Snow-white are the bed, pillows and blankets, walls and floors are kept in light cream colours. It is as if one were sleeping inside a cloud. Outside the panorama window, which is as high and as wide as the room, the stars shine out of the black of the night. By day, a light blue sky stretches across the rugged vastness of the Negev desert in Israel. The area is biblical – and that is how it feels.

The new Six Senses Shaharut has emerged right in its midst – on 18 hectares, built from the desert’s stones, with private pools, green cacti – a retreat in mystical silence and expanse. The final touches are currently being applied, with the resort and its 58 villas and suites opening in April as the newest highlight in the Six Senses portfolio. What can you do here? Take time to find yourself, recharge the batteries. Most of all. And some slightly different things as well: climbing, hiking, mountain biking for example, or participating in camel and jeep safaris. Or just stay in the spa all day, that is another option.

The new resort is 45 minutes by car from Eilat airport, and three and a half hours from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. All that quickly feels like a world apart.

Photo: © ASSAF PINVHUK – Six Senses Shaharut Israel

No other hotel group in the world is this personal, this individual, this tailored in all details to each individual guest as Aman, no other has such a dedicated fan base. There is even a well-established term for them which says it all: they are ‘Aman Junkies’ – people who often choose a destination only because there is an Aman. They collect hotels – and unique hotel experiences.

And their options are only expanding: The Aman Kyoto has just opened, hotels in New York and Mexico will be added in the coming year, and an Aman in Bangkok will welcome its first guests in 2022. Overall, there will soon be 38 hotels. How to spend Christmas in each of them, or New Year’s Eve? The answer is simple: just the way you would like to. And it will definitely suit the hotel, the ambience and the setting. None of these establishments are interchangeable, they all belong exactly where they are. That is what makes them so special – each of them.

Photo: © Nacasa & Partners Inc. – Photo Gallery by Six Senses

Belmond with its hotels in locations such as Venice, Mallorca and Rio is currently the best hotel brand in the world. Second place goes to Mandarin Oriental, with Four Seasons third. This is the conclusion reached by the consulting firm Luxury Travel Intelligence in its annual comprehensive analysis of the global luxury hotel industry. A total of 123 evaluation criteria are applied. Among other things, it is determined whether the hotels fulfil the brand promise and whether passion and values are genuinely upheld. Of course, it is also a question of whether management and employees deliver the promised quality in daily hotel operations.

Last year’s winner in this highly esteemed ranking was Aman and can now be found in fourth place ahead of the Oetker Collection. Overall, the gaps between the top seven places in the list are very narrow (Auberge Resorts Collection at 6th, Rosewood Hotels at 7th). Only groups with at least ten hotels were examined.

However, one aspect was not taken into account: how you feel about the hotels, which house of a brand you will remember for a lifetime. That is what we are here for: to remember what is important to our customers, to once more advise you in your best interest next time.

Photo: ©  ERIC LAIGNEL – Belmond Ltd.

It feels good to be a special guest, to be at the top of every upgrade list, to be able to check in early and check out very late if possible. It is an added treat to not have to pay anything at all for the lavish American Breakfast in a luxury hotel and to get many more of the hotel’s extras as a close friend of the house – even though you may be there for the first time. This is the case with Rocco Forte – be it in the five-star venues in Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin or those in London, Rome or St. Petersburg. A total of 14 hotels belong to the noble brand – and we are the only travel agency in Austria to be a member of the “Rocco Forte Knights” preferred partner program. This accolade is only awarded upon invitation. It is a source of pride to us – not least because it means numerous advantages for you: after all, these are only available if you have booked with one of the few agencies with Knights status. Preferably with us – because we are not only happy to be there for you, but you also benefit from it.

Photo: © Adrian Houston Limited – Rocco Forte Hotels

Figures sometimes best get to the heart of what is special. 882 is such a figure and stands for the sum of the square meters of all terraces of the seven new Panorama Suites in the ‘Interalpen-Hotel Tyrol’, situated on a high plateau near Seefeld. Meanwhile, the figure 300 represents the square meters of window area, whereas 1,375 relates to the height in meters that the hotel’s seventh floor with said suites lies above sea level. All these figures together stand for the mesmerizing spectacle that is this unrestricted Alpine panorama, this best possible view – not least because the frameless windows extend from floor to ceiling and from wall to wall and seem to dissolve the boundaries between the inside and outside.

The seven new Panorama Suites were inaugurated on August 1st. Their sizes range from 76 to 200 square metres. And then there is also this other figure, which practically goes without saying for a house that belongs to Leading Hotels of the World^TM. It is the 5. That is how many stars this hotel has during the day. At night, it has a lot more – all the billions of stars of the firmament high above the huge terraces.

Photo: © Interalpen-Hotel Tyrol