Emma Sloley , Executive Travel

Courtesy OM Spas

High flyer Karen Zuckerman, president of Maryland-based marketing and advertising agency HZDG, has a secret weapon for avoiding the air terminal blues: treating herself to a facial or massage while waiting to board her plane. No, Zuckerman doesn't travel with a beauty entourage. Rather, she’s just one of many travelers taking advantage of the proliferation of airport spas around the world.

A spa aficionado in her leisure time, Zuckerman often visits high-end beauty temples like the Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons and Canyon Ranch. While none of these luxurious spas have opened airport outposts (yet), plenty of other brands are helping make flying a whole lot more Zen these days.

“An airport spa gives me the ability to multitask and do a little something for myself,” explains Zuckerman, who travels about 30 times per year for work within the U.S. and Europe. Depending on what’s available, she’ll book a facial, massage or quick mani-pedi at whatever terminal she finds herself in. “When I’m really stressed and can sneak in a 20-minute neck or back massage, that’s a huge bonus,” she says.

Sunny Kortz of OraOxygen—whose spas in the Calgary International and Detroit airports attract travelers, airport employees and the odd civilian (the Calgary branch is located pre-security)—reports that many clients come for combined oxygen/massage treatments. “The oxygen refreshes your body and mind after a long plane trip,” she says. “When used together with a massage treatment, people can go energized to that business meeting or trip with the kids.”

Jill Bryan, regional manager for the Absolute Spa at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel, constantly receives glowing feedback from guests (many of whom are pilots and flight attendants) who indulge in a spa session between flights. “Aside from reading a book or playing on your smartphone, there’s not a whole lot to do in the airport,” she says. “We find a lot of guests that didn’t have time to get their last-minute pre-holiday treatments done are extra appreciative.”

The spa offers a range of treatments pitched at frequent flyers, including a color gel no-chip manicure that lasts up to three weeks, and a spray-tan application that’s hugely popular with vacationers heading to tropical destinations.

Whether you’re stuck in transit, quailing at the prospect of boarding a long-haul flight or just whiling away the hours between check-in and takeoff, there are now countless ways to relieve the tension, stress and ennui of traveling before you've even taken off. Check out our list of terminally fabulous airport spas, from Calgary to Dubai, and prepare to give travel-induced stress a send-off.

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Courtesy of The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort Residences via Travel + Leisure

JG Grill at St. Regis Bal Harbour, Fla., offers Asian- and French-inspired cuisine, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the pool and Atlantic Ocean.

Convenient as they are for a quick bite, hotel restaurants can get a bad rap for uninspired menus and bland atmosphere — sometimes, deservedly so.

But there’s been a countervailing trend gathering strength since the mid-’90s, and some of the hottest restaurants are now opening in hotels, proving to be destinations for locals and tourists alike. As Spanish chef José Andrés says, with “so many great dining and drinking experiences in hotels, it is bringing back a golden age when hotels were the only places to meet out for a dinner.”

Savvy hoteliers like Ian Schrager, Andre Balazs and Steve Wynn were among the pioneers, seeing the possibility of luring guests with high-concept design and high-caliber culinary talent. “Vegas had a lot to do with it,” says Charlie Palmer, who has seven hotel restaurants. “They wanted the branding, not just someone to cook. They realized a lot of people travel by their stomachs, and a great restaurant from a well-known chef not only offers a great dining experience, it brings notoriety to a hotel.”

Slideshow: See America's hottest new hotel restaurants

For chef Daniel Humm, of the three-Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park, opening a new restaurant at the NoMad Hotel in New York stoked his creativity. “We had the opportunity to think about the kinds of things people want to eat while they’re reading in the hotel library or soaking in a luxurious bathtub, things we had never done before,” he says.

Creating a distinctive identity can be crucial to a hotel restaurant’s success. At the Dutch at the W South Beach Hotel Residences, chef and restaurateur Andrew Carmellini insisted on a separate street entrance (“No one wants to walk through a lobby to get to a restaurant,” he says) and contrasting music and décor. He says that, as a result, “the place feels authentic, like it has soul.”

Let’s face it: no one, even a jet-lagged, hungry traveler, wants to eat at a restaurant jam-packed with tourists. Travelers today seek experiences rooted in a place — and that’s the goal of many of these new hotel restaurants, including a newcomer at Atlanta’s InterContinental Hotel Buckhead that takes southern comfort foods to a new level.

