A few months back I was fortunate enough to get that “once in a lifetime experience” sailing around the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. For many tourists that’s the whole focus and Quito gets a day in the itinerary—if they don’t just fly from Guayaquil to the islands instead.

That’s a shame really, because Ecuador’s capital really is worth some extra time. When I go back to Ecuador someday, I want to spend at least a week in that region, with a few nights at the lovely estate hotels like Hacienda Cusin and Hacienda Zuleta.

We just posted a story on the time I did get to spend there, with a couple days in the city and an excursion out to the nearby Andean market towns: Quito and the High Valley of Ecuador. It’s a story of food and flowers, of masses and markets, from the historic center to a town of leather crafters. If a trip to Ecuador is in your future at some point, I hope this convinces you to not pass Quito by. Not all Latin American cities are pleasant places for tourists, but this is one that’s definitely worth the lingering. If you get in touch with Metropolitan Touring, you’ll be in good hands.

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.

The Leading Hotels of the World just put out its new directory for 2010 and it includes four new hotels in Latin America. Fortunately for you, we’ve got reviews of three of them.

Banyan Tree Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico (pictured above)

Grand Velas All Suites & Spa Resort, Riviera Maya, Mexico

Bristol Buenaventura, Buenaventua, Panama

I don’t always agree with which hotels they sign up as “leading” and the fact that it’s a paid membership program can skew the results. I’m skeptical about the fourth new one—Tivoli São Paulo Mofarrej—but overall the group is pretty good at including large hotels with plenty of amenities and a good reputation for service. We’ll keep an eye on the Tivoli to see if it’s worth adding to our reviews now that it’s gone through a renovation.

See the full list at LHW.com.

As I mentioned in an earlier post specific to Latin America, I attended the Luxury Travel Expo last week and got to hear what people in the industry had to say about the state of upscale travel in late 2009.

They were more upbeat than I expected, especially since travel to Europe has fallen off a cliff and the convention/incentive market is having a terrible year. And of course there are too many new hotels and too many new cruise ships for any of them to be much more than half full without major discounting. (Tough for them, good for you. There are some amazing deals on sites like LuxuryLink.com.)

Besides the obvious search for value though, lots of other interesting luxury travel trends came out that I thought were newsworthy.

1) More family travel
It used to be that “luxury” and “family travel” didn’t mix much, but that has changed in a big way. People are having kids later, they’re having fewer of them, and the grandparents often have more money than the parents do. I started noticing this shift a couple years ago when I’d go to a Four Seasons and find the pool packed with kids, but this has extended to safaris, soft adventure trips, and nature excursions. African safari operator Micato said in a panel discussion that their family travel bookings had gone from 10% to 35% in eight years. This bodes well for villa rental places and small-ship cruises, but not so well for cookie-cutter hotels that think connecting rooms are going to be enough to serve this demand.

2) Deeper travel experiences
It used to be that bragging about shopping in Paris or Milan was what you did to impress the neighbors. Now it’s more likely to be that you visited some place they’ve never even heard of or you did something worth talking about on your vacation. Adventure travel is way up, volunteer travel is way up, and travel to former pariah destinations is way up—to places like Colombia, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. Luxury travelers are becoming more like backpackers—wanting to mingle with real people and get authentic experiences instead of just being sheltered away in an artificial world.

3) Rising influence of green hotels and travel
Have you been paying more attention to the environmental practices of the hotels where you stay? If so you’re not alone. Tour operators are finding that guests are becoming steadily more demanding about how “green” the hotels are where they stay and are no longer looking at “luxury” and “eco-friendly” as being different things. Since Costa Rica is considered the birthplace of eco-tourism and a large portion of trips to Latin America are by nature lovers, parts of the Americas are perceived as being in better shape than many other parts of the world in this regard.

What has changed in what you are looking for when you travel now? What are you willing to pay more for…and not?

I spent the past couple days at the annual Luxury Travel Expo in Las Vegas, rubbing shoulders with hundreds of travel agents and about as many industry exhibitors. Naturally I was there to find out what was new and interesting in travel to Latin America and I didn’t have to try very hard. Latin America was the belle of the ball. Many tour company execs that cover the whole world are seeing the best growth in Latin America—for some it’s their only area of growth in this recession.

Plus tour companies seem to be coming around to the idea that this part of the world has not been tapped out and overcrowded like many other parts of the world. Countries like Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico kept popping up as ones where visitors are only scratching the surface of what’s available to see and do. You can still find true adventure away from the crowds without trying very hard. And of course you get far more for your money than in most other regions.

There was a presentation on Peru that surprised even me on the depth of attractions in one of my favorite countries. Most people probably wouldn’t guess it has the oldest city in the Americas—Caral—which goes back 5,000 years. Kim MacQuarrie,author of The Last Days of the Incas, says they’re finding new archeological sites almost every month. With three distinct regions (desert coast, high Andes, and Amazon jungle), Lake Titicaca, Colca Canyon, and enough Inca sites to keep you busy for weeks, this is a country that really lives up to the overused cliche “something for everyone.”

I was also thrilled to see the Mexico tourism presenter plus Signature Travel Network Executive VP Ignacio Maza both talk up the Yucatan interior around Merida, Uxmal, and Palenque. Mr. Maza’s best quote: “Getting off a cruise ship and taking a bus to Chichen Itza and back is like hopping off a ship at Coney Island, having a hot dog, then saying you’ve been to New York City.”

He also gave a rundown of other “new frontiers in Latin America” and I dare say the guy probably knows the region better than anyone, including me. Some of his other favorites are the highlands of Ecuador, Cartagena in Colombia, Ushuaia in Argentina, the Colca Canyon of Peru, the Atacama region of Chile, and Salvador/Bahia in Brazil.

In a panel that included the heads of Tauck and Abercrombie & Kent, time and again it came up that people are looking for unique experiences, deeper experiences, and a real sense of place. For all that, it’s hard to beat the countries of Latin America. As Maza said, this is “a region of superlatives,” a place that is for the curious traveler, not those who just dress to impress.

But here’s an interesting tidbit I picked up: 2 million visit Peru each year and 200,000 of them are luxury travelers, spend $500 or more a day.