When I was at the Luxury Travel Expo last month I had the pleasure of hearing a short presentation from Kim MacQuarrie, a Peru travel expert and author of the book Last Days of the Incas. A few lucky souls will get to spend far more time with him this year actually traveling through Peru: he is leading a tour with Geographic Expeditions that is centered on this history of the Incas.

We now have a lively and informative interview with Kim MacQuarrie posted in our interviews section. He talks about the research that went into his book, the upcoming tours, Incan architecture, and his favorite hotel in the country. As someone who lived with a recently-contacted tribe of indigenous Amazonians and has since covered many parts of Peru that few people ever visit, he knows this fascinating country inside-out.

“One tends to think of Peru in terms of Cuzco, the Incas, and Machu Picchu. But of course, there is much, much more. Around 60% of Peru is tropical rainforest, and large portions of that are virtually unexplored regions. In fact, there are still a handful of uncontacted tribes that roam there.

The long strip of desert on the coast is as dry as the surface of the Moon, with virtually no rainfall whatsoever. The ruins of thousands of years of ancient civilizations are buried there—pyramids, monuments, fortresses, tombs. Pretty incredible, really. In fact, so many pyramids and tombs have been discovered in Peru in the last 20-30 years that people more and more are referring to Peru as the “Egypt of the Americas.” One ancient city that was discovered as recently as 2001 is nearly five thousand years old—the oldest city in the Americas. As old as the Step Pyramids in Egypt.”

See our full Last Days of the Incas interview here.

The Wall Street Journal published an article yesterday about how U.S. hotels are dropping the word “resort” from their name because it’s causing them to miss out on corporate booking deals.

“The Ballantyne Resort in Charlotte, N.C., changed its name during the summer to the Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge after several corporate clients indicated it would have a better chance of landing their business if it weren’t called a resort. Same for the Westin Stonebriar near Dallas, formerly the Westin Stonebriar Hotel & Resort. Ditto the Renaissance Orlando at Sea World, no longer the Renaissance Orlando Resort at Sea World.”

What’s hilarious about this is that it’s all a fake-out to get around silly rules instituted by some silly boss. Because of the AIG fallout last year, corporations are afraid to appear to be living it up too much, so they’re telling their meeting planners to not seek bids from any “resorts.” So the hotels are responding by doing a workaround: changing their name.

Nothing else has changed of course. The spa and golf course are still there, the excursion programs are still in place, the execs will surely be having just as many poolside cocktails as they would have before.

But now it’s not a resort. So we can all feel better about things…now that the letterhead has been reprinted.

See the full article here.

When most travelers think of the Los Cabos area, they think of big splashy beach resorts, glitzy spas, and huge pool complexes. Casa Natalia is not one of those. For us “luxury” is about attentive service and a sense of place as much as it is about amenities and glamor, so we’re happy to get a review up of this fine boutique hotel in San Jose del Cabo.

“Casa Natalia celebrated its first decade in 2009, yet many Cabo regulars are unaware of its presence. It’s not on one of Cabo’s many unswimmable beaches (Los Cabos is a beach resort with few safe places to play in the water). There aren’t any rowdy nightclubs or chain restaurants in the neighborhood. Instead, Casa Natalia anchors the increasingly gentrified historic disrict of downtown San José del Cabo.”

This little hideaway has only 16 rooms and suites, but has a restaurant that earns raves and with a no-children-under-13 policy, it’s a romantic retreat as well. See our full review here: Casa Natalia in San Jose del Cabo.

We continue to expand our luxury hotel coverage in Brazil with the two top hotels in Salvador, Bahia. One traditional and large, one modern and more intimate.

The best-known luxury hotel in Salvador is Pestana Convento do Carmo. In 2005 the former sprawling 16th-century Carmelite convent on a hilltop was converted to the Convento do Carmo hotel, mixing the historic gravitas with expected new conveniences.

All 79 of the Convento’s rooms occupy former monk’s dwellings. Polished floor boards, cathedral ceilings, heavy wooden shutters and doors, and thick stone walls conjure the previous inhabitants’ ascetism. However, there’s no need to self-flagellate when you’re surrounded by creature comforts such as Egyptian sheets, glossy marble bathrooms, unobtrusive plasma TVs (with a basic smattering of cable channels), and a slyly camouflaged minibar stocked with the fundamentals.

Next up is Zank Boutique Hotel, a fashionable spot focused on fine design and sweeping views.

Zank is owned by three sisters who are as stylish as the hotel they coaxed out of an aging, colonial-style mansion. It sits in Salvador’s upscale Rio Vermelho neighborhood, a bohemian area that the celebrated Brazilian writer Jorge Almado once called home. In the past few years, the area has emerged as a popular Salvador nightlife spot, and for good reason. It is filled with a variety of restaurants, bars and music venues. Luckily for Zank guests, all of these are just a short walk or cab ride away from the hotel.

See all our reviews of luxury hotels in Brazil.

As reported by Mercopress, Chile’s Concha y Toro exported 26.6 million cases of wine in 2009, making the winemaker the eighth largest producer in the world.

The company exports to over 130 countries worldwide and hold 7,000 hectares of vines across Chile and Argentina.

The United Kingdom is the brand’s biggest market, consuming nearly 30% of global exports. The brand is also the most popular Chilean brand in Britain, with its products representing 31% of all the Chilean wine sold in that country. The United States is the second largest consumer of the company’s products, holding 18% of the market.

For me, this brand is a consistent everyday bargain, especially when it comes to Cabernet. Their lowest-priced offerings are often the best around in the sub-$10 range, with the only real quality competition in reds coming from neighboring Argentina. I’ve had the pleasure of trying some of their top-end wines too though–and most of those are a bargain too for what you get, especially if you buy them within Chile. The usual reaction is, “Wow, this wine tastes a lot more expensive than it really is.”

Salut!