Zealand’s North Island, as well as the 22-guest Four Seasons Private Island Maldives at Voavah.
It also highlights Iceland’s 13-room Deplar Farm, home base for travelers looking to heli-ski in the winter, and go off-shore fishing in the warmer months.
Among spas, Robb Report likes the new 40-room Chable, in Mexico’s Yucatan jungle, the 18,000-square foot Lanesborough Club at the famed Knightsbridge, London hotel, and the Magee Homestead, a “resort-within-a-resort,” at the Brush Creek Ranch in Montana.