Where are the world’s most expensive hotel suites? On this luxury travel blog I’m usually discussing the scene in Latin America, but since that whole region is a great value, the prices there don’t make the cut.

The Wall Street Journal recently did a big feature story on the Ty Warner Penthouse at the Four Seasons New York City. If you want to book this lavish suite with panoramic Manhattan views, you’d better be loaded. It’ll cost you $35,000 a night. Don’t even think about asking for a discount and forget any party plans: because of all the expensive furnishings, no more than 10 people are allowed in at one time. Read the whole article to see all the expensive features that go into this price. But for a start, there’s a $120,000 chandelier, Thai silk with gold threads on the canopy bed, and an energy-hogging 850 light bulbs.

This is the most expensive suite in the Americas outside Las Vegas. Some there go for an even higher rate, but are frequently given away free to high-rolling whales with an account of half a million or more. Here are some of the other expensive suites from around the world listed in the article:

Hugh Hefner Sky Villa/Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas – Price per night: $40,000

Bridge Suite/Atlantis, Paradise Island in the Bahamas – Price per night: $25,000

Royal Auite/Burj Al Arab in Dubai – Price per night: $19,000

The Ritz-Carlton Suite/Ritz-Carlton, Moscow – Price per night: $13,900

How does Latin America compare? Well the only suite I can find in our reviews that tops $10,000 per  night is really a house: the four-bedroom Villa Cortez at the One&Only Palmilla in Los Cabos, Mexico. It has a top rack rate of $12,000, but that includes a private staff of 12 (with two chefs), the huge private infinity pool pictured below, a big cinema room, a full office, and a prime spot on the beach.

The best suite at the Four Seasons Costa Rica goes for close to $10,000 in high season, but is also a villa with multiple bedrooms.

The top suite is under 5 grand at Capella Pedregal in Los Cabos, Mandarin Oriental Riviera Maya, Ritz-Carlton Santiago, and the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge.

For more information on luxury travel and hotels outside of Latin America, see JustLuxe.com

The plummeting euro has been all over the news the past few months. In a strange twist of fate, the non-Chavez-leaning countries of Latin America are looking like models of fiscal stability now compared to their colonial cousins in Spain and Portugal.

The euro is at its lowest level in five years against the greenback as the flight to safety continues. So what does that mean for your travels to Latin America?

Not much, actually. As I’ve pointed out on here before, many of the currencies in Central America and South America move in lockstep with the U.S. dollar. In Ecuador and Panama, the dollar is the currency—you don’t even need to change money upon arrival. In others, like Honduras and Belize, there is a very narrow trading range.

The most volatile exchange rates are the ones attached to the most developed roaring economies: Chile and Brazil. Expect a lot of volatility if you’re heading to those commodity-rich nations. Things are a little brighter right now though: the dollar is up 6% in Brazil and 7.1% in Chile since the new year started.

The bad news is, that’s coming off a very strong 2009 for those currencies. The news is worse elsewhere, with the dollar faltering a bit against the currencies of Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguay, and Costa Rica. Not by much though—the declines are all under 5%.

Mexico is basically flat for the year, which means around 12.5 to the dollar—still a great exchange rate in historic terms. Argentina is still hovering around 3.9 to the dollar, after being at 3-to-1 before last year. (Unfortunately, they’re making up for it with high inflation and increased visa fees upon arrival.)

Does any of this matter if the changes aren’t dramatic? Not a whole lot for your biggest expenses. If you book a tour with a company marketing to North Americans, they’re pricing things in dollars anyway. Most luxury hotels set their rates in dollars as well in this hemisphere, with Brazil being the main exception. Latin America real estate may or may not be priced in the local currency: it depends on the target market and the location.

Where you really lose or win is when you buy things or services that are priced in local terms. When the dollar is strong, you will pay less for taxis, restaurant meals outside the hotel, and excursions you book with a local company not affiliated with your hotel. Local flights will usually be in the local currency, except for places like Peru and Argentina where they like to play the game called “soak the foreigners.”

Naturally if you’re living somewhere for a while in a vacation home or retirement home, these fluctuations matter more. They then affect your property expenses and labor expenses.

