Leader Book Club

TRAVEL SECRETS

Tanya Rose shares an insider’s knowledge to travelling in style.

It’s all in the subtitle: ‘My favourite luxury hotels and hidden gems from around the world.’ Travel Secrets is not an author’s wish list, it’s a personal best list, since Tanya Rose leaves you in no doubt that she knows these hotels inside out.

No surpise, as the one-time Director of Sales & Marketing for the Savoy Group has, for the past 25 years, been travel consiglieri to the cognoscenti, whispering advice and directions on how to get the most luxury out of their travel experiences. Whatever luxury means.

For sports aficionados seeking a culture fix, it might be the chance to dip into the Picasso Museum in Malaga before hurrying back to the landscaped gardens and tennis club of the Hotel Puente Romano in Marbella. When staying at the Excelsior Hotel & Spa in Dubrovnik, it might mean snatching a piece of history at the Ranchi Hat Factory, society milliners since the mid-19th century.  Then there’s the luxury to be found by going beyond which hotel to which room. According to Nigel Newton, Founder and Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing, only three rooms at The Pierre in New York look directly over Central Park.  Knowledge pays, let it be said.

One of the most appealing aspects of this beautifully photographed and engaging book is how sixteen of Rose’s ‘well-travelled friends’ chipped in their hints, tips and travel nuggets. Architect David Collins turns to G7 taxis after arriving in the Gare du Nord by Eurostar to avoid the taxi queues and counts on Travel Scrabble to keep him entertained between destinations.  Anya Hindmarch rips travel  recommendations out from magazines. Common sense? For the A-type, time-pressed traveller in all of us, even that could be a luxury.

Travel Secrets: My favourite luxury hotels and hidden gems from around the world by Tanya Rose is available on Amazon.com.