I’ve been noting in our monthly newsletter for a while that this past year has been a terrific time to travel. Especially in terms of hotels, there have been some unprecedented bargains out there. The luxury hotels that have tried hard not to lower prices have been throwing in all kinds of freebies, from an extra night or resort credit to a complimentary spa treatment or golf game.

This can’t go on forever, of course, without the hotels getting into financial trouble. In the U.S. at least, the s&%t is already hitting the fan in a lot of places. Only in rare cases is the hotel shuttered, but guests are noticing other cutbacks: lower staff levels, inexperienced concierges, thinner towels, or fewer complimentary items at check-in or turndown. That’s the slant of this excellent article that ran Friday in USA Today: Hard times send hotel industry into survival mode. “In January, U.S. hotels had a record-low 45.1% occupancy rate”—the lowest since the tracking firm quoted started keeping records in 1987.

Things are especially bad in former bubble zones and in those resorts that depended on deep-pocketed corporate meeting clients. In California, 330 hotels have defaulted on mortgage payments and 76 are in foreclosure. The W San Diego was turned over to lenders in September after a loan default. The Ritz-Carlton at Lake Las Vegas will close on May 2.

Fortunately, Latin America is booming. Apart from Mexico and Honduras—which have seen drops based on something besides the recession—most of the region was either flat or up in 2009. Outside of economic boom areas like Chile, Brazil, and Peru, however, you may have better luck getting the staff levels and amenities you expect at luxury leisure hotels rather than business hotels: tourism has not declined as much as international business travel.

Have you noticed any deflation of expected amenities or staff levels at luxury hotels in your travels?

If you like to stay at hotels that belong to the Leading Hotels of the World marketing alliance, you can add the ones from Orient-Express in Peru to your list.

All of the Orient-Express properties in Peru are included and these have already been the most notable ones in town anyway. Here are our reviews of the new additions:

Casitas del Colca in the Colca Canyon

Hotel Monasterio in Cusco

Sanctuary Lodge at Machu Picchu

Miraflores Park Hotel in Miraflores, part of Lima

I’m one of those cranky editors always whining about my inbox being jammed up with press releases I never open, much less read. But every once in a while I get something interesting like this that’s worth sharing.

The lovely Las Ventanas al Paraiso resort in Los Cabos has worked out an arrangement where they’re getting advance copies of books from U.S. publishers. These “galleys” are the copies sent out to reviewers well ahead of the book being commercially available, so that they can write their review far enough ahead to make it into the magazine when the book is hitting the shelves. Las Ventanas is handing these out to their guests to read by the pool or in their room, giving them a rare chance to read a novel before the book clubs have even heard of it (and before Oprah has given her blessing).

The currently available novels include:

* The Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller
* The Third Rail by Michael Harvey
* 29 by Adena Halpern
* Zoo Story by Thomas French
* The Ark by Boyd Morrison
* The Other Family by Joanna Trollope
* The Poet Prince by Kathleen McGowan
* Beautiful Maria of My Soul by Oscar Hijuelos
* A Soft Place to Land by Susan Rebecca White
* The Life of Andrew Jackson by Robert Remini

Las Ventanas is known for rolling out unique services, like having a bath butler get your room all set up and romantic while you’re having dinner. Hey, they even have a Department of Romance. This advance book Hot Type program is another service that’s unique and surprising—which is kind of rare in the post-Dubai hotel world.

See our full review of Las Ventanas al Paraiso and a blog post on their guest culinary program.

I’m a little late to the party with this New York Times article that came out October 25, but it’s a really good one that hasn’t lost any relevancy: Bargains in Latin America, Where Luxury Costs Less.

I feel like I wrote half of it myself over the past year, as I’ve been talking to anyone who would listen about the great deals on travel to Latin America. The dollar is still in great shape in a lot of places, the best luxury hotels are going for the price of crappy ones in New York or Paris, and you don’t get socked with those ridiculous fuel surcharges the airlines are profiting from for routes to Europe and Asia.

“In Mexico, some of the best deals are at ultra-luxurious megaresorts along the Riviera Maya, just south of Cancún, like Grand Velas, an all-suites resort and spa, which was just opening as the travel downturn hit. The Banyan Tree Mayakoba, where villas have their own plunge pools, is offering 50 percent off two-night packages with daily breakfast, a massage and dinner for two. Nearby, the Mandarin Oriental has a seven-night Holiday in Mexico deal that includes breakfast, airport transfers, dinner for two and a private yoga class from $354 a night until Dec. 18.

Not interested in the beach? Starting rates at the Four Seasons in Mexico City are $225 a night on weekends, not bad considering that it’s $70 cheaper than the Four Seasons in Austin ($295).”

The article highlights tour and spa deals throughout the Americas, including in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina. This won’t last forever, but you’ve probably got a good 8-9 months left to take advantage of the slump before the stock market rebound and improving company profits start getting people out of their houses and onto a plane again.

According to a new consumer study from American Express, the travel market is going to remain soft for the near future, with hotels and airlines competing hard for a smaller population of vacationers.

Among the general population, the greatest number of consumers said their top priority expenses one year ago were vacations (25%) and dining out (24%). Today, only 7% named vacations as a high priority and dining was named as a high priority for only 8%. Those 7% who still have vacations as a high priority are definitely in the driver’s seat when it comes to getting the most for their budget.

The real takeaway in the report for travel marketers? Go after the young professionals and the affluent. (The typical Luxury Latin America readers, of course.)

“When young professionals who plan to spend more were asked what they would be spending it on, two thirds said clothing (65%), and more than half said dining out (54%) and travel (53%). The affluent who expect to spend more said it would be on travel (56%), dining out (47%) and clothes (43%)”

According to this survey that came out in August, many consumers still haven’t gotten the message that this is a historically great time for travel deals. You know better, so check out our luxury hotels in Latin America then start wheeling and dealing.