To see historic exchange rates, follow this link to fxtop.com

The annual Travel & Leisure hotel issue is out now, with lots of info on hotel trends and where we’re headed. As usual, the have a top-10 list of hotels for each region, plus some picks for the most notable new hotel openings of the year. I always think these readers’ lists are pretty screwy since only so many people are willing to wade through that long survey—mostly people with plenty of time on their hands instead of a business to run. Plus it’s easy to ballot stuff. But still, since we have reviews of 10 out of the 10, I’m not going to quibble about who should and shouldn’t be on here. These are their top 10 for Central and South America.

Four Seasons Resort Carmelo – Uruguay
Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt – Argentina (pictured above)
Explora Patagonia – Chile
Alvear Palace Hotel – Argentina
Victoria House – Belize
Hotel Monasterio – Peru
Four Seasons Buenos Aires – Argentina
Hotel Oro Verde Guayaquil – Ecuador
Blancaneaux Lodge – Belize
Turtle Inn – Belize

I have a feeling this list will look very different two years from now, with many superior upstart resorts replacing some of the old guard coasting on name recognition. We shall see…

Ask a group of luxury leisure travelers or entrepreneurs what there biggest pet peeve is with luxury hotels and a majority will spit out one thing without having to think about it: getting charged for wireless Internet access. Yet like airlines that know they’re pissing off their customers with fuel surcharges and baggage fees, the big luxury chains keep at it anyway because they’re addicted to the additional revenue. Corporate travelers pay it without blinking because it’s not their money—the company is covering it. So in hotels with lots of business travelers, the hotel chains figure the aggravation to some is less painful than giving up the revenue from others.

HotelChatter just put out its annual hotel Wi-fi report and it’s still uglier than one would expect at the high end chains. Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, and Ritz-Carlton are still charging a fee universally. In some of the markets we cover, that would seem to put them at a clear disadvantage. While Four Seasons Mexico City and the Starwood chain St. Regis hit up every customer for Internet access, Las Alcobas , Habita, and Condesa df do not. The Ritz-Carlton Santiago makes you pay extra to check your e-mail. The Aubrey does not.

And if lovely Casitas del Colca in Peru can include Internet access in the rates, even though they rely on a satellite signal, surely those hooked into city cables can manage. It’s included in the rates at some of the best hotels in Latin America, like Banyan Tree Mayakoba in Mexico, Turtle Inn Belize, Faena Hotel + Universe in Argentina, and Cliffs Preserve in Chile. Even Royal Palm Hotel on the Galapagos Islands includes it in the rates.

As these examples show, the hotels in Latin America are way ahead of the pack in treating Internet access the way it should be treated—like hot water. It’s an essential part of our life now, for better or worse, so treating Wi-fi as some kind of special amenity is just ridiculous. Installing and maintaining a system is a cost of doing business, the same as supplying air conditioning or new flat-screen TVs. If Red Roof Inn and La Quinta can manage to make it work cost-wise, surely the Four Seasons can.

It’s time for them to free the signal and stop acting like it’s 1999. If you agree, look beyond the international chains and try an independent or domestic chain hotel. As the examples above show, they’re more likely to be run by service-oriented managers rather than hamstrung drones answering to bean counters a continent away.

The popularity of different sections of Luxury Latin America will ebb and flow with the seasons and with which destinations are getting media coverage—good and bad. When we started, Mexico had no trouble ruling the roost, but it has declined a bit in the past year with all the negative cable news attention on the border zone problems. Argentina was riding high for a while, but has ebbed since the hefty new entry fee was introduced earlier this year and the political situation has become more bizarre. Specific hotels spike for a month when they get featured in a glossy magazine, then drop again when the new flavor comes along next issue.

Here are the most popular sections and articles for the past 30 days, then specific hotels getting the most hits.

Most popular pages on Luxury Latin America:

Luxury hotels in Belize
Luxury hotels in Panama
Luxury Tour Reviews
Real estate in Cuenca, Ecuador
Luxury hotels in Argentina
Cruising the Galapagos Islands
Luxury hotels in Los Cabos
Real estate in Boquete, Panama
Arriving at Machu Picchu in Style
Luxury hotels in Costa Rica

Most popular hotels and resorts on Luxury Latin America:

Hotel Garzon – Uruguay
Azul Resort – Belize
Cayo Espanto – Belize
Banyan Tree Mayakoba – Mexico
Bristol Buenaventura – Panama
Turtle Inn – Belize
Capella Pedregal Los Cabos – Mexico
Cavas Wine Lodge – Argentina
Barefoot Cay – Honduras
Morgan’s Rock – Nicaragua