TravelPosters have spoken! TravelPost.com’s Top Rated Hotels of 2006 list breaks down the best hotels of the past year - not according to editors, but according to regular travelin’ folk, their oppinions and reviews. We’ve gathered the top hotels for different demographic groups based on TravelPosters’ 2006 reviews to give travelers top hotel recommendations relevant to their travel needs, budgets and preferences. The next time you’re looking for a great hotel, start here. Enjoy.

Top Rated Hotels - Overall as rated by all TravelPost.com members

Harrah’s Hotel and Casino (Atlantic City)

Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter (Lake Buena Vista)

The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino (Las Vegas)

Bellagio (Las Vegas)

Disney’s Old Key West Resort (Lake Buena Vista)

Harrah’s Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas)

Harrah’s Laughlin Hotel and Casino (Laughlin, NV)

Harrah’s St. Louis Riverport (Maryland Heights, MO)

Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas)

Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside (Lake Buena Vista)

Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress (Orlando)

Disney’s Polynesian Resort (Lake Buena Vista)

Caesars Palace (Las Vegas)

The Breakers on the Ocean (Dennis Port, MA)

Top Rated Hotels with a Spa as rated by women ages 31 - 45

JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa (Kapolei, HI)

Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort and Casino (Incline Village, NV)

W New York (New York, NY)

Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort (Phoenix, AZ)

Driskill Hotel (Austin, TX)

Hilton Chicago (Chicago)

Wynn Las Vegas (Las Vegas)

MGM Grand (Las Vegas)

Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress (Orlando)

Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas (Las Vegas)

Marriott Marquis Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)

Top Rated New York City Hotels as rated by business travelers

Marriott Marquis New York

W New York

Embassy Suites New York City

The Westin New York at Times Square

Affinia 50

Doubletree Guest Suites New York

W New York Times Square

The Waldorf Astoria

Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan

Sofitel New York Hotel

Hotel QT

Top Rated Resorts in Southern California as rated by travelers ages 46 - 60

Hilton San Diego Resort (San Diego)

The Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa (Rancho Mirage)

Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort (Santa Barbara)

Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort Spa (Palm Desert)

Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort (Huntington Beach)

The Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel (Dana Point)

Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort (Huntington Beach)

Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa (Indian Wells)

Indian Wells Resort Hotel (Indian Wells)

Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort and Spa (Dana Point)

Top Rated $300+/night Hotels as rated by luxury travelers

The Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel (Dana Point, CA)

The Fairmont Kea Lani Maui (Wailea, HI)

The Westin Maui Resort and Spa (Kaanapali, HI)

W New York Union Square (New York, NY)

The Ritz Carlton Kapalua (Kapalua, HI)

The Westin Indianapolis (Indianapolis)

Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach (Honolulu)

InterContinental Mark Hopkins (San Francisco)

Four Seasons Hotel New York (New York, NY)

The Kahala (Honolulu)

Top Rated Casinos as rated by travelers over age 60

Harrah’s Hotel and Casino Atlantic City (Atlantic City)

Bellagio (Las Vegas)

Harrah’s Rincon Casino and Resort (Valley Center, CA)

Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas)

Harrah’s Casino and Hotel Reno (Reno)

Caesars Palace (Las Vegas)

Harrah’s Prairie Band Hotel and Casino (Mayetta, KS)

Flamingo (Las Vegas)

Harrahs Joliet Hotel and Casino (Joliet, IL)

Seneca Niagara Spa Hotel and Casino (Niagara Falls)

The newest Four Seasons property has opened in Westlake Village, Calif. (near LA). The 270-room Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village has, in typical Four Seasons style, a spa with 28 treatment rooms (some with fireplaces) and a full fitness center with two pools.

The hotel is also the site of the California WellBeing Institute, a center that combines health, fitness, and medical support for guests who want to revamp their lifestyles. It’s a luxury-level experience. We’re talking gourmet healthy food, upscale fitness experiences from Pilates to personal training and - of course - the hotel’s suite of spa services.

Standard nightly rates are $285-325 (excluding holidays). From Jan. 1 to March 31, 2007, the hotel is offering a special Introductory Package that includes two nights’ accommodations and $100 credit per guest for use towards services at the California WellBeing Institute. The deal will run you $375 for a deluxe room, $450 for a premier room, $695 for an executive suite and on up to $3,500 for the Presidential Suite. Not a bad deal a’tall.