“I really believe this is the future of our industry,” says Wolfgang Puck, who certainly helped fuel the trend; his latest in the revamped Hotel Bel-Air brings his hotel restaurant count to 16. “A great hotelier, a great restaurateur: it’s the perfect marriage.”

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Travel retail has long been a fixture for brands like Estée Lauder Cos Inc and LVMH's Louis Vuitton. But sales at airports and other travel venues have risen far more quickly in recent years than at regular stores for many chains, putting this area of retailing front and center in many companies' expansion plans.

Chains with few such stores are adding new ones: Tiffany Co is set to open a second store in Singapore's Changi this year and one at Berlin's new airport next year, bringing the jeweler's total to eight, while Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot, which is also part of LVMH, is eyeing Frankfurt's airport.

Meanwhile, Estée Lauder Cos, with nearly 1,000 airport stores across its myriad brands of beauty products, is branching out to domestic airports in smaller cities in China and Brazil to find new growth in the travel business and scouting places that could one day be China's top vacation spots.

"It is the moment to ask ourselves, what is the St-Tropez of China?" Chief Executive Officer Fabrizio Freda said in a recent interview. Travel retail sales growth at the company has outpaced its overall growth.

Worldwide, duty-free and travel retail sales of perfumes, cosmetics and luxury goods jumped 28.3 percent between 2008 and 2011, according Generation Research. The Swedish data firm expects them to jump 25 percent to $44.5 billion by 2014 from its projection for 2012.

For perspective, Boston Consulting Group expects overall sales of luxury goods to rise 14.5 percent by 2014.

China's emerging middle class has been the single largest motor of luxury's growth in the last few years.

According to the Global Business Travel Association, there are plans in place for 100 new airports in China in the next decade. So called second-tier cities like Chongqing and Wuhan are emerging as major centers and attracting retailers' notice.

Spending thousands at an airport on a designer handbag is much more of a habit for shoppers from China and other emerging markets than for Westerners.

"The Chinese love buying when they travel-- it's a culture," said Hublot Chairman Jean-Claude Biver, noting how much those shoppers boost sales at its airport stores in Switzerland.

Even in the United States, where airports are generally seen as shabby compared with Europe and Asia's sleek venues, there is interest in opening stores when facilities are up to standard.

Estée Lauder Co's M.A.C. and Brookstone Inc were among the brands to open stores at the splashy $1.4 billion international terminal in Atlanta that opened in May.

Chris Anderson, Brookstone's director and general manager of airport retail, said he would gladly open many more under the right conditions, given how they serve as a billboard for the chain.

But for many, U.S. airports are generally not up to snuff, hampering the potential there.

"When I look at American airports, there is just no sense of trying to create in many of them a nice store," Samsonite International S.A. CEO Tim Parker said.

Olivier Bottrie, president of travel retail worldwide for Estée Lauder Cos, and other industry executives recognized the threat of a global economic crisis, but pointed to travel's quick recovery after shocks like 9/11 and the 2003 SARS epidemic.

"It is an area that is growing in terms of traffic and therefore in terms of sales potential," Bottrie said.

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Matt Sayles / AP

In this April 25, 2012 photo, the entrance to the Beverly Hills Hotel is seen in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Beverly Hills Hotel is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Travelers looking forward to a little luxury in the coming months may want to look backward instead. From Boston to Beverly Hills, iconic hotels are celebrating their 100th anniversaries with historic tours, special events and package deals.

“The years between 1897 and 1912 represented a golden age of outrageous luxury hotels,” said Andrew K. Sandoval-Strausz, associate professor of history at the University of New Mexico and the author of “Hotel: An American History.”

In fact, 1912 can be considered something of a watershed year. “It’s not just what came before; it’s what came after,” said Sandoval-Strausz. “The income tax was imposed in 1913 by the 16th amendment. Before that, rich folks just had a colossal amount of untaxed income and there had been a burst in hotel building to accommodate them.”

