The suite life: tour the most-exclusive ways to travel

The suite life: tour the most-exclusive ways to travel
This image made using a 3-D camera from Matterport shows the library of the 4,300-square-foot Ty Warner penthouse suite on the 52nd floor of the Four Seasons hotel in New York. Included in the $50,000 nightly rate are all meals, unlimited spa treatments, free worldwide calls, unlimited use of a chauffeured Rolls Royce, a personal trainer and around-the-clock butler service. (AP Photo)

For those with unlimited bank accounts, travel has never been so glamorous.

Hotels, airlines and are catering to a new group of super-rich travelers who seek privacy and one-of-a-kind amenities most can only dream of—and don't think twice about spending $20,000 a day or more to get them.

We're talking private elevators, personal shopping assistants, helipads and even their own postal codes.

After paring their vacations along with everyone else during the Great Recession, the wealthiest 20 percent of Americans have increased spending on hotels by 7.1 percent since 2009, according to inflation-adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle 20 percent? Just 1.8 percent.

Obviously, most people can't afford such over-the-top vacations. The median household income in the United States is $52,250, according to the Census Bureau.

So The Associated Press is offering the closest thing—a tour of some of the world's most extravagant accommodations: suites on a Singapore Airlines Airbus A380, Cunard's duplex stateroom aboard the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner, and the Ty Warner Penthouse suite at the Four Seasons hotel in New York.

Trust us, we didn't get to spend the night either.

Each space was extensively photographed using the Matterport Pro 3D camera, and then reconstructed for use in virtual reality. Users are able to "walk" through and explore every part of the locations and experience these exclusive locations firsthand.

The suite life: tour the most-exclusive ways to travel
This image made using a 3-D camera from Matterport shows the bedroom of the 2,249 square foot Grand Duplex suite aboard Cunard's Queen Mary 2, in New York. The starting price for the duplex suite for a 7-day trans-Atlantic crossing is $20,000 per person. (AP Photo)

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HOW TO VIEW AP'S SUITE LIFE EXPERIENCE

— View the interactive 3D experience online here: interactives.ap.org/2015/suite-life/

— For a virtual reality version of this experience visit the Oculus Store using the Samsung Gear VR and download "The suite life."

The suite life: tour the most-exclusive ways to travel
This image made using a 3-D camera from Matterport shows a view of a Singapore Airlines private suite on an Airbus A380 parked at New York's John F. Kennedy International airport. The seat is 3 feet wide, faces a 23-inch television loaded with more than 100 movies and 180 television shows. When it is time for sleep, flight attendants prepare a bed with linens and full-sized pillows. Tickets start at $12,000 roundtrip between New York and Frankfurt. (AP Photo)

© 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Citation: The suite life: tour the most-exclusive ways to travel (2015, August 25) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2015-08-life-most-exclusive-ways.html
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