High-end hotels

THE COST of a hotel room rose 4.3% in 2011. But luxury hotels—the ones that cater to the so-called "one per cent"—are doing better than most. The Wall Street Journal's Kris Hudson reports:

All hotel categories are seeing improvements, but high-end hotels are faring better than most. Luxury and upscale hotels in the U.S. posted gains in revenue per room of 21% and 13%, respectively, in the first 10 months of this year in comparison to the same period in 2009, according to Smith Travel Research.

The surge is in part because the fortunes of affluent business and leisure travelers have sprung back faster than for the masses, according to analysts.

Good for Mr Hudson for just coming out and saying it: high-end hotels are doing better because, although the middle class and the poor are still in dire straits as a result of the financial crisis, the rich have mostly recovered. To better illustrate his point, Mr Hudson turns his attention to an especially elite group: rich and famous people who have decided to get into the hotel business for themselves. Ty Warner (the Beanie Babies' creator) has seen revenue at his Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan rise 300% since 2009—an increase that allowed him to refinance the mortgages on the Four Seasons and three other properties, according to the Journal. Hotels owned by Gloria Estefan, eBay's Pierre Omidyar and Bill Gates are also doing better, Mr Hudson reports. I'm sure you were all very concerned.

Wondering how you can get in on the luxury hotel action? Andrew Harper, a travel writer, recently released his 2012 "Hideaway Report", in which he ranks his favourite luxury hotels. This year's champion is the 21-suite Southern Ocean Lodge in Kangaroo Island, Australia; USA Today has a nice slideshow of some of the other winners. Rooms at the Southern Ocean Lodge start at A$990 ($1013) per person per night for a double, so if you want to stay there, you should probably be one of those hotel-owning one-percenters I mentioned above. (The rates do include airport transfers and open bar, but I imagine you'd have to drink an awful lot to make the rate comparable to, say, the Four Seasons.) Happy travels!