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How much would it cost to travel at the top tier in your city or shire for two people?
By "top tier" I mean:
* Five-star hotels, or at least the fanciest in your area
* Restaurants for both breakfast and lunch
* Dinners with wine at the fanciest restaurants
* One or two nights out at swanky bars
* Luxury car rental OR a trips with private guide
* One helicopter / plane ride (e.g. in NYC an example would be from the airport to a Manhattan heliport)
* At least one spa
* Etc.
I would say it would cost at least $600-$800 / day averaged over seven days, including hiking, kayaking, and fishing on Lake Superior.
The Hugh Hefner suite at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas runs $40,000 per night. I can run up a six-figure bar tab at any of the decent restaurants in Las Vegas -- easy enough to do when the bar in question sells $20,000 bottles of wine. I can dine on $200 per ounce steaks and eat truffles that cost more than I make in a month.
What constitutes "top tier" is ALWAYS relative. I guarantee you there is someone in Dubai who looks at the prices I have given and shrugs, "So what?"
$500 per night at the Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton, a bit less at the Waldorf Astoria. More at the Grand Floridian, but imho not worth the price. These would be regular rooms, not suites. Suites would start in the $750 per night range and go up into the five figures per night.
$35 pp for Breakfast at most better hotel dining rooms
$45 pp for lunch at better golf clubs or hotel dining rooms
$1000 + for dinner for two with a couple fabulous bottles of wine at Victoria and Albert's, Norman's, Napa, California Grill, the Boheme, Le Coq Au Vin, etc. (Without wine, dinner at these restaurants would range from $100-500 per couple, not including chef's tables)
$500+ night out for two at a hot club with bottle service.
$100-200+ per day for luxury car rental, a luxury sedan and driver would run you about $1000 per day
Helicopter ride--no idea, there are several places that offer them, probably starting at $25 pp for a few minutes and going up from there.
Single massage at a better spa (Madara, Mokara, etc.) starting at $105 and going to over $200. Full spa day with 3-4 treatments and lunch would run $650 to well over $1000.
Golf--greens fees run $40 to $225+ per person.
Theme parks--$125 per person, per day for admission, another $100 each for snacks, drinks, souvenirs, etc.
How much would it cost to travel at the top tier in your city or shire for two people?
By "top tier" I mean:
* Five-star hotels, or at least the fanciest in your area
* Restaurants for both breakfast and lunch
* Dinners with wine at the fanciest restaurants
* One or two nights out at swanky bars
* Luxury car rental OR a trips with private guide
* One helicopter / plane ride (e.g. in NYC an example would be from the airport to a Manhattan heliport)
* At least one spa
* Etc.
I would say it would cost at least $600-$800 / day averaged over seven days, including hiking, kayaking, and fishing on Lake Superior.
Depending on the city I am not sure most major metro areas you could do all that for $800 a day. You would be hard pressed to do it here in NWA for that, but you probably could.
It's easy to spend $1500/night on some of the monster beach houses here. Usually they're 6-9 bedrooms and rent to 3-4 families who all go in on the rental together.
Depending on the city I am not sure most major metro areas you could do all that for $800 a day. You would be hard pressed to do it here in NWA for that, but you probably could.
DO you mean you'd be hard pressed to actually spend that much, or to spend less than that?
It's easy to spend $1500/night on some of the monster beach houses here. Usually they're 6-9 bedrooms and rent to 3-4 families who all go in on the rental together.
Well heck, if you are talking about staying in places that sleep 12 or more, that's an entirely different topic.
As ScoopLV said, it's all relative. Top tier for me means - in a nice city, like Barcelona or San Francisco -
Hotel - room at Four Seasons or comparable - $500
Meals - I don't really eat breakfast, so $5 for some bagels and a piece of fruit, but $100 for 2 for lunch, and $200 for 2 for dinner
Car - $100 a day to rent and park a "nice" car (Acura, Lexus, Infiniti - I'm not James Bond and don't need an Aston Martin to feel like I'm living high off the hog)
Shows, museums, golf, etc. - don't want to do this every day but $200 when I do
Everything else - $200
So, $1305 a day. Now, the trick is to *make* $1,305 a day… ;-)
I've seen families check out at some of the mid-to-upper level all inclusive resort hotels in places such as Aspen or Jackson Hole during ski season ....
where they had a 3-bdr suite for a family of 4 on the concierge floor (that includes 3 meals per day, fairly upscale/gourmet dining, snacks, lunches packed for on the slopes upon request, use of spa facilities, business/office communications & equipment, top line ski gear for the family, lift ticket passes for 5 of 7 days, laundry/dry cleaning, daily housekeeping/concierge services such as local restaurant or activities reservations, limo service to/from airport, and similar all inclusive luxury benefits ... but not including the alcohol/wine extra charges, stocked bar/snacks in suite, tips, etc) ....
not uncommon to see a tab in the $20 - 30,000 range for a 7-day luxury stay for the family. That doesn't include the meals that they ate in upscale restaurants in the area, or any other outside activities. Many times, I've seen these families buy top line fashion ski gear and ski equipment for their stay and then leave it in the suite upon their departure since they didn't need to take it back home ... an additional couple thousand dollars per adult expense for the week.
