Posted by David Porter on January 24, 2011 · 6 Comments
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My wife Carol and I have greatly enjoyed quite a number of spectacular resorts in the course of the last year. This is a photograph that I captured of Carol enjoying our in-room infinity pool as we luxuriated on a rainy August afternoon at the Jade Mountain Resort on the island of St. Lucia.
Back in August, as I was enthusiastically sharing our Jade Mountain experience with our Facebook fans, someone made a comment that evoked quite a number of emotions. Her comment was simple, and direct: “It must be nice to be rich!”
I didn’t respond to her comment as I wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic, showing a sigh of exasperation, or perhaps even jealously.
This comment has haunted me a little over the past months as the last thing we are striving to do is flaunt ourselves as somehow being above, or better than someone else.
The simple truth is, we love to travel and we greatly desire to share our experiences in hopes that you too will get out there and enjoy this beautiful planet and the people that occupy it.
As I have further mulled this woman’s comment around in my mind, I realized that I perhaps have important information to share: you don’t have to be rich to enjoy 5-Star resorts. Anyone, with a 3-Star budget can enjoy 5-Star resorts with a little planning, discipline, desire, and patience.
Shoulder and Off-Season Travel
There are financial cycles in the travel industry. Certainly economic prosperity is one of the important financial cycles, but one of the most critical financial cycles in the travel industry is the traditional summer vacation, the winter flow of snow-birds to the south, and various other calendar events that set travelers in motion.
If your habit is to ride the crest of these travel tsunamis, then you are certainly destined to pay top dollar for your vacations.
I suppose that some of my readers have no choice but to travel when everyone else is traveling, but I also suspect a great many of you could change your tradition a bit and save a great deal of money.
Generally speaking, folks don’t travel to Arizona in July because they think it is simply too hot. However, this thinking creates a sharp in-season/out-of-season here in Scottsdale. Therefore, 5-Star resorts that typically bring $400-500/night in January are on sale for under $125/night during July!
My wife and I took advantage of the off-season to put together our Arizona AAA Five-Diamond Resort Tour. This series was put together in the Arizona summer heat. There were no pressing crowds, we spent the hot afternoons in the pool, and we had a remarkable time!
We did the same thing with our 25th Wedding Anniversary Caribbean Island Resort Tour. August, in the Caribbean, is at the beginning of the hurricane season. For this reason, the crowds stay away and the prices fall.
Traveling in shoulder and off-season will get you into a 5-Star resort at 3-Star prices!
Follow Your Favorite Destinations and Airlines Online
I have been writing about this for weeks. The whole travel industry is shifting a great deal of its time and money to communicating directly with their potential customers using social media tools.
Rather than serving up redundant information, you can find my most recent article on using Facebook and Twitter to find great travel deals, and you can even find us talking about it on a local television station.
Here’s your homework:
- “Like” your favorite travel destinations, airlines, restaurants, and parks on Facebook.
- “Follow” your favorite travel destinations, airlines, restaurants, and parks on Twitter.
- “Subscribe” to your favorite travel destinations, airlines, restaurants, and parks monthly newsletter. These can generally be found on the front page of their websites.
If you like, follow, and subscribe to your favorite destinations, I promise that you will begin to see wonderful deals coming right to your computers. If these organizations find that they can drum up business by directly communicating with their customers, then you will find increased savings as they cut out the advertising middleman.
Furthermore, when your favorite destination starts to move towards its shoulder/off-season, you will begin to see incredible offers.
This is yet another way for you to obtain a 5-Star resort at a 3-Star price.
Travel Sites Like TravelZoo, Expedia, or Groupon
While it is true that deals can be found at these sites, I believe change is afoot.
Recently American Airlines announced that it is pulling away from offering its fares through online discount sites. Southwest Airlines makes it well known that you will only find their fares on their Internet site. This saves the airlines millions of dollars that can be potentially passed on to their customers.
US Airlines has recently launched a significant marketing effort where they are offering Twitter-only deals to their customers.
Furthermore, destinations and airlines are learning that they have another free marketing channel with smaller travel websites like … yours truly … The Roaming Boomers®.
We recently approached destinations looking for substantial specials for our clients and we found that these destinations were absolutely willing to pony up some great deals because we were not asking them for money. We were, instead, looking to build good will with you, our readers.
Just look at the recent deals we were able to announce to our Facebook fans!
I hope I have convinced you into action. Either one of these strategies will likely help you transition from a 3-Star resort to a 5-Star resort. However, the combination of both creates a certainty in my book.
Now, get out there and join us at the world’s most remarkable resorts!
Ready. Set. Go!
PS In addition to these suggestions, you will also want to “Follow Us” and “Join Us” as we will continue to offer you exciting information, travel deals, and contests to win free stuff. Simply head to the right column of our website and “Follow Us” and “Join Us“. Thanks!
Posted by David Porter on January 21, 2011 · 2 Comments
This is a photograph that I captured as we were coming up from the canyon floor while hiking the Navajo Trail in Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park.
Posted by David Porter on January 20, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Forbes Travel Guide – In keeping with our recent theme of annual luxury travel awards, we thought we should also bring to your attention the annual four-star and five star award winners announced by Forbes Travel Guide.
The Forbes Travel Guide, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, announced its list of 2010 winners back in November.
