Condé Nast Travel magazine last week issued its Readers’ Choice Awards. Included was a detailed look at top spots in the Caribbean, as well as Hawai’i and Asia. Here’s a look at a few of the highlights, and some of my fave places and hotels. The Best Islands in the Caribbean at a Glance Best Caribbean island for beaches: Anguilla Best Caribbean island for diving: Dominica Best Caribbean island for honeymoons: St Lucia Best Caribbean island for island hopping: British Virgin Islands Best Caribbean island for families: Barbados The Top 10 Caribbean Islands Barbados (a personal fave) St. Barts (only Read more
best hotels in Hawaii
The people at Michelin are famous for their restaurant reviews, which have been going on for decades. They got into the hotel review business a few years ago, and now put out a yearly ranking of the best places to stay around the world. The highest ranking is three keys, followed by two and then one. Even one key represents a place with everything you would want in a hotel. The 2026 hotel guide for Canada lists 42 properties in Canada; almost exclusively but not entirely in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. I wish there was more geographic variety, Read more
Fancy hotel rooms don’t necessarily equate with luxury. A new Vrbo/Harris poll of some 1,700 travellers from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia finds that travellers place greater value on the consistent delivery of the fundamentals. In an increasingly competitive market, mastering the basics can be more important to travellers than offering additional amenities or elaborate in-home experiences. The poll asked for travel opinions for people who have stayed in a vacation rental and found that 86% would pay more for a place to stay that had a higher-quality listing. Respondents made it overwhelmingly clear that quality is not Read more
A new list of top hotels from Forbes. Tourism jumps for Anguilla, Curacao and Shanghai. A new Marriott hotel in Barbados. And a continued drop in Canadian visits to the States. That plus a Cuba tourism update and TPC Sawgrass PGA Tour golf in today’s travel report. FORBES HOTEL, SPA, RESTAURANT AND CRUISE RATINGS FOR 2026 Forbes has come out with its annual list of top hotels, restaurants, spas and cruise ships around the world. Totaling 2,422 properties, the winners include 343 Five-Star, 708 Four-Star and 679 Recommended hotels and 82 Five-Star, 138 Four-Star and 80 Recommended restaurants. They also Read more
Travel + Leisure readers recently named their fave 20 hotels and resorts in Hawai’i. As someone who’s been a good three dozen times and has probably spent a year of his life in the islands, I have to say it’s a good list. But even a ranking of 20 top places to stay misses a lot of fine places to rest your head in the Hawaiian islands. With that in mind, I’ve got a list of my own places to try that didn’t make the Travel + Leisure list. I also have some thoughts on the T + L readers’ Read more
