I made my first visit to Bogota earlier this week on a tour through Colombia. Some aspects of the city are definitely holding it back (it may have the trashiest Plaza Principal in South America), but it is home to two great museums worth visiting.

Bogota Gold Museum

The Gold Museum (Museo de Oro) is an educational look at Pre-Colombian history and shows how the precious metal was used by various indigenous groups in different areas. Much of what the Spanish found they melted down, but a lot of great pieces survived. Some are delicate and intricate, others meant to dazzle subjects with their sheer glow on the head and body.

The presentation is well-designed and the pieces great and small are enhanced by great lighting. Many of the interesting pieces are mounted in glass boxes that can be viewed from all sides. Some of the chieftain adornments are shown on a head and body shadow to give a sense of placement on a person.

Admission is less than $2 but is free on Sunday, so assume there will be a big crowd that day. There are four sections on multiple floors, so plan on staying for a while if you want to take it all in.

Botero Museum of Bogota

The other must-see is the museum of Fernando Botero. Even if you don’t know his name, you certainly have seen the work of this Colombian painter and sculptor. (And if you stay at Sofitel Santa Clara in Cartagena, there’s a sculpture in the main courtyard and a painting in the best suite.) He’s the man behind the fleshy, whimsical works like the one shown here.

This free museum is not huge, but it has an excellent collection of Botero paintings. Try to see it with a guide or someone who knows how to interpret the symbolism in the works to fully appreciate the levels.

The Botero Museum is in a collection offered free each day, in the Bank of the Republic’s museum complex in Bogota’s historical Candelaria district. If you’re interested in money and its history, next door is the Casa de Moneda (Money Museum).

The official site is in Spanish only. See the official Colombia Travel site for more information in English on Bogota.

You don’t see a whole lot of Bentley cars cruising the streets of Mexico, Peru, Argentina, or Chile. If you stay at a St. Regis or Starwood Luxury Collection hotel in one of those countries though, you could be seeing one—from the inside.

St. Regis and Luxury Collection hotels around the world have been transitioning their fleet of in-house vehicles for guests to luxurious Bentley models, such as The Continental Flying Spur. So for your arranged airport pickup or sightseeing drive, you’ll be surrounded by elegance and the smell of fine leather.

If you dig around and find the right package, or get your travel specialist to, you might get this included in the rate for booking a suite or enough days. If not, how much does it cost? Well you know what they say: if you have to ask…

The photo at the top is from the St. Regis Mexico City. Their other hotel there is in Punta Mita, near Puerto Vallarta.

Luxury Collection hotels are located in Lima, the Sacred Valley, and Paracas in Peru; Santiago and Villarica in Chile, and Buenos Aires in Argentina. They also have five gorgeous hacienda hotels in Mexico, all located around Merida and Campeche in the Yucatan.

Book direct with St. Regis or direct with Starwood Luxury Collection.

When Conde Nast Traveler published their 16th “Hot List” issue in April, they included a feature I loved on what hotel trends have emerged in that time that were loved or hated.

I found myself nodding along a lot and some of the “Terrible 10″ echoed features we’ve complained about plenty in our luxury hotel reviews. So let’s start with some of those. Are there people who actually like these things? I haven’t met them yet.

Hated hotel trends

- The mandatory resort fee: charging extra for things that should just be in the room rate, like gym access.

- The TV hotel channel, which comes on by default when you turn on the TV. Who watches this?

- The wall-less bathroom. Great if you’re 20-something and spending your first weekend with someone maybe…

- Club lighting in your room. Their quote: “Last time I checked, we paid for a room, not a private discotheque.”

- The motion-sensor minibar. Better not move one can to see what’s behind it!

New hotel developments we liked

We’ll say, “yes indeed” and agree with CN Traveler’s cheers for these though:

- The turndown gift

- The pillowtop bed

- The flat-screen TV

- The pool amenity

I’m not so sure I love the paperless check-in. I’d rather have a sufficient front desk staff in place. I’ve also got mixed feelings about the rain shower since it wastes far more water. The celebrity chef restaurant? Maybe, but it depends on the who and where. In Vegas, the trend seems so overdone that none stand out.

