Editor's Tips - Luxury Travel Magazine Australia

 
What makes a tropical island resort truly luxurious? It is a question we often get asked on Luxury Travel Magazine. Once upon a time just having 24-hour room service ensured a resort was considered a cut above the rest, a complimentary shoeshine was once considered pretty swanky too; but the gold bar has been lifted, as around the world ever more luxurious destinations are created.

So here is Luxury Travel Magazine’s foolproof checklist of five reasons a resort is YOUR sort of place.
1. A Personal Plunge Pool
Never mind that you’re only a sandy footprint away from a pristine beach, or that the hotel already has a choice of several pools including a mind-blowingly beautiful infinity-edged number. These have to be shared. The whole point about having your own plunge pool is that you choose whom you share it with if anyone and a bikini is a matter of choice not decorum. It used to be that only the top suites had to have such indulgences: Now no new luxury tropical island resort is being built without one.  The pools at the Four Seasons Ko Samui for example, are not so much plunge, as lap since many of its private pools are long enough to swim a decent length in. Ahead of its time the Banyan Tree Phuket has long offered some almost full-sized pools in it premium villas.

2. Your own Butler
No matter how good a hotel’s service is this can’t beat the personal attention that your own butter can lavish on you. Which is why a growing number of premium resorts are assigning one particular staff member to guests for the duration of their stay. At Soneva Gili in The Madives your butler is called a Man Friday and has to row out to the top suites by boat, so secluded are they from the rest of the resort.

3. A Private Beach
By now you’ve probably realised that the buzzword here is privacy so obviously there is little point staying in a luxury resort when you wander down to the beach and discover the local backpackers next door can share your slice of paradise. So a private beach is the next thing on the wish list complete with towels, sun-lounges and hot and cold running beach cocktails.  

4. An Exclusive Island
When Robinson Crusoe was dumped alone on a desert island the prospect of all that isolation didn’t exactly thrill him however luxury lovers are no longer looking at resorts that offer just a private beach but a WHOLE ISLAND to themselves –and their fellow high paying guests of course. In place like the Maldives, where most of the islands are pretty small anyway this isn’t too hard. One of the most up-market offerings is Doni Mighili, which is the only island in the Maldives that can be booked exclusively.  Voyages Wilson Island in the Whitsundays offers barefoot, tented privacy while Fregate Island, Seychelles offers privacy to the like of Bill gates and Brad Pitt.

5. World-class Food
No matter how remote your island escape it has to have a seriously good chef and a decent wine list. The more remote the destination the more complex the organization behind the scenes to ensure you get you fresh veggies. Produce is often flown in twice a week from the mainland. The latest trend is for chefs to plant their own herb or vegetable gardens to ensure produce is fresh and organic.

6. A Spectacular Spa
 I know I said five but there is one more thing to consider. Spas these days have to be as over the top, luxurious and architecturally designed as the main villas. Two rooms and a massage table in the basement  will no longer impress anyone. The spa should be housed in its own separate building and preferably incorporate some exotic delights such as an underwater treatment room or ultimate packages that go on for hours, leaving your body relaxed and toned and your wallet considerably slimmer too. The people who run Evason and Soneva properties have realised the pulling power of the spa. So well know were their Six Sense Spas that they have now re-named many of their properties Six Senses Hideaways, dropping the name Evason.

Everyone’s idea of luxury is different so what is YOUR personal check list? Where have you been you will never forget? What is on your wish list? Send me a letter and let us know. The best letter to the Editor published in the Luxury Travel Magazine Autumn edition will win a Mobilizer bag from Victorinox.