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luxury resorts

Finding Your Luxury Resort

July 6, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

I’ve visited several luxury resorts over the years. All boast impeccable services, but I think the definition of “luxury” is subjective. To some, absolute privacy coupled with the constant availability of service are paramount to the experience, but only a very few can afford such luxury. Once you move into the more reasonably priced resorts, such as those you’d find peppered on tropical islands, you run the risk of falling prey to over exaggerated website photos and staged testimonials.

I once stayed at a so called luxury resort on the island of O’ahu, which turned out to be nothing more than a converted apartment building with no room service, bugs in the sink, scratchy towels and a “spa” in the basement, that was more scary than it was luxurious. So how are you supposed to know? Short of stating the obvious… that you have to rely on experience and word of mouth to find what you’re looking for, I’ll offer these three tools of advice. First, look for the resorts that don’t pack in the visitors. If you stay at a resort that has hundreds of rooms, but only one pool, logic tells you what you’re going to get. Second, just like when you were picking a college, look for employee to visitor ratios. If there’s only one masseuse on staff, you’re in trouble.

Lastly, before you put in for your vacation days at work, pick a few possible weeks and ask the resort how booked they are for the weeks you are interested in. Then, pick the one where the resort is emptiest. If there are less people, you’ll obviously get more attention and more private access to the facilities. If you do enough research, you just might find yourself having an expensive, luxurious experience without the price tag.

Bio: Dev Randhawa travels for fun, and blogs about his experiences. He hopes to teach everyone how to travel for less, and how to relax while you see the world.