A few not mentioned that I love:

- Kiosks to print out your boarding pass

- Free Wi-fi (common in Latin America apart from a few holdouts like the Four Seasons and Marriott)

- A welcome gift for kids (my daughter at the Four Seasons Mexico City pictured here)

- Key fobs that just need to be waved by the door lock to open it

- Make-your-own margarita kit in your room upon arrival (Viceroy, Four Seasons)

See CN Traveler’s full list here: Best and Worst Hotel Trends of Past 16 Years

........Maroma Resort & Spa, Riviera Maya........

The June issue of Conde Nast Traveler had their readers poll results on top spa hotels and resorts arount the world. South America was missing in action and the “Mexico and Central America” section had 19 results for Mexico spas, one for Central America.

So first of all, congrats to Four Seasons Costa Rica for being the only resort south of Mexico to get on readers’ radar. They were #8 overall, with a perfect score for their facilities. Having soaked in their pools and gotten a great sports massage after a golf game there, I’ll agree wholeheartedly that it’s a special place for unwinding and relaxing.

Travel + Leisure’s last spa rundown had 5 resorts in Central and South America (including another Costa Rica resort, Tabacon).

These magazine reader polls are subject to lots of ballot-stuffing of course. PR firms and hotel chains buy a lot of staffer subscriptions so they can put in their votes. (That partly explains why you see so many perfect scores of 100 at the top.)

But hey, in a bit of circular cause and effect, the most famous places do have the resources to keep facilities and staffers top-notch and with such a high reputation at stake, they’re going to go out of their way to make you happy. After winning these awards, the great ones tend to stay great.

Here are the top spa resorts in Mexico where we’ve reviewed the hotels in detail. (Some of the others placing high are in non-luxury properties.)

Capella Ixtapa
Capella Pedregal – Cabo San Lucas
Maroma Resort & Spa – Riviera Maya
Rosewood Mayakoba – Riviera Maya

Esperanza – Los Cabos
Fairmont Mayakoba – Riviera Maya
Pueblo Bonita Emerald Bay – Mazatlan

One&Only Palmilla – Los Cabos
Ritz-Carlton Cancun

Four Seasons Punta Mita – Riviera Nayarit

See the full list for all regions of the world at CNTraveler.com and follow this link for all our reviews of the best luxury hotels in Mexico.

As others have noted before, there’s a big difference between “cheap” and “value.” In the latter I would put the American Express Platinum card, which I’ve been splurging on for several years now.

At $450 a year, there’s certainly nothing cheap about it. But when I add up all the benefits I get (and one I’m about to get—more on that later), it’s definitely a terrific value.

You can see the official rundown at the bottom of this post, and it’s a very long list of benefits, but there are two key ones that can by themselves make this card pay for itself. The first is the lounge perks. With this card you can get into the airline lounges of American, Delta, and U.S. Airways—with your guest even. On top of that you get a Priority Pass membership that gives you access to hundreds of other lounges around the world. That’s especially helpful when you’re traveling internationally, in airports where these U.S. carriers aren’t prevalent. This benefit alone is worth hundreds of dollars annually and I use it almost every month, getting Wi-Fi, snacks, cocktails, and helpful airline agents without a long line.

Because the Membership Rewards part of Amex has lost some key airlines over the years, most notably Continental/United and Southwest, they’ve made up for it by giving you a $200 credit to apply to one airline’s baggage fees, food, drinks, etc. You have to pick the one airline and you can’t switch until the following year, so infrequent fliers will find it hard to use the whole amount, but last year it enabled my family to check three extra bags at no charge when moving back from Mexico. That alone saved us $105. We celebrated with a free in-flight drink.

The last big perk, which I’m determined to take advantage of after my recent hour-long wait in the customs line at Ft. Lauderdale, is the Global Entry program. If you have an Amex Platinum card, they reimburse your $100 application fee. You have to do an interview and get fingerprinted at a gateway airport, which is what’s been my hold-up, but I’m getting on it soon. After approval, you can waltz right past those long lines, stick your passport in a machine, and be on your way. Faster security lines in some airports too.

Then comes lots of icing on the cake: Membership Rewards points you can apply to (a few) airlines, some hotel chains, travel purchase, or items like gift cards. You can get automatic membership to the high loyalty levels of Hertz, Avis, and National. Automatic upgrades at luxury hotels. Concierge service. Access to VIP tickets for concerts. Automatic travel and evacuation insurance. Warranty doubling.

Shall I go on?

Yes, $450 is a fair bit of money to invest in a credit card, but I’d say it’s a terrific value.

Get the details and get yours – Earn a round-trip domestic airline ticket. Apply for a Platinum Card