Alas, those days are long gone — heck, for most us, they never existed — but it’s still possible to get a taste of the good life at hotels that recall that golden age. For history buffs and well-heeled travelers, here are three hotels celebrating 100 years of luxurious lodging:

The Beverly Hills Hotel
Before there was a city of Beverly Hills, there was The Beverly Hills Hotel, which opened its doors on May 12, 1912. Ever since, the famous “Pink Palace” has served as a swanky second home for celebrities and Hollywood stars from Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Travelers interested in reliving that rich history can sip vintage cocktails in the Polo Lounge — try the Rebel, inspired by Dietrich, or the Norma Jean, named for Monroe — or book the Centennial Celebration package, which includes accommodations, breakfast for two, two vintage cocktails, a 100-year keepsake candle and box of chocolate truffles. Prices start at $660, which, needless to say, is a wee bit more than the $12 a single room cost in 1912.

The Fairmont Copley Plaza
1912 was a big year in Boston with the opening of Fenway Park, the Franklin Park Zoo and, on August 19, the Copley Plaza. Designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, who also designed the Plaza Hotel in New York, the Beaux-Arts landmark offered rooms for just $3.50 per night.

A century later, the hotel is now wrapping up a $20 million renovation and celebrating its centennial with 100 days of events, activities and package deals. The Celebration of a Century package, for example, starts at $100 and includes lodging for two, a private hotel history tour and history booklet.

And speaking of special celebrations, the hotel is offering an even better deal to any guest who stayed at the hotel on their honeymoon. Bring your original bill and they’ll charge you the same rate you paid on that happy occasion.

Ritz-Carlton Montreal
Known as the “Grande Dame of Sherbrooke Street,” the Ritz-Carlton Montreal was not only the finest hotel in the city when it opened on December 31, 1912, but also the first in the world to bear the Ritz-Carlton name, in honor of legendary hotelier Cesar Ritz, who helped establish it.

Alas, Montreal-bound travelers will have to wait to experience it as the hotel closed in 2008 to undertake a $150-million renovation that will showcase redesigned rooms, private residences, a Tiffany store and restaurant by celebrity chef Daniel Boulud. A reopening date hasn’t been announced, although the hotel is accepting reservations for arrivals from June 1 and beyond.

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The post 3 North American luxury hotels celebrate 100 years appeared first on Travel Globe.

Matt Sayles / AP

In this April 25, 2012 photo, the entrance to the Beverly Hills Hotel is seen in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Beverly Hills Hotel is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Travelers looking forward to a little luxury in the coming months may want to look backward instead. From Boston to Beverly Hills, iconic hotels are celebrating their 100th anniversaries with historic tours, special events and package deals.

“The years between 1897 and 1912 represented a golden age of outrageous luxury hotels,” said Andrew K. Sandoval-Strausz, associate professor of history at the University of New Mexico and the author of “Hotel: An American History.”

In fact, 1912 can be considered something of a watershed year. “It’s not just what came before; it’s what came after,” said Sandoval-Strausz. “The income tax was imposed in 1913 by the 16th amendment. Before that, rich folks just had a colossal amount of untaxed income and there had been a burst in hotel building to accommodate them.”

Alas, those days are long gone — heck, for most us, they never existed — but it’s still possible to get a taste of the good life at hotels that recall that golden age. For history buffs and well-heeled travelers, here are three hotels celebrating 100 years of luxurious lodging:

The Beverly Hills Hotel
Before there was a city of Beverly Hills, there was The Beverly Hills Hotel, which opened its doors on May 12, 1912. Ever since, the famous “Pink Palace” has served as a swanky second home for celebrities and Hollywood stars from Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Travelers interested in reliving that rich history can sip vintage cocktails in the Polo Lounge — try the Rebel, inspired by Dietrich, or the Norma Jean, named for Monroe — or book the Centennial Celebration package, which includes accommodations, breakfast for two, two vintage cocktails, a 100-year keepsake candle and box of chocolate truffles. Prices start at $660, which, needless to say, is a wee bit more than the $12 a single room cost in 1912.

The Fairmont Copley Plaza
1912 was a big year in Boston with the opening of Fenway Park, the Franklin Park Zoo and, on August 19, the Copley Plaza. Designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, who also designed the Plaza Hotel in New York, the Beaux-Arts landmark offered rooms for just $3.50 per night.

A century later, the hotel is now wrapping up a $20 million renovation and celebrating its centennial with 100 days of events, activities and package deals. The Celebration of a Century package, for example, starts at $100 and includes lodging for two, a private hotel history tour and history booklet.

