luxury hotel

There's no place quite like Waikiki. The bustling shopping district is filled with luxury shops, small boutiques, and a host of restaurants and hotels. Oh, and there's a beach, too.

Most of the resorts in North County San Diego sit atop bluffs with the beach hard to access and often with obstructed views to boot. While Alila Marea also sits atop a bluff, it has the unique benefit of facing the miles-long South Carlsbad State Beach as well as sitting directly above the Grandview Surf Beach. This makes it one of the best located - truly beach-front resorts in San Diego and offers guests unobstructed views and relaxing sounds of waves crashing on the shore at night.

There are many beachfront hotels along Florida's Gulf Coast that offer amazing views and easy access to the region's famous sugar-like sand and calm crystal clear waters. Our stay at JW Marriott Marco Island though was clearly a step above if you are looking for a luxury escape at a resort featuring the latest technology to enhance the existing high quality of service.

Love rum and warm Caribbean sun, sand, and beaches? Maybe it's time to head to the islands and check out this Rum Month package from Four Seasons Resort Nevis where you can celebrate this spirit with a variety of activities ranging from mixology classes to simply sipping a rum cocktail on the beach.

When planning a romantic getaway to Santa Ynez Valley wine country, several options come to mind from corporate-brand hotels to bed and breakfasts but Hotel Ynez offers something in the middle. At first glance it appears to be a renovated 1950s style drive-in motel but the new owners have taken it sever steps further than that to create an unexpectedly enjoyable oasis of relaxation at an affordable price.

Vineyard getaways, the kind where you actually get to stay in a room not far from the cellars, are fairly common in the wine country regions of France, Italy, and Spain. The gist of a wine resort vacation is to get the most out of your stay by combining a winery tour with tasting, gourmet dining, and the immersive experience of spending a couple of days right where the magic happens. 

While spa treatments aren't my first choice of vacation activities, I'll admit that I am a sucker for treatments that involve wine, beer, spirits and other non-typical items. I also absolutely love Mexico and so when these two things combine in a Mezcal spa treatement at a hotel resort in one of the most beautiful and relatively undiscovered parts of Mexico, well... I just had to share it with you guys!

When the image of cowboys and the wild west comes to mind, more often than not you think of whiskey and beer. Likewise, when you think of exploring a wine region as popular as Paso Robles, California you might think of a fantastic spa resort. I'm absolutely in love with this new property that just opened here and hoping to visit there soon. It is a 19-room hotel decorated in Western motif built from buildings once used as stables and ranch houses for real California cowboys.

This has been a tough year and frankly, my wife and I needed an opportunity to escape. My conditions were that it had to be somewhere fun, relatively close to home, have a private entrance with no elevators, and be impeccably clean. Those are clearly different conditions than I might have used when selecting a place for a quick weekend getaway in the past but these are different times. Thankfully, I was more than happy after my hosted stay at the Hideaway Santa Barbara. 

The Wai'olu Suite by Dom Pérignon features design elements crafted to suit the authentic Hawaiian architecture style of the Resort while highlighting the unique elements of the champagne house. Guests will find a mix of bold and subtle details woven throughout the suite to create a cohesive and comfortable environment. Wai'olu Suite décor details include a Dom Pérignon Champagne Cellar, photography art exhibit, Ridell champagne glasses, Dom Pérignon signature scent candles, champagne accruements (ice buckets, bottle stoppers), and other fine touches.

Off the Map Travel introduces an adventure to “another world,” taking guests through prehistoric jungle scenery to spectacular volcanoes and a night sleeping under the stars in a clear bubble on La Reunion Island.

Millennial and hipsters are changing the face of travel and nowhere is that more evident than Palm Springs due to the huge popularity of the Coachella Music Festival. For better or worse, as this two week festival grows bigger each year and brings more people out to the desert, Palm Springs it becoming a year-round destination for hipsters. Hotel Paseo, located in Palm Desert - about half way between the Cochella Polo Grounds in Indio and Palm Springs in the north end of the valley is in a perfect location to take advantage of this trend. We stayed there last month as part of a #MenWhoBlog trip and while it has all the elements that millennial would love - avocado toast, air stream trailers, and giant connect for games... it was laid back enough to not be obnoxiously hipster.

Wine lovers will find that a stay at the Bernardus Lodge will warm their hearts in a special way. It's a fabulous property surrounded by vineyards and horse ranches but still close enough to the Bay Area that it makes for an easy weekend getaway. For those who have never visited, Carmel Valley is a true hidden gem. The area is sometimes overshadowed by other California wine regions and missed by travelers seeking golf in Pebble Beach or beaches in Carmel-by-the-Sea. However, for those that do visit, they are in for a fabulous experience that you will dream of going back to.

We were on hand this week for the opening of Willows Hotel & Spa, but I look forward to being able to return to fully experience the resort - especially the spa, pool deck, and restaurants on our own. However, from the brief time we did spend on property and our stay in one of their Escape Suites, this is the perfect destination for anyone in San Diego that is looking for a getaway where there will be no kids. It's the perfect distance from downtown, easy to get to, and delivers a full suite of luxury, spa, pool, food, and all the action you'd expect from a casino resort. Oh yeah, and there's also some of the best outlet shopping in San Diego. 

Pinehurst is one of the single best destinations in all of North America for a guys-only getaway. Founded in 1895, the course has played host to many historic events in its nearly 120 years of existence.

Three separate hotels and a bevy of villas and condos await visitors, who have immediate and access to eight top-notch golf courses. The entire area takes up a little over four square miles.

There is no shortage of Indian Casinos these days. It seems like every reservation has one, but at Coeur D'Alene Casino Resort Hotel I felt like it was more than just a way to make money from. While the Coeur D'Alene Casino Resort Hotel certainly exists to generate profits for the tribe - it also serves a cultural mission to help educate visitors about the customs and traditions of the tribe. Don't worry though, this is a really good thing and makes your visit here something really special.

As an American, it isn't often that I visit a building more than 200 years old, so when I had the opportunity to visit Hotel Pulitzer Amsterdam and discovered that the buildings dated back to a collection of 25 restored homes dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries, I was super excited for the experience. 

While there is no shortage of party palaces on Mexico's eastern shores, the all-inclusive Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya is way beyond your standard Mexico resort. It's the perfect place to live like a rock star as you escape from reality. For those precious few days, the resort and it's staff will take you to new levels of luxury by blending experiences for mind, body and soul. As a guest of the resort you are pampered by shamans, spa attendants, bartenders, chefs and pretty much everyone else you meet since their only goal is to make you forget you have to return home in a few days.

If you're traveling to the Colorado area, there is one hotel stay that every man must make at least once in his life. Tucked away between large mountains and lush trees sits the elegant Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Within the walls of the Stanley Hotel, you will find a wide range of amenities to make any stay just right.

From the moment you walk through the doors of Hotel Zeppelin you are either going to love this place or hate the incredible hipster vibe. It's just that kind of place and frankly it works in a city that prides itself on creativity and re-imagining yesterday's cool as today's chic. I've stayed in several Hard Rock Hotels and while I've never had a bad experience - Viceroy Hotel Group has done it better.