Lodging

With the popularity of Airbnb and VRBO, more and more clients are requesting apartment and house rentals with us. For apartments in residential neighborhoods of European and American cities, we enjoy working with OneFineStay. Someone meets our clients at the residence the first day, goes over the apartment, and then gives them a concierge list of restaurants, shops, and sights to see in the neighborhood. For house rentals, especially on the beaches of the Caribbean isles of the Turks & Caicos and St. Barts, it’s hard to top the Villas of Distinction. Each house is personally visited and inspected before being added to the list. It also helps to know the Director of Sales, who ActiveTravels will often call to ensure that the one particular property we like for our clients is indeed fantastic. Try getting the personal lowdown with VRBO. Not happening. 

There are three reasons why the Beachmere Inn in Ogunquit, Maine, continues to sell out summer after summer: location, location, location. A small gate at the far end of the inn’s sprawling lawn opens onto to the famous mile-long cliff walk they call the Marginal Way. Turn left, and you can stroll downhill to the main beach, stores, and restaurants in Ogunquit. Turn right, and discover even more breathtaking vistas of the jagged coastline and vast Atlantic. Keep going, and soon you’re in the compact neighborhood of Perkins Cove, where you can shop for painted lobster buoys and grab that requisite lobster roll at Barnacle Billy’s.

To find other New England properties where reservations are a must, please check out my latest story for Yankee Magazine, Reservations Necessary. 

For Lisa’s birthday, we headed up the road to spend the day and night in Salem. We saw the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum, and then strolled down the street to the new Hotel Salem, which just opened in the former Newmarket department store building. The 4-story structure of exposed granite and brick now lends itself well to 44 spacious rooms with floor to ceiling windows overlooking this historic town and a restaurant on the ground floor called Counter. I ordered the Industry Burger, one of the best burgers I’ve had in a long time, topped with blue cheese and hot sauce, and served with handcut fries and a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. A rooftop bar will be open in the spring and there’s also space in the basement that could be used for games and another long bar. But for the time being, Hotel Salem is perfectly suited for a winter overnight, with the O’Keeffe show running until April 1st. 

On the main thoroughfare of Savannah’s downtown corridor, the Perry Lane promises to bridge the antebellum past with modern comforts when it opens on May 18. The owners spent five years studying Savannah, so they’ve figured out how to transform all that history into a 21st-century hotel. A Starwood Luxury Collection Hotel, the property offers 167 guest rooms, rooftop bar, pool, and Emporium Kitchen and Wine Bar featuring locally sourced meats, fish, and cheeses. 

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches 

Guest Post and Photos By Lisa Leavitt

Costa Rica Experts, the tour operator we adore for our clients’ trips to Costa Rica and Panama, has added a handful of new hotels to their list of available lodgings. Located just off the remote Nicoya Peninsula, Isla Chiquita offers the one and only glamping experience in Costa Rica. Arrive by boat to the small luxury site, where you will be lead to one of 15 premium tents. For an adults-only luxury getaway, check out the new Las Catalinas property by Casa Chameleon, which enjoys panoramic views of the Pacific from the comfort of the infinity pool. Holistic, healing, and rejuvenation are the primary focal points of The Retreat, an intimate 11-room boutique property that features yoga classes every morning and afternoon. Lagarta Lodge, a 26-room modern boutique hotel on the Nicoya Peninsula, is located between two rivers and a sandy beach within a private nature reserve, an ideal locale for hiking, kayaking, and stand-up paddleboarding. If you’re thinking of visiting Costa Rica this winter, please let ActiveTravels know and we’ll package together the whole trip, including lodging, activities, and transfers.

If you want to visit New York at a discount, then head to the city during their Seventh Annual Hotel Week in early January. Gansevoort Meatpacking, the Refinery Hotel, Library Hotel, James New York, Viceroy Central Park, and Archer New York are just a handful of top-tier properties that will cut their rates considerably during this time. For example, the Paul Hotel NYC will only be $100 a night, more than 50% off their usual rate. Hotel Week NYC™ was created by PR maven Nancy J. Friedman in 2010 to address the occupancy dip most hotels experience after the holiday season. It’s a perfect time to visit Manhattan without the crowds and see the new David Hockney show at the Met.