About Forbes Travel Guide:
“Forbes Travel Guide, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, originator of the prestigious Mobil Star ratings and certifications, has provided the most comprehensive ratings and reviews of hotels, restaurants and spas since 1958. In October 2009, Mobil Travel Guide announced a strategic partnership with Forbes Media LLC. This exclusive licensing agreement between two industry leaders with more than 140 years of combined experience transfers the hospitality industry’s premier star rating and travel guide brand from ExxonMobil to Forbes. Forbes Travel Guide has a team of expert inspectors who anonymously evaluate properties against rigorous and objective proprietary standards, providing consumers the insight to make better-informed travel and leisure decisions.”
When we are traveling to a particular area, the Forbes Travel Guide’s four-star and five-star lists are an important part of our selection process.
Here’s a list of properties that The Roaming Boomers® have visited that can be found on this list:
- Forbes Five-Star Properties:
- Forbes Four-Star Properties:
All of our property reviews (linked above) have rich photography as well as our own signature property video for you to enjoy.
Posted by David Porter on January 19, 2011 · Leave a Comment
2011 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Awards – 
Each new calendar year brings a plethora of awards, and the travel industry is no exception as it begins to roll out its own awards.
Today, TripAdvisor has announced its Travelers’ Choice 2011 Awards.
From TripAdvisor:
“This year 676 establishments were recognized in the ninth year of the competition. Unlike any other hotel honors, TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice winners are based on millions of real and unbiased reviews and opinions from travelers around the world.
Properties received awards in the following categories: Best Bargains, Best Luxury, Best for Romance, Best B&Bs and Inns, Best Relaxation and Spa, Trendiest, Best All-Inclusive, and Best Hotels in the U.S. and the World.
The average nightly rate for the entire list of Travelers’ Choice award winners is $283 and nearly one-third of the hotels have an average nightly rate of $150 or less per night. Average nightly rate for Best Bargains is $93; B&Bs and Inns $104; Best for Romance $400; Trendiest $237; Best Relaxation and Spa $427 and top 25 U.S. hotels is $299.”
Although TripAdvisor isn’t likely the luxury traveler’s first choice when making travel plans, we have found it valuable when visiting unique, historic, or remarkable under-the-radar lodging options.
In fact, The Adobe Grand Villas (#21 hotel in the US) is just such an example. We found our visit to this Sedona, Arizona Bed & Breakfast Inn to be a complete delight. However, if we paid attention only to the five-star/five-diamond lists, we would have completely missed this gem of a property tucked away in the red rocks of Sedona.
Here are a few other properties we have visited that made the Travelers’ Choice 2011 list:
Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort and Spa is another wonderful example of an under-the-radar find.
Carol and I have been putting the final touches on our 2011 travel plans, and we found a few interesting places on this list that caught our attention.
If you invest 30 minutes of your time to this list, I bet you’ll find a dreamy place to visit as well.
Have fun!
Posted by David Porter on January 18, 2011 · 1 Comment
AAA Five Diamond Award ~ Lodging – AAA has just released its prestigious 2011 Five Diamond Lodging Award list.
This year, only 124 lodgings made the grade for AAA’s highest and most exclusive rating out of tens of thousands across the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
Five Arizona properties remain on this year’s list:
- Camelback Inn, A JW Marriott Resort & Spa (1976)
- Fairmont Scottsdale Princess (1991)
- Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North (2001)
- The Canyon Suites at The Phoenician (2007)
- The Phoenician (2004)
The Roaming Boomers® have personally stayed at each of the Arizona Five Diamond resorts and you can find our reviews here: The Arizona AAA Five-Diamond Resort Tour.
For 2011, 15 new lodgings were added to the Five Diamond list:
- The Ritz-Carlton, Denver, Colo.
- Winvian, Morris, Conn.
- The St. Regis Atlanta Hotel & Residences, Atlanta, Ga.
- Elysian, Chicago, Ill. Trump International Hotel & Tower, Chicago, Ill.
- The Ritz-Carlton, Boston Common, Boston, Mass.
- Aria Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nev.
- Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, Nev.
- Trump International Hotel & Tower, New York, N.Y.
- The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte, N.C.
- Four Seasons Hotel Houston, Houston, Texas
- Tortuga Bay Punta Cana Resort & Club, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- Jade Mountain Resort, Soufriere, St. Lucia
- Le Blanc Spa Resort, Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico
- Grand Velas All Suites & Spa Resort Riviera Maya, Playa Del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico
St. Lucia gained its first Five Diamond establishment: Jade Mountain Resort in Soufriere. The Roaming Boomers® were very honored to be invited by Jade Mountain to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in their remarkable resort last August.
You can find our review here: Jade Mountain Resort, St. Lucia.
Here are a few other noteworthy events for 2011:
- The Dominican Republic gained its first Five Diamond establishment: Tortuga Bay Punta Cana Resort & Club in Punta Cana.
- Illinois, Nevada and Quintana Roo, Mexico, each gained two Five Diamond Lodgings.
- Connecticut is the only state to add a Five Diamond Lodging and a Five Diamond Restaurant: the Winvian resort and its on-site Winvian restaurant in Morris Conn..
- The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., and Camelback Inn, A JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz., have maintained the Five Diamond Rating for 35 consecutive years since 1976 when AAA first introduced the Diamond Ratings for accommodations.
- The Inn at Little Washington Dining Room in Washington, Va., which has maintained the Five Diamond Rating for 23 consecutive years, since 1988, has the longest Five Diamond Restaurant tenure.
Congratulations to all the 2011 AAA Five Diamond winners!
The Roaming Boomers® hope to visit you all one day in the future.
The Roaming Boomers