And speaking of special celebrations, the hotel is offering an even better deal to any guest who stayed at the hotel on their honeymoon. Bring your original bill and they’ll charge you the same rate you paid on that happy occasion.

Ritz-Carlton Montreal
Known as the “Grande Dame of Sherbrooke Street,” the Ritz-Carlton Montreal was not only the finest hotel in the city when it opened on December 31, 1912, but also the first in the world to bear the Ritz-Carlton name, in honor of legendary hotelier Cesar Ritz, who helped establish it.

Alas, Montreal-bound travelers will have to wait to experience it as the hotel closed in 2008 to undertake a $150-million renovation that will showcase redesigned rooms, private residences, a Tiffany store and restaurant by celebrity chef Daniel Boulud. A reopening date hasn’t been announced, although the hotel is accepting reservations for arrivals from June 1 and beyond.

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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

The post Three North American luxury hotels celebrate 100 years in 2012 appeared first on Travel Globe.

Courtesy Patrick Henry

The Warren R. Henry is a dome car that was built in 1955 for the Union Pacific Railroad.

With Amtrak on pace to set another ridership record this year, it appears millions of Americans are reserving seats on the nation’s rolling stock. Some are going a step further and reserving entire cars.

“Chartering a private rail car is a civilized way to travel,” said Bart Barton, publisher of Private Varnish, the magazine of the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners (AAPRCO). “It’s a step above Amtrak — and sometimes two or three steps.”

And just like Amtrak, the business is seeing a rebound. “Last year, the charter business was down,” said Barton, “but during the first part of this year, it seems to be coming back pretty strong.”

“Mostly it appeals to people who have a love of railroads from the '40s, '50s and '60s,” said Patrick Henry, owner of the Warren Henry, a 1955 dome lounge car with a formal dining room, and the Evelyn Henry, a 1954 sleeper car with six double bedrooms and one queen suite. “It’s Americana at its finest.”

Courtesy Patrick Henry

The Warren R. Henry offers a panoramic viewing room upstairs.

It’s also a more diverse experience than many people may realize. As the leading organization for private rail-car owners, AAPRCO currently lists 63 cars available for charter, ranging from “party cars,” designed for special events and other one-day excursions, to combination sleeper/lounge cars configured for multi-day, cross-country trips.

Among the most posh are the so-called “business cars,” luxury-appointed sleeper/dining cars that railroad executives utilized to travel in comfort as they conducted business around their steel-railed empires.

The Chapel Hill, for example, features mahogany interiors, original brass hardware and vintage railroad silver and china. With a formal dining room, lounge area and four bedrooms, it’s a classic example of what fans of private train travel refer to as a yacht on rails.

Not surprisingly, such travel doesn’t come cheap. On the Chapel Hill, a three-day charter between Cincinnati and Washington, D.C., will cost around $20,000 as will a similar trip between Chicago and San Francisco on the Warren and Evelyn Henry cars. The former sleeps six; the latter, up to 10.

“It sounds like a lot, but remember, that includes a chef, a steward and your food and beverage,” said Henry. “In most cases, it also includes your alcohol which is really popular because it’s about the only thing to do other than watch the scenery go by.”

The rates also include the haulage fee — currently $2.10 per mile — that Amtrak charges to pull private cars as well as other ancillary charges.

There are also less expensive ways to get a taste of the experience. As past president of AAPRCO, Stan Garner operates the Pony Express, a 1941 baggage car turned party car with paneled walls, antique bar and parquet dance floor. Designed to carry 25 to 30 people, one-day excursions between Los Angeles and San Diego typically run $4,500 to $5,000, making it a unique venue for birthday parties, anniversaries and weddings.

“It’s about enjoying the trip,” said Garner, “instead of trying to get somewhere in a hurry because you’re just not going to.”

That’s a big part of the appeal for John Bertini, a Houston urologist who has chartered private train cars on several occasions for family vacations. “It’s an opportunity to slow down, to enjoy a different perspective and to spend time together,” he told msnbc.com. “It’s something we don’t get to take advantage of in our hurried lives.”

Which, says Bertini, speaks to yet another benefit of traveling by private train car — the benefit of what it isn’t.

“It’s not having to take your shoes off; it’s not having people be rude to you, and it’s not having to be crammed in a seat for hours,” he said. “Imagine the opposite of your typical travel experiences — that’s what the private rail-car experience is like.”

