Goodbye travel agents. Hello iPhone. Booking a luxury vacation has become that much easier, thanks to the new Four Seasons iPhone and iPod Touch application that let’s you book overnights at one of their many hotels worldwide with just the swipe of a finger. Find a room, peruse and book spa treatments available at your chosen property, and tour your hotel before you even arrive with the “virtual vacation” feature, which showcases the Four Season’s various properties via streaming video. Download the app for free at the iTunes App Store.

The sassy guidebook series, LUXE City Guides, has recently launched their own hotel booking site, featuring over 100 hotels in the 31 cities they cover. The sort of one-stop shop provides travelers with detailed, insider reviews (they tell you which units are best and point out any not-so-fab facets of the hotel) and the ability to book the hotel right from the same page, with guaranteed rates and no booking fees. Plus, you’ll get a free LUXE guide with each reservation. The “less is more” mindset means fewer options but they showcase the best of the best. For New York, for example, there are five hotels featured from the LUXE City Guides Hotels & Villa Collection: The Bowery, Four Seasons, The Carlyle, The Greenwich, and The Mercer. Not a bad assembly, huh? For Los Angeles, choose from the Chateau Marmont, Hollywood Roosevelt, or Peninsula Beverly Hills. The hotels are all upscale and, in turn, often on the expensive side, but you can also find exclusive deals and offers on the site, like 20% off midweek rates and LUXE extras like a complimentary bottle of wine with lunch.

Hotels vie for their stars and diamonds. After all, these status symbols represent the best of the best accommodations in North America and are valued and respected by the travel community. And, although, a hotel’s number of stars or diamonds (5 being the ultimate grade) is one of the major descriptors we all take into account when looking for lodgings, most of us use the two interchangeably and aren’t quite sure what either really mean. So what’s the difference? Is one better than the other? Eh, not much. Not really. Here’s the story: Read the rest of this post »