Luxury Travel

This level of hospitality in the travel industry is not dead. It just costs thousands of dollars to obtain and is out of reach for 99 percent of travelers that visit NYC.

The luxury sector is one of the first to benefit from an economic rebound, but it still caters to a very specific market in most regions of the world.

Chinese outbound travel is hard to understand without understanding retail shopping as part of the mix. Rich Chinese travelers take that to a whole new level.

Mauritius is largely benefitting from the Maldives political instability and regular press about the rising water levels.

Luxury amenities are a welcome treat on long-haul flights, but most airlines reserve the high-end goods for high-paying passengers in business or first class.

The project is modeled after Spain’s Paradores, 25 of which were recently shut down indicating not even they were safe from the recession. The Italian project might provide a tourism boost, but won’t be a saving grace.

The high-manpower, high-costs five star luxury hotels haven't recovered since the recession, and investors are more interested in smart upscale, one or two notches below, as that market -- competing with boutiques -- has been booming over the last year or so.

Despite Revel’s bankruptcy declaration last week, the AC resort, a new marketing campaign, and gubernatorial initiatives contributed to a significant uptick in visitor spending in 2012.

Starwood could have 100 properties in Latin America by the end of 2013, up from the current 71. See, it's not all about Asia and the Middle East, where Starwood set up temporary headquarters. Latin America is on the agenda.

The demand for luxury properties and travel experiences is growing among a very small group of consumers in the U.S. so brands are heading to Asia to meet lucrative guests closer to home.