Based on the conversations I have overheard in the last three days, everyone in West Virginia is either related to, went to high school with, or is related to someone who went to high school with everyone else in the State. In addition, these people take their kid's sports so seriously; I wouldn’t be surprised if the famous Hatfield-McCoy feud started over a Little League game.

I also think th...

I had wanted to go to Argentina ever since I read Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges. If you have read it, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, be warned that once you do you will have no choice but to buy a ticket to Buenos Aires.

Obviously, Argentina is in South America. You know this because you got on a plane in North America and flew south for a really, really long time. Buenos Air...

I was hot air ballooning over Cappadocia in central Turkey when it began to snow…”

Before I go any further you have to admit that that is a really cool way to begin a story. And Turkey is a really cool place to go. OK… back to the story…

I was hot air ballooning over Cappadocia in central Turkey when it began to snow. We left our 4-star cave hotel before sunrise (that’s right, our hotel was in a ...

As companies go, Starwood Hotels has their act together. I just had the pleasure of being their guest at the Sheraton Waikiki along with several hundred of their top customers. There was the normal wining and dining …well, “normal” is maybe not the word because the hospitality, food quality, and level of service was superb. The Starwood top brass seemed sincere in listening to their customers i...

What, I wondered, did Denmark have to offer besides breakfast pastries, big dogs, and swans with abandonment issues? Since I was just next door in Berlin, I figured that I would take a few days and find out. The very first thing I noticed was that there are a lot of blondes, plus by necessity, their chronological corollary, a lot of older people with really, really silver hair. That, of course...

I just had the privilege of being a Hosted Buyer at this year’s IMEX in Frankfurt. IMEX, along with its slightly smaller Barcelona-based competitor, EIBTM, are the two major European meetings and incentive trade shows that bring together buyers and suppliers from all over the world. A perfect setting to meet all of my hotel and DMC partners, as well as find out what else is out there. There’s ...

There is a lot to say about the new Mandarin Las Vegas. But I am not going to. I am just going to say… Picture that you are at a luxury resort and spa, all is quiet and peaceful, the service is superb, the décor elegant, the food excellent, the rooms large and well-appointed. You are relaxed, pampered. But, although you can’t quite put your finger on it, something strange is going on. As you a...

I get very cranky if I don’t get to go to Spain at least once a year. Luckily I’ve been the last four years in a row, so I will have to blame my crankiness on something else.

There are so many reasons to go to Spain other than the 10 listed here, and so much has been written about it that I won’t bore you with how great it is for both meetings and incentives.

I will just say that Barcelona really...

Let’s establish some Basic Principles on which we all agree.

San Francisco is the best city in the world to live in. OK. Now that we have established that as fact we can say that Paris is the best city in the world to visit. And that is why I have just returned from a week in Paris, for the ostensible purpose of looking at hotels. The real reason was to look at Parisians. And in between the ho...

If Hollywood location scouts were to be given the assignment of finding the best place to film the re-make of “Shangri-La”, they would need drive no further than an hour north to the Ojai Valley. Artists, mystics (and farmers) have been flocking here for well over a century for the combination of perfect weather, great soil, and some ineffable spirit of the place that is hard to describe. You h...

As more proof to those who don’t believe I have a great job… We arrived at the boutique MacArthur Place hotel in Sonoma, California, just in time to discover that the hotel was also hosting the annual Wine Country Martini Festival. A dozen or so of the top restaurant and hotel bars from the area were competing to see who had the best of the best. And of course, all of the attendees (which now i...

First principle: The Wynn is the best hotel in Las Vegas.  I am not saying it is arguably the best, I am saying it is the best.  Sure, the Bellagio is nice.  The Four Seasons does the Four Seasons thing very well.  The Venetian and everything else on down do not come close to the combination of facility, staff, service, and in-general ambiance of the Wynn.  So it’s the best.  And now comes the ...

I have a great job. No, it’s more than that. I have a fantastic job.

 
On the surface it consists of three parts; my company, The Cramer Collection, markets the best luxury hotels from around the world to meeting and incentive planners throughout the US.  We consult with those planners as to what destinations best fit their current needs and then find them the best options (and deals) available...