One-of-a-Kind Getaways

By Sonja Steptoe

For the very reason Pancho Villa cherished it as a hideaway in the early 1900s, the West Texas town of Lajitas, a stretch of 25,000 desolate acres on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Mexican border, hardly seems the ideal spot for an idyll. But lay down a strip of asphalt long enough for a Lear to land, then build a rich dude's dude ranch loaded with Old West ambiance--and, voil`a, Lajitas, the Ultimate Hideout, is born. The resort stands as a paean to cowboy culture, attracting wealthy city slickers and adventure seekers.

The chief reason: an imaginative collection of homegrown and hard-to-duplicate guest amenities that include custom-made leather cowboy boots and belts, spa treatments infused with extracts of the native agave plant, cattle drives, shooting contests, plates of rattlesnake cakes and wild-boar schnitzel, and overnight camping trips to a nearby ghost town. The West can be won for $215 to $825 a night. "To capture the attention of travelers, we have to offer a variety of indigenous amenities that create a unique experience at every turn," says Daniel Hostettler, managing director of the $80 million resort development. "That's the way forward in the luxury market now."

The high-end resort business has long been a bit like those TV poker tournaments. As soon as one innkeeper builds what looks like an unbeatable hand of perks, a rival somewhere raises the stakes. Not long ago, chauffeured Rolls-Royce service to and from the airport, monogrammed 1,000-thread-count bed linens, customized room decor and personal butlers were the last word in lavish amenities.

These days a growing number of proprietors are adding one-of-a-kind indigenous attractions to the deck. "Now that every plush hotel has the same wonderful beds and beautiful marble, luxury resorts have to create unique personalities," says Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, a firm that tracks affluent consumers' spending habits.

The trend isn't confined to newer developments like Lajitas. Some of the world's most venerable hotel operators go to great lengths to give their guests a generous helping of local flavor. Oberoi Hotels built the first luxury tent resort on the edge of the rugged Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve in western India four years ago and put pampered fat cats face-to-face with majestic big cats during private jeep tours through the jungle. More recently, the $630-a-night Oberoi Vanyavilas resort purchased pachyderms to take guests on mahout-guided elephant rides through the countryside.

Trading on South Beach, Miami's precinct of risque indulgence, Hyatt's historic Hotel Victor on Ocean Drive aims to make its mark as a haven for vintage hedonism. Later this summer, the newly renovated septuagenarian property plans to sell a package of amenities that features Prohibition-era liquor and Cuban cigars dating to 1937 that are available nowhere else in the region, says Carlos Sarmiento, the Victor's general manager. "We wanted to do something that would distinguish us," he says.

The old stogies, preserved in a humidor custom built by the supplier, Fumar Cigars, will be priced from $200 to $750 apiece and are meant to be savored either while the smoker reclines on one of the circular beds ringing a 25-ft. video screen on the hotel terrace or sits on the VIP-only smoking veranda over looking Ocean Drive. What would make the $10,000- to-$15,000 price tag he's attaching to a 10-pack of such singular smokes as a 1937 Partagas or a 1947 Francisco Farach go down smoother? Perhaps a pint of Kentucky whiskey bottled during Prohibition or a fifth of Bacardi rum produced in Havana in 1936 that Sarmiento is throwing in with each purchase.

Dazzling as such indigenous luxuries are, however, Poseidon Undersea Resorts intends to go them one better--and several leagues deeper. Later this year the company plans to start construction on the world's first luxury hotel on the ocean floor, near a private island in Fiji. The resort forecasts opening in 2008, with 48 beachfront villas and 24 underwater suites from which to view coral gardens and passing dolphins and sharks, according to L. Bruce Jones, company president. The rate for a week with two nights undersea and four aboveground will be $15,000 a person, submarine rides included.