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.

Hotels and resorts are like organic creatures: they keep evolving and changing. So what was true four years ago may not be true today.

Because of this, we are continually updating and rewriting our luxury hotel and resort reviews when there’s a new wing added, a big renovation, or a name change.

On the last count, we just posted an all-new review of Viceroy Riviera Maya, formerly Tides Riviera Maya (pictured above). Same parent company, same great service, but an upgrade on some of the amenities to bring it up to the company’s highest level brand.

Upgraded with soft lighting and sleek furniture, the high-ceiling, thatched-roofed accommodations evoke the feel of a romantic jungle retreat adorned in native textiles and warm woods. Ideal for honeymooners, the enormous bathrooms with fine touches of locally made soap are complete with indoor and outdoor showers and his-and-hers sink and closets. The airy bungalows-situated oceanfront, ocean view or nestled in the jungle-feature small private plunge pools and a patio with elegant chaise lounges and handmade crochet hammocks ideal for curling up with a book.

We also recently posted an all-new review of Llao Llao, perhaps the best-known resort in Patagonia.

In Costa Rica, we posted a new review of the best hotel in San Jose proper: Hotel Grano de Oro.

Sometimes a great colonial building hotel doesn’t have the room or the reason to change, however, and they just stay great. I didn’t feel any need to change the reviews in place for Hotel Dario or La Gran Francia in Nicaragua. In a good way, they’re timeless.

Follow the individual country links here for detailed reviews of the best luxury hotels in Mexico, Central America, and South America.

With a big drop in visitors due to a natural disaster, we’re still forging ahead and highlighting a new property in Argentina: LUMA.

They haven’t had it so well this past year in the normally lovely Argentine region around Bariloche. Last June a volcano erupted so forcefully in nearby Chile that the ash closed the San Carlos de Bariloche airport for seven months solid—until just a few weeks ago. But then it shut back down again a few days later when the winds changed direction.

Eventually the nearby volcano will stop its burping and the natural beauty of this area will draw visitors back again, including to the less crowded Villa la Angostura area.  We’ve featured quite a few intimate hotels from this area and are happy to add another worthwhile one for you to consider: LUMA Casa Montaña. This is an Italian style mansion on a lake, with just 8 elegant rooms for guests. With personalized service, a terrific view, and excellent meals, it’s the kind of place you check into and then don’t want to leave. A hands-on owner who understands upscale hospitality helps too.

You feel the passion and the commitment that is poured into this hotel. And when they tell you to make yourself at home and to feel free to explore every nook and cranny of the place as if it were your own, you get the sense that they really mean it.

See our full review of LUMA in Villa La Angostura, Argentina.

Here at Luxury Latin America, we don’t just post a hotel review and then forget about it. When it has been a few years and the place has gone through some changes, we like to give it another spin and see how things look now.

Our latest update in Buenos Aires (following the Four Seasons recently) is Faena Hotel + Universe. This is a polarizing hotel that never fails to get a reaction from guests and that reaction is seldom middle-of-the-road. People either think this is the coolest hotel ever (including plenty of touring rock bands that have seen a lot of hotels) or they think it’s pretentious and annoying. Take stock of what camp you’re likely to fall into before booking here. If you’re the type that likes traditional decor and predictability, go to Alvear Palace or Four Seasons. If you’re the type that identifies with Entourage and shows up to check into a $600 hotel wearing flip-flops, come on in!

“While the forward-thinking Faena is undeniably not the perfect hotel for every type of guest, it has to be noted that it is not exactly trying to be. It unapologetically holds to the vision of creating unforgettable stays for open-minded, creative types who are more than willing to pay some of the highest hotel prices in Buenos Aires for the chance to play in this fantasyland universe.”

So go check out the details and if reading about this place gets you excited, then we can promise you a delightful experience, with help from your personal “experience manager” even. Review of Faena Hotel and Universe.

See more options for luxury travel in Argentina.

When most people think of Mendoza, Argentina, they think of the city itself and the surrounding vineyards. Mendoza is actually the name of the whole province too, however, and it’s a very large one. The grape clusters spread far beyond the capital and to San Rafael, 240 kilometers away. There you’ll find Algodon Wine Estate and Champions Club.

This is an intimate resort favored by those who really want to feel they’re away from it all and will have plenty of space to roam. With just seven suites and a villa, personal service is assured. There’s no shortage of facilities though. Besides the on-site winery, there’s a 9-hole golf course that will later have 18 holes, plus “tennis players have their choice of 7 clay courts, 1 hard court, and 2 grass courts to practice on.” You can sip Algodon wine by the pool, enjoying the sunshine in an area that’s seldom without it.

There are plenty of excursions nearby for those who want it, like wine route biking, fly fishing, rafting, or winter skiing at Las Leñas.

Just as with Algodon Mansion in Buenos Aires, staying here you will likely rub shoulders with the movers and shakers of Argentine society, but here the shoulders will be bare—or at least relaxed.

See our full detailed review of Algodon Wine and Golf Estate in Mendoza.

[Photo © Algodon Wine Estates]

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