how your travel advisor can save you money

bill for two buffet breakfasts, FREE if you use a STARS travel advisor

It's a common misconception that hotel guests can find the best deals booking on the internet, either going to an online travel agency like Expedia or hotels.com or booking directly on the hotel's website. If you want to reserve a room at a luxury hotel or resort, that inclination is a fallacy.

This was our breakfast bill from this morning. My wife and I each ordered the breakfast buffet this morning at Ritz-Carlton Bacara Resort. At the end of the meal, our waiter brought us the pictured check to sign. If $77.58 sounds like a lot to pay for breakfast ... here's how you can enjoy that breakfast for free: make your booking through a travel advisor affiliated with a STARS agency. One of the perks you'll receive at Bacara is a free buffet breakfast for two each morning of your stay. And you'll get a late 4 p.m. check-out if available and a customized welcome amenity or service — all at the same rate you see on the web.

Even better amenities are coming, as I understand Bacara will soon be accepted into Virtuoso. Add to all of the above a $100 resort credit — and a room upgrade if available when you check in. That's even more value you can get just by using a Virtuoso travel advisor. 

So don't buy into the flawed logic that you're better off booking it on your own. You can find a Virtuoso advisor on Virtuoso.com.

copyright  (c)  2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit our website.

Ritz Carlton Bacara | excitement at what's coming

pools at RC Bacara (c) 2018 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

I am excited by the prospects for Ritz-Carlton Bacara. A luxury resort set on 87 acres of oceanfront property north of Santa Barbara, California, Bacara has been under Ritz-Carlton management since October, 2017. The resort has "great bones," and I believe it will become one of the premier resorts in the Ritz-Carlton family over the next few years.

That feeling began with the drive from the airport when I had a chance to speak with the manager of guest services. Having worked at Bacara for a number of years, he shared his excitement — and that of the entire staff — at Ritz-Carlton's philosophy of staff empowerment. If a guest is experiencing a problem, staff members are empowered to resolve the situation right on the spot. Apparently not how the resort has been managed in years past, the staff is taking to the Ritz-Carlton tradition of being ladies and gentlemen whose highest mission is the genuine care and comfort of the hotel's guests.

Significant plans are in the works for a complete renovation of the resort. First up, a contemporary redesign of the hotel's lobby will begin this June, and a refurbishment of guest rooms is planned to take place over the next two years. A very nice vacation resort today, some are predicting that Bacara will become the flagship property of the entire chain.

Coming soon: a temporary Club Lounge (in April) with a permanent Club to open in July. Bacara is working with Jean-Michel Cousteau to develop a seasonal Ritz Kids program by this September.

A few highlights... 

• The hotel has two excellent restaurants. Angel Oak is the signature steakhouse where we enjoyed a phenomenal meal. The Bistro, open for casual dining, hosted us tonight for an enjoyable dinner.
• Pools are heated to 85º year round.
• Bacara has received tentative approval to join Virtuoso.
• Guests booked by STARS travel advisors receive complimentary daily Buffet Breakfasts for two... and the buffet includes hot items including eggs cooked to order.

copyright  (c)  2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit our website.