Hotelbook offers Great Deals on Forbes 400 Hotels

Last week, the Forbes Traveler 400 was announced, and many hotels on the list are available right here at hotelbook.com. And how does a hotel gain the highly coveted acclaim of being one of the Forbes 400?

Imagine 75 luxury travel experts examining over 800 of the world’s best properties’ services, décor, location, dining, guestrooms and recreational activities. The results reveal “a comprehensive expert-driven list of the top 400 hotels and resorts in the world.” Some of these highly respected experts include John Mariani, food and travel columnist at Esquire; Ariana Huffington, co-founder and Editor-In-Chief of the Huffington Post and Tony Wheeler, co-founder of Lonely Planet.

Below are some of the Hotelbook favorites appearing on the Forbes Traveler 400:

• Little Palm Island Resort & Spa, Little Torch Key, Fla.
• Hotel Gansevoort, New York, NY
• Bayerischer Hof, Munich, Germany
• La Sultana Hotel & Spa, Marrakesh, Morocco
• One & Only Royal Mirage, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

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Flight Delays Might Not Be So Bad in a New Airport Lounge

The last time I was in an airport, it was Dallas Ft. Worth International, one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. While waiting for my flight, I wandered around a terminal that included many gourmet restaurants and luxe boutiques. It occurred to me that we used to be satisfied, or at least acclimated to the fact that one could expect nothing from airport terminals but hard plastic chairs, fried food and stale coffee. Times have changed, and now many airports feature futuristic, luxurious venues for air travelers to lounge.

Famed chef Gordon Ramsay recently opened Plane Food (cheeky title) at London’s Heathrow Airport. Some menu items include Sevruga caviar, a selection of English cheeses and braised lamb. He even offers takeaway food for travelers to enjoy onboard.

At Air France's L'Espace Premiere at Charles de Gaulle, travelers enjoy a relaxation area with reclining chaise lounges, showers, and Clarins massages.They can also sip on wine and champagne. At departure, an agent accompanies travelers to a dedicated boarding gate, and a private Mercedes sedan then escorts them to their plane.

Sometimes, the lounge is so amazing that it’s actually separate from the rest of the airport. The Lufthansa Lounge in the Frankfurt Airport is an enormous, freestanding haven for stressed travelers. Just for starters, imagine a cigar lounge, a bar serving 80 different whiskey labels and private glass-doored office units. Feeling a bit tired? The lounge includes a rest area with leather daybeds and alarm clocks. Maybe you would like to freshen up? The Lufthansa lounge has bathrooms with monsoon showers.

These fantasy lounges aren’t in every airport, certainly. However, they are definitely a hot trend.  And just think - lengthy flight delays used to be a major annoyance. Perhaps now, it’s simply an opportunity to enjoy a second glass of champagne while you wait.

Staying Home for the Holidays? Maybe Not.

So it's no secret that wallets are a bit tight all over the world. Retailers are even hanging holiday decorations early in hopes they can entice consumers to spend a little cash. So will we all fly this holiday season? According to an article on MSNBC this morning, we will, but there will be less of us in the air. The bright side is that planes will be less crowded. Here are a few more reasons to fly this holiday season.

• Winter is the slow time of year for a great percentage of the world, so you can likely receive better service.
• Hotel room rates usually fall as occupancy falls.

Hotelbook always has great deals within their City Breaks, where you can hard-to-find deals in eight top cities. So a trip to London, Rome or NYC this winter may not be as out of reach as you thought....