A relative of mine with effectively an unlimited budget for their family travels thinks nothing of heading 1st Class air travel to London or Paris for a weekend, staying in the best suites available, eating at the trendiest/most expensive restaurants, drinking the finest wines, renting luxury cars or using limo services for the duration of the trip, etc. Their family budget for daily incidental pocket expenses is $1,000/day per adult on the trip. Last time we traveled with her, we stayed in a hotel on Jermyn St in London ... we had a shoebox sized room with ensuite facilities for the two of us at $300/night, she had a 4-room suite for herself. She did pick up the tab for our dinners, where we had to endure heading out each night to the latest greatest top rated chef's emporium, Michelin starred or projected to be on the list very soon. In all candor, most of them were all about the show, service, and dining experience rather than the food, which in several cases was abysmal and not worth the cost or the experience. We left several $200/person meals hungry and needing to head out for a bite after a most unsatisfying meal. OTOH, my relative thought we were highly unsophisticated with leaden palates ... but she, too, headed for a pub later in the evening and drank local brews and snacked on the fare there after her whole snobby experience with the fine wines and after-dinner aperitifs.
True top-tier travelers don't even bother with 1st Class commercial air travel. At the lower echelons, they travel via charter jets to their destinations. Mid-level, they own their own jet aircraft and employ a flight crew on their payroll. At the top levels, they travel in multiple family owned jets due to security; ie, not wanting to risk that an aviation accident would wipe out all the family so husband and wife travel in their respective jets. I get to see these scenarios all the time when I fly my little GA single engine aircraft into places like Aspen and other resort areas. The difference, of course, is that they head to their multi-mil$ residence that they use a few times each year while I stay with friends in the area. The top tier folk hire an executive chef to cook their meals while they are in residence and have a local maid service take care of the place for their stay, etc.
For a true glimpse of how those top tier travelers travel, you might want to check out the jobs offered in publications such as The Caretaker's Gazette. As an example, years ago ... my wife and I were considering taking such a job requiring our skillset for maintenance/operations/cooking/horsemanship/chauffeur of a place where we'd have a house provided, cars & utility vehicles, food budget, etc. The house was far nicer and larger than anything I'd ever owned (and I have a 6bdr/3ba house in Vail, CO ... long ago paid for). We were offered $150,000 per year salary to live at the place, housing/utilities/gas for the vehicles, all expenses paid for out of the operating budget, medical insurance, retirement plan w/employer matching contributions, etc. The place was fairly remote, so the living there was a full-time proposition. They even included hangar space for my airplane (C182). What kept us from the job? We had to be there full time, ready at any moment to expect the family to fly in with their family and guests, and the main house and 4 guest houses had to be ready to accommodate them ... food, linens, housekeeping, manicured landscaping, horses ready to ride, nanny services when needed, and so forth. They required that we be competent bridge players to fill in as needed and round out a foursome on their private golf course (thankfully, they had staff for keeping that maintained) if they didn't have guests to do so. I don't golf and we don't play cards at the level they required for a competent bridge player, although we were capable of performing to all the other tasks they required, including driving them to the local ski areas in season as needed. They anticipated being at the place a maximum of 8 weeks per year, on an infrequent schedule with little advance notice of when they'd be there. What do you think such a place would cost to own/operate on an annual basis? This had to have been a multi-million dollar ongoing expense whether they used it or not. Per day of their use? I've been offered similar jobs through the years, mostly by word of mouth referral through several of my clients ... some of these jobs were in the Adirondacks, some were in Colorado or Wyoming, one was in FL, and one was based in the BVI area. Another was in Bermuda, working for an old friend who'd been a college roommate many years ago who came into a large estate and sizable fortune (never worked a day in his life, even when we were in school in Colorado he thought nothing of going to visit his sister in Australia for a long weekend break a few times per year, or heading back to Bermuda to see his folks for a couple days and playing a round of golf with his Dad).
Similarly, I have friends who have followed their hospitality career path to become captains or engineers on luxury yachts. Their home is the ship, their food/entertainment/lodging and all expenses are part of their job. They make 6-figure salaries and have their own living spaces on board, unlike the lower level crew members. They spend their year with a travel plan, summers in New England waters and winters in southern waters. These are multi-mil$ operations per year, and the owners don't spend a lot of time on board. Again, what is the daily budget for their use? I'd be surprised if it doesn't work out to hundreds of thousands of dollars per day ...
As ScoopLV said, it's all relative. Top tier for me means - in a nice city, like Barcelona or San Francisco -
Hotel - room at Four Seasons or comparable - $500
Meals - I don't really eat breakfast, so $5 for some bagels and a piece of fruit, but $100 for 2 for lunch, and $200 for 2 for dinner
Car - $100 a day to rent and park a "nice" car (Acura, Lexus, Infiniti - I'm not James Bond and don't need an Aston Martin to feel like I'm living high off the hog)
Shows, museums, golf, etc. - don't want to do this every day but $200 when I do
Everything else - $200
So, $1305 a day. Now, the trick is to *make* $1,305 a day… ;-)
That wasn't the question. He was looking to find out what top tier was WHERE YOU LIVE, not where you want to visit.
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