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In one tasty trend, star chefs and top hoteliers are teaming up across the United States. Here are some places worth taking your taste buds:

Four Seasons Hotel, Baltimore
Stay here now: The year-round heated infinity pool has great views of the city’s harborfront.

Food cred: Two spots by Michael Mina (the café fries beignets to order) will open along with an outpost of L.A.’s Lamill Coffee.

The Saguaro, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Stay here now: Mexican architecture and desert wildflowers both helped inspire this total renovation of the former Hotel Theodore.

Food cred: Philadelphia star chef Jose Garces serves Mexican street food at Distrito and custom-roasts beans for the coffee bar.

Public, Chicago
Stay here now: Celeb hotelier Ian Schrager tones down his usual over-the-top style at his first Midwestern hotel.

Food cred: At night, the Pump Room restaurant becomes a 1930s-style supper club with small plates from superchef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

The NoMad, New York City
Stay here now: Opening in March, the NoMad is the first U.S. project from designer Jacques Garcia of Paris’ Hotel Costes.

Food cred: Eleven Madison Park chef Daniel Humm’s menu will focus on family-style dishes cooked over an open hearth.

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Courtesy of The PalmyraAuction.com

A view of Palmyra's club house from the main resort pool.

Psst. Want to buy a luxury resort with 280-plus rooms overlooking a sandy beach in Montego Bay, Jamaica —  once valued at $150-million — for pennies on the dollar?

It’s called The Palmyra Resort and Spa and it’s going on the auction block on March 28. It needs a little work — one of its three towers is still a shell and the spa is only partially completed — but, according to John Cuticelli, CEO of Racebrook Marketing Concepts, which is handling the auction, the resort offers “the most compelling opportunity in the global hospitality market right now.”

It also offers a snapshot of what happens when developers conceive grand plans and then run smack into the realities of the Great Recession. Touted as one of the top 10 most exciting real estate developments in the world by Travel Leisure in 2007, the half-built resort has been in receivership since July of last year.

“There are a substantial number of hotels that are currently lender-owned and there are a substantial number that are on their way to being lender-owned,” said Bruce Ford, senior vice president of sales at Lodging Econometrics, which tracks the commercial real estate industry. “But there are also plenty of buyers who are ready, willing and able to pick up those assets at a discount.”

Consider some of the recent deals:

• According to the South Florida Business Journal, the 340-room Gansevoort South Hotel in Miami Beach, Fla., was sold and renamed The Perry South Beach in early February, two years after the hotel was taken over by its lenders after the previous owner defaulted on an $89 million loan.
•  On February 22, MyDesert.com reported that the Two Bunch Palms Resort Spa in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., — long a popular hideaway for Hollywood stars — was sold, almost two years after it went into receivership.
• United Capital Corp. recently purchased the 254-room Ocean Place Resort Spa in Long Branch, N.J., a year after the previous owner filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure, according to the Atlanticville newspaper.

While the particulars vary by property, these and countless other hotels and resorts were victims of the same economic forces — easy credit, the belief that real estate values could only go up and the subsequent freeze on commercial lending — that wreaked havoc on the residential real estate market.

“Going back to 2007, everybody was getting all that easy money,” said Glenn Haussman, editor in chief of HotelInteractive.com. “Then, all of a sudden, the market went bust and all these payments started coming due. The banks would ‘extend and pretend,’ hoping they’d get their money back, but eventually they realized that wasn’t going to happen.”

The good news for travelers is that when new owners pick up properties at a good discount, they tend to spend money on renovations and other improvements.

“This is just what the doctor ordered to get these properties healthy again,” Haussman said. 

Presumably, that’s what will happen with The Palmyra once it’s auctioned off. According to Cuticelli, “Thousands of people have visited the auction website, a good percentage have asked for more information and a smaller percentage have registered to participate.” He declined to provide more details on minimum bids or an estimated sale price.

Of course, if you miss out on that deal, rest assured there will be others. In fact, just last month, it was announced that the posh Cap Juluca resort in Anguilla, British West Indies, where rooms average more than $900 a night, is to be sold at auction on May 2.

To get in on the action, all you need is a cashier’s check for $250,000 and the ability to bring the total deposit to 10 percent of your winning bid within 24 hours.

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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

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