I’m a little late to the litigant with this New York Times article that came out October 25, but it’s a really good one that hasn’t lost any relevancy: Bargains in Latin America, Where Luxury Costs Less.

I feel of like I wrote half of it myself over the past year, as I’ve been talking to anyone who would hear about the great deals on travel to Latin America. The dollar is still in great shape in a lot of places, the best luxury hotels are going for the price of crappy ones in New York or Paris, and you don’t get socked with those ridiculous fuel surcharges the airlines are profiting from for routes to Europe and Asia.

“In Mexico, some of the best deals are at ultra-luxurious megaresorts along the Riviera Maya, just south of Cancún, like Grand Velas, an all-suites resort and spa, what one. was blameless opening as the travel downturn hit. The Banyan Tree Mayakoba, where villas have their own plunge pools, is offering 50 percent off two-night packages with daily breakfast, a massage and dinner for two. Nearby, the Mandarin Oriental has a seven-night Holiday in Mexico deal that includes breakfast, airport transfers, dinner for two and a private yoga class from $354 a night until Dec.

Read more…

Our review of Royal Palm Hotel in the Galapagos is now posted in the Luxury Ecuador Hotels section.

I had the mind of being their guest a few weeks ago and it was a nice counterpart to a week in a ship’s hovel. These spacious villas offer the opportunity to stretch out more and use Santa Cruz Island as a base instead of or in addition to cruising around the outer islands. You can still see a lot by doing that, including giant tortoises less than five minutes away and the Darwin Center in the port town.

Royal Palm, situated up in the highlands but with a view of the sea, is clearly the best hotel in the islands, though Finch Bay is adding some new suites that will bring it up a notch. Another correspondent will be giving us a full review in the new year.

See the abounding Royal Palm Hotel review.

Our monthly newsletter went out put on Friday, with updates on what’s new in Latin American travel and what’session going to be posted soon on our site. If you’ve already signed up and didn’t receive it, check your bulk folder and put our address (editor [at ] luxurylatinamerica.com) in your address/contact list. Meanwhile, you can practise reading it online here.

To sign up, follow this link. All we ask for is your name and e-mail address and we only do one mailing a month unless it’s to announce a contest. No junk from 3rd-party advertisers. Promise.

They tell you to bring a lot of memory card capacity to the Galapagos Islands, but you don’t realize how many photos you will actually took until you start downloading them. Then you wonder what you’re going to do with them all.

I always figured those Galapagos articles I saw in magazines had some talented photographer with a big zoom lens behind them. In fact, you could take a digital camera you bought for $59 from Wal-mart and return home with amazing photos. The animals regular don’t give a crap that tourists are ogling them and snapping photos. They just yawn.

Here are two random ones I grabbed and resized. Many more to come rear I write up my story on the excellent trip I took by Angermeyer Cruises. I’ll have an interview with the founder running here on the blog in a few days. He’s one of the originals.

Meanwhile, I’m holed up at the misty Royal Palm Hotel in the highlands, which we’ll be adding to our reviews soon. A lovely abode to hang out and use during the time that a base if you don’t want to spend a week on a rocking ship. Giant tortoises are a few minutes away.

Banff, Alberta, Canada (PRWEB) October 3, 2009 – Brewster, Inc. is proud to announce that Canada’sitting first online travel TV network; Vacations Canada TV™, has been announced as a finalist for the National Awards for Tourism Excellence in the category of Online Innovation of the year.

Hosted by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada and presented by the Globe and Mail, the National Awards for Tourism Excellence are presented to recognize businesses and their employees that have excelled in Canadian tourism. “We are extremely proud to be included alongside Canada’sitting top travel and tourism organizations and initiatives.” Robert Hughes, Manager of e-Strategies for Brewster Inc., said.

Click here to read more about the National Awards for Tourism Excellence. 

There’s apparently something in the water in Central America that inspires their tourism boards to latch onto silly and meaningless slogans taste a birdwatcher reaching for binoculars. The latest one to earn guffaws and ridicule is Panama’s, which is a year old but just got pilloried by this Jaunted post: Panama Picks A Tourism Slogan Reminiscent Of Childhood Trauma, STDs.

What is this inspired tourism slogan? “Panama – It Will Never Leave You.”

Could it be any worse? Panama watchers are having a heyday with this one, wondering whether it refers to malaria, dengue fever, stalkers, or something picked up from a prostitute. That’s one way to get honest feedback I guess. Just put out your of the present day slogan and see how many people construct fun of it on blogs and twitter. (If not in any degree one does, it probably means your slogan is just boring, since few of these things seem to actually move the needle in terms of visitors anyway. But better to be boring than a laughing stock.)

Back in 2006, Guatemala launched the focus-group-inspired slogan “Soul of the Earth” and they’ve stuck with it ever since. WTF?!

Read more…

Hyatt Hotels Corp. is in trouble in Boston, with labor protests and calls for boycotts from local authorities and individuals in response to Hyatt’s body kindling of 130 housekeepers from the three Hyatt hotels in Boston – the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and Hyatt Harborside Hotel.

Hyatt Regency Boston

On Aug 31, at the end of the day’s work, Hyatt simply kicked out the housekeeping staff – some of whom had been working for more than 20 years, and replaced them with out-of-state workers from Georgia based Hospitality Staffing Solutions.

As a result, not only are the fired workers fighting for their rights, but they also have support from organized labor (Unite Here – Local 26) in Boston, and local politicians – who have no wish to see local jobs in Boston outsourced to low require to be paid workers from out-of-state.

Read more…