Travel Luxury

For $8.4 million, guests arrive by private jet, play 18 holes of golf with Jack Nicklaus or Robert Trent Jones II and sleep in the presidential suite equipped with a private butler and chef at the Marquis Los Cabos Beach, Golf, Spa & Casitas Resort, Mexico. Grammy-wining musician Carlos Santana will even rock you during a private concert.

Priceless hotel experiences
For the right price, your stay is unlike any other guest’s



Most hotels offer enticing packages and programs, but just imagine if they could organize private after-hours shopping trips, days of deep-sea-fishing with a world-class chef and the hottest Lakers tickets? That’s exactly what some luxury hotels are offering in order to attract guests who demand the most for their money.

Courtesy of the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand, guests can visit the world-famous Dior the same way celebrities do: When it’s closed, with champagne. At the St. Regis Bora Bora, Jean-Georges Vongerichten not only goes deep-sea fishing with guests, he also prepares their catch that evening at his restaurant, Lagoon, at the hotel. And the St. Regis Resort, Monarch Beach, is offering Magic Johnson’s personal Lakers tickets—the ideal spot for cheering alongside diehard fans Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson.

In order to make the most indelible impression imaginable, more hotels are racing to provide ultimate insider experiences. “People have so many material things, they’re often looking for an experience,” explains Julie Saunders, concierge supervisor at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington D.C. “Once you’ve eaten the meals and slept in the bed, what do you have?”

Saunders and her staff have fulfilled some wild requests. They recently expedited the purchase of the flag that flies over the Capitol, and even arranged access for a family who wanted to watch the July 4th fireworks from the Capitol building’s steps. (Of course, with timing and security issues, there are no guarantees). “How great to give guests something intangible to take with them. So they can say, “'do you remember when we did THAT?'” says Saunders. “It’s a memory that you can hold for the rest of your life.”