Recommend Oct 2016 - 39

Craving a Sweet Suite? Spring Villa at Nayara Springs Resort in Costa Rica. Carla Hunt Latin America offers show-stopping suites to urban-loving guests and excels in the sweetest of suite accommodations in mountain and jungle lodges. So, we asked a handful of travel industry friends to share their favorite suite accommodations throughout the region. Latin America expert Conor Frantzen at Natural Habitat Adventures has no doubt that Peru-bound clients will find it "totally worth a detour to stay at Sol y Luna Lodge & Spa, located in the Sacred Valley outside Cusco. The Deluxe Casitas are heaven, and this hotel is probably one of my top five [favorites] in the world." Premium Suites feature living room and bedrooms decorated with folk art and offer grand views of lush gardens and distant mountains from a terrace sporting its own Jacuzzis. Guests booked on the company's new 10-day Discover Amazon and Machu Picchu program (priced from $6,995 pp dbl) will, in addition to Sol y Luna, stay at Hotel Libertador Palacio del Inca in Cusco and the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel; plus take an Amazon cruise aboard the luxurious, 14-suite Delfin II. Aaron Daker, managing director of Costa Rica Experts, seems to find all his favorite luxury suites in the company's 11-day Ultimate Holiday itinerary (priced from $7,275 pp dbl), which he points out features "the best of the best in lodging and resorts." Guests stay in the Master Suite at Finca Rosa Blanca Coffee Plantation and Inn in the Central Valley; in a Spring Villa with private pool at Nayara Springs Resort at the Arenal Volcano; in an oceanview bungalow at Lapa Rios Ecolodge, which Dakar calls "the very best nature lodge in Costa Rica"; at Kura Design Villas in an Infinity Villa whose vast views of the Osa Peninsula embrace the rainforest, ocean and a whale tail or two in season. Veronica Villegas admits that a main perk of her job as a spokesperson for InterContinental Hotels Group is that she occasionally gets to tuck into a Presidential Suite. Among her favorites is the one at the Club Tower of the Real InterContinental Costa Rica. "At 820 sq. ft., it's one of the largest Presidential Suites in the region, sharing the tower with a 16,000-sq.-ft. spa." Of course, Villegas says, "you have to love the Presidential Suites at the 1930s-style InterContinental Buenos Aires; each comes with a suite-length balcony looking out over the historic San Telmo district." Avanti Destinations draws on a huge inventory of super-luxe hotels when customizing itineraries, and company president Harry Dalgaard didn't miss a beat in coming up with a luscious sweet-suite list. "There are no ordinary rooms at Awasi Patagonia, overlooking Chile's Torres del Paine National Park," he says, "but each magnificent villa-designed for guests to feel completely connected to nature-comes with a hot tub, a private guide and 4WD vehicle." Another pick is the Belmond Palacio Nazarenas in Cusco where, says Dalgaard, "my favorite is the Nazarenas Suite with its original colonial ceiling and a wonderful outlook over the charming landmarked plaza from its corner terrace." Other things to love are the 24-hour butler service, a free rum/ pisco station, marble bathrooms with underfloor heating, and oxygen to pipe in when adjusting to the high altitude. LatinAmerica Book clients on Alexander+Roberts' luxury 7-night Three Jewels: Buenos Aires + Iguassu Falls + Rio journey (priced $4,299 pp dbl), and they will sleep in some of South America's finest hotels: Sofitel Buenos Aires, the Belmond Hotel das Cataratas on the Brazilian side of Iguassu Falls, and the grande dame of Rio hotels, the Belmond Copacabana Palace. However, for private groups, Beth Karlicek, director of operations for Alexander+Roberts, says that one of her choices for an even more luxury hotel upgrade could be her favorite La Mansion Suites at the Four Seasons Buenos Aires. "I love the balcony overlooking the gardens and the impeccable 24-hour butler service." At the same time, the sweetest of all in suite accommodations in Karlicek's book are "the just plain spectacular villas at Ponta dos Ganchos Exclusive Resort, set on a private island peninsula near Florianopolis, Brazil." While huge bungalow villas come with king beds and hammocks on the wood deck verandahs with ocean views, an Emerald Villa permits guests to pick up wines from their own cellar and do laps in their infinity pool. Suites Go Airborne A corner suite with views of the river and city, spacious living room and bedroom, plus 24-hour butler service at the Park Tower Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel, in Buenos Aires is the top pick for Argentine-born Roberto Girotti, who often gets to drop into his hometown for his position as executive consultant for Latin America and the Caribbean at Delta Air Lines. Nowadays, other suites are on his mind, as Delta prepares for the debut of its Delta One Suite-the industry's first all-suites (32) business class cabin, aboard its first Airbus A350 plane in September 2017. Besides a fully flatbed seat, which the airline introduced eight years ago in Delta One business class, each suite will have a seat-high door that slides shut for privacy. All-suites business class will operate primarily on long-haul flights of more than 12 hours. ■ Contact Information Alexander+Roberts: alexanderroberts.com Avanti Destinations: avantidestinations.com Costa Rica Experts: costaricaexperts.com Delta Air Lines: delta.com InterContinental Hotel Group: intercontinental.com Natural Habitat Adventures: nathab.com Park Tower Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel: starwoodhotels.com october 2016 39 http://www.alexanderroberts.com http://www.avantidestinations.com http://www.costaricaexperts.com http://www.delta.com http://www.intercontinental.com http://www.nathab.com http://www.starwoodhotels.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend Oct 2016