Four Seasons Press Room

Finally, Roman Baths have arrived at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The newly opened Qua Baths & Spa is a spa junkie’s dream: 51 treatment rooms (35 are for massage), a fitness center, private men’s and women’s Roman Bath areas, an Arctic Ice Room with 55-degree air and falling “snow,” a cedar wood sauna, herbal steam room and the Crystal Room, where adventurous spa-goers can accessorize with customized Swarovski crystal body art.

What, you may be wondering, distinguishes a Roman Bath from any other water-related experience? At Caesar’s, the bathing area consists of three pools of varying sizes and temperatures. Groups of friends are invited to mingle by the pools while enjoying tea selected by the in-house tea sommelier. In between soaks, guests can hop over to the super hot Laconium Room or dip into the chilly environs of the Arctic Room.

Access to the bath area is free with any spa treatment. Treatments range from couple’s massage to facials, chakra balancing to full body combination packages.

When I visited Krabi, Thailand way back when, I bunked in a tiny guesthouse owned by a German and his Thai family, and walked along the main road late at night to the only open store nearby to procure dinner, which ended up being canned tuna and a cold Singha.

Clearly, the Krabi of today offers a far different experience. Case in point: the opening of the luxe 276-room Sofitel Phokreethra Krabi Resort. Situated on the Adaman Sea’s Klong Muang Beach, the resort is one more property to appear and raise the area’s profile from a common transit stop en route to other destinations like Ao Nang to full-on tourist destination (which may make it appeal more to some, less to others). Upscale amenities like wi-fi, 24-hour room service, three restaurants, five bars, tennis courts, fitness center, swimming pools, a sauna and additional perks like onsite dry cleaning and spa services deliver the high-end resort experience in spades.

As you’d expect, room rates are comparable to what you’d pay at a Sofitel anywhere. I plugged in a few nights in February 2007, and rooms were going for $181-337 USD depending on the room and restrictions (it’s cheaper if you forfeit your cancellation option).

Sofitel Phokreethra Krabi

Speaking of the recently announced Mobil Guide’s 2007 rankings, here are the hotels that won 5-stars from the longstanding travel organization:

California - Beverly Hills:

Raffles L’Ermitage Beverly Hills
The Beverly Hills Hotel
The Peninsula Beverly Hills

California - Dana Point:

The St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa

California - Los Angeles:

Hotel Bel-Air

California - Oakhurst:

Chateau du Sureau

California - San Francisco:

Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco
St. Regis Hotel, San Francisco
The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco

Colorado - Aspen:

The Little Nell

Colorado - Colorado Springs:

The Broadmoor

Connecticut - Washington:

The Mayflower Inn

District of Columbia - Washington:

Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC.

Florida - Manalapan:

The Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach

Florida - Naples:

The Ritz-Carlton, Naples

Florida - Palm Beach:

Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach

Georgia - Atlanta:

Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta

Georgia - St. Simons Island:

The Lodge at Sea Island Golf Club

Hawaii - Wailea:

Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea

Illinois - Chicago:

Four Seasons Hotel Chicago
The Peninsula Chicago
The Ritz-Carlton, A Four Seasons Hotel

Massachusetts - Boston:

Four Seasons Hotel Boston

Massachusetts - Lenox:

Blantyre

Nevada - Las Vegas:

The Tower Suites at Wynn Las Vegas

New York - New York:

Four Seasons Hotel New York
Mandarin Oriental, New York
The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park
The St. Regis

New York - Saranac Lake:

The Point

North Carolina - Pittsboro:

The Fearrington House Country Inn

South Carolina - Summerville:

Woodlands Resort & Inn

Tennessee - Nashville:

The Hermitage Hotel

Texas - Dallas:

The Mansion On Turtle Creek

Vermont - Barnard:

Twin Farms

Virginia - Richmond:

The Jefferson Hotel

Virginia - Washington:

The Inn at Little Washington

Mobil Travel Guide 2007 5-Star Rankings

November’s issue of Conde Nast Traveler features the results of its annual Readers Choice Awards. The issue goes on sale Oct. 24th. In the mean time, you can check out the top three winners in each category. Real travel junkies can compare this list to last year’s Readers Choice Awards:

Top Cities - United States:

1. San Francisco, CA

2. Santