I just attended a luxury travel conference attended by expensive hotels and tour companies catering to the wealthy. This is nothing new, but the focus of this one was new: the “creative class” travelers who want their fine linens and concierges to come with a ladle full of cool.

Boutique hotels have gone from occasional oddities to a class of hotel that has sprouted like a forest of mushrooms in the past decade. In most any city of somesize, those who want their hotel to be as creative as they themselves feel have multiple hip hotels to choose from.

The LE Miami conference brought together many of the best of this breed to meet with travel specialists catering to this group of wandering creative workers surfing on the edge of the new and now.

Here’s how Serge Dive, founder of the conference sees it. “The growing creative class is “creating a demand for travel products and services that are unique, design-oriented, cultural, bespoke, and in tune with the local neighborhood.”

We’re seeing this change in the new hotels and resorts we’re reviewing lately in many spots, from Cartagena to Patagonia, joining those who hopped in early in Buenos Aires and Mexico City.

Hotels for the Creative Class

Who stays at these design hotels? Rock stars, museum curators, fashion designers, app creators, executive chefs, manga artists, architects, and-here’s the key part-people who wish they were one of the above. (And let’s be fair, that includes the trust fund kids and moguls’ offspring who have long kept Ibiza, South Beach, and Punta del Este pumping

The funny thing is, judging by the look of most of these hotels, the creative class is a pretty well-defined bunch. Not in their own individual looks perhaps, but in their sensibilities. They obviously like modern furniture, sleek lines, electronic music, dramatic lighting, and a good bar scene with all of the above. They read Wallpaper and Wired, live in progressive cities, and all use Apple products (so much for non-conformity).

The hotels can’t just follow a playbook and attract this crowd like hipsters to Brooklyn, however. Otherwise any well-designed boutique hotel anyone threw up would be an instant success. Instead many on the travel magazines’ “Hot List” or “It List” are out of business a few years later. They look good in photos, but you’re not wowed enough by the experience to spread the word.

Artsy Hotels in Latin America

Which brings us back to the hotels that were a part of this conference. Many of the properties from Latin America attending LE Miami were long-running ones we’ve reviewed. They’re iconic, interesting, and have a personality. Hey, one’s even called Unique. Here’s a sampling:

Unique – Sao Paulo
Fasano (in Rio and Sao Paulo plus Punta del Este)
Faena Hotel and Universe (Buenos Aires)
W Santiago
Habita Group Mexico (Condesa df, Downtown Mexico, and Purificadora)

Several tour companies were also there, including Mai 10 in Argentina (see this story we worked with them on the lake district of Patagonia), Journey Mexico, Catherwood Travels of Merida, and Matueté in Brazil.

I discovered several hotels there that we hope to check out soon. Blue Diamond in Mexico took over the closed Mandarin Oriental in the Riviera Maya. Nizuc recently opened nearby, after years of delays. Kenoa Resort on the northern coast of Brazil looks heavenly. We’ll be keeping an eye on P Hotel Mendoza too when it opens. Also Nayara Springs in Costa Rica, slated for November.

I got to see a personal hero of mine speak, the marketing wunderkind and author Seth Godin, who had a lot of profound things to say about the state of hospitality today and the competition. “Anyone can provide a quiet dark room away from home, so that’s not worth $400 a night.” “High standards are a given; it’s what you provide on top of that-the experience-that sets you apart.”

The second night I was there was South Beach at its best: Guatemalan rum, a couple Cuban guys rolling cigars, and a party at a fabulous hotel: W South Beach. For a night anyway, I was rolling with those who roll with the in crowd.

Rio de Janeiro is getting safer. Is that the whole story though?

NPR has been running some excellent Morning Edition reports this week specifically focused on violence in Latin America. Travel publications and news outlets both tend to either ignore or over-hype the crime situation in various places, but we try to keep it real here on this Luxury Latin America blog, pointing out the shades of gray.

So I’m linking to this story because it’s one travelers to Rio and other parts of Brazil should be checking out: Criminals feeling Rio crackdown set up shop in the suburbs.

You may have heard a few years ago that Rio de Janeiro is one of the most unsafe cities south of Caracas. You may have also heard things are getting better, especially in the favelas—those slums above the tourist zones that have often been controlled by gangs. That’s true, but as this story shows, there’s more to the story. Sometimes criminals don’t quit; they just move.

Brazil’s government has no choice but to invest heavily in cleaning up Rio though. They know the spotlight will be shining on them twice: first for the World Cup, then again for the Olympics. If they don’t get crime under control by then, it’ll be a nightmare. They’d love to get it under control everywhere—who wouldn’t—but without unlimited resources you have to prioritize.

Just don’t get lulled into a false sense of security when you venture elsewhere after being in Rio. Leave the Rolex watch and diamond necklaces at home. There are places where it pays not to flaunt your wealth. Brazil’s economy is lifting a lot of boats, but there are still plenty that are way underwater.

See our reviews of the best luxury hotels in Rio de Janeiro and the rest of Brazil.

The news out of Latin America is seldom boring. There’s always something going on in this vast region worth talking about. Here are some of the more unusual or noteworthy tidbits from the recent news.

Toilet paper shortage in Venezuela
It’s one thing to hear about the effects of socialism on a country’s economy, quite another when price controls and inefficiency materialize in a concrete way. In this case it’s a big toilet paper shortage going on in Venezuela. They may be used to running out of milk, butter, cooking oil, and other staples, but one 70-year-old shopper said, “Even at my age I’ve never seen this.”

Yet another reason for them to head to Panama or Colombia I suppose. Plenty of TP in those places.

Former Guatemala leader convicted of genocide
Guatemala made history this month when it convicted a former president of genocide, the first time a head of state has been convicted of such in his own country. Rios Montt ruled brutally for 17 months during the civil war of the early 1980s. His troops attached Maya Ixil villages with full force, at least 1,771 deaths directly attributed to him at the trial. He got 80 years, so he’ll die in prison. This is on top of four soldiers getting convictions of more than 6,000 years in total a few years ago.

Goodbye to one of Argentina’s worst
In a related story, Argentina’s Disappearer-in-Chief just died at 87. Jorge Rafael Videla is said to be responsible for at some 20,000 deaths in the late 1970s and it was reportedly his idea to take the children from mothers, have then killed, and let the babies be raised by military families. Don’t rest in peace…

Belize road crew bulldozes Maya pyramid for road fill
In a story that prompted outrage in and outside of Belize, a road crew looking for fill materials took heavy equipment to an unexcavated pyramid in Belize that dated back several thousand years. They destroyed the structure and it gets worse: the company’s owner is (was?) a legislative candidate.

Brazil goes halfway to same-sex marriage
A supreme court ruling in Brazil effectively legalizes gay marriage in Latin America’s biggest country. While it could still potentially be overturned by legislation, this ends some confusion and brings Brazil closer to the policies of its neighbors Argentina and Uruguay.

On this luxury travel blog we’re usually pointing to new hotel reviews, tour stories, or high-end real estate round-ups. Sometimes we’ll sip some tequila or rum. There’s always a lot going on under the radar in the tourism world though, so here’s an update on some travel news.

We’ve reviewed Mexico’s Interjet airline in the past and we’ve been impressed by their growth. The airline now has 25% of the Mexican market and after adding flights to Miami and San Antonio last year, in November they stated flights between Mexico City and Las Vegas. They also headed south to Costa Rica and Guatemala. What’s next? This year they’ll start flying to Colombia. Pull up Interjet.com.mx next time you’re heading to Mexico to check out the options.

Think Brazil is becoming an economic powerhouse? Yes, they’re now the 6th largest economy, but because of domestic deman, not globalization. Latin Business Chronicle released a survey rating it as last on the list in Latin America for globalization. Measuring imports and exports as a percentage of GDP and other factors such as tourism receipts, it ranked the lowest, after Venezuela and Colombia. Who’s at the top? If you’ve been there you can probably guess: Panama. (In preparation for the World Cup though, Brazil’s prostitutes are busy learning new languages.)

A few times before on this blog we’ve pointed to ugly warning signs that Argentina could be facing another big financial crisis similar to the one that brought the country to its knees a little more than a decade ago. The latest was the revelation that Argentina grounded the presidential plane, their equivalent of Air Force One. Long story short, the country still owes more to creditors than it can pay back and this plane is something that could easily be seized to repay debts. To travel abroad, president Kirchner now has to charter a jet from a private carrier. We assume they’re asking for payment in advance.

Meanwhile, the Falkland Islands will vote in March on whether to remain a British territory or not. Few outside of Argentina expect the vote to go their way. In the meantime, British cruise company P&O has suspended trips there because of hostilities.

What’s the story with American virus scan gazillionaire John McAfee and Belize, then Guatemala? We’re not sure and probably nobody is except the man himself. But one movie script has already been sold and another will probably surface soon, even though we don’t know the ending yet. Get what we know so far here: Mystery Follows McAfee to Miami.

Pity the poor beer connoisseur heading to Latin America. In many countries, one brand dominates. In others there are several labels—all brewed by the same company. In general it’s a sea of light lagers meant to be served very cold on a hot day.

Mexico has long brewed some of the best beers around, but even there the multitude of brands are produced by just two companies. And now one of those companies is fully owned by the Anheuser-Busch/InBev conglomerate. The behemoth bought what it didn’t own of the brewer for $20.1 billion.

These monopolies or duopolies survive because friendly governments have put up lots of barriers to keep anyone else from spoiling things. Until a few decades ago, laws weren’t so loose in the U.S. either. Once local brewers were allowed to flourish, they did so in a hurry.

There are a few bright spots in the region that can give us hope:

Costa Rica – This country, formerly dominated by one brewer, is now home to five start-up microbreweries. That’s enough to justify a real Microbrewery Beer Festival this past April. Costa Rica’s Craft Brewing Company has the best distribution so far, though oddly enough they don’t have a website—just a Facebook page.

If you like a good beer or three, stay where it’s served and you won’t have to drive. Volcano Brewing Company on Lake Arenal is also a hotel! (Rates are great too.)

Chile – Lots of Germans settled here, so there must be good beer—right? A lot of them seemed to land in Valdivia, the epicenter for the craft beer movement in Chile. One brewery is even called Kuntzmann. I had the pleasure of trying a Svot amber ale while I was in Chile on a wine tour (shhhh, don’t tell), and it was divine.

Brazil – This could be the market that really makes it for the craft brew industry. A huge population, rising wealth, regional advantages because of distance, and a populace that drinks as much beer as soda. According to this article, “Some of the most popular brands that are all worth a try while in Brazil are Colorado, Coruja, Dado Bier, Bierland, Mistura Clássica and Bamberg.”

Mexico – It’s not that there aren’t any microbrews in Mexico: you’ll just have a really hard time finding any of them. I lived in Guanajuato for seven months before I even saw one in a restaurant or bar. Thankfully you’ve got Bohemia and Negra Modela from the big boys (two of the few with an alcohol content over 4.5%), but seek out the others in Mexico City or Guadalajara.

Have you found any craft beers in your travels in Latin America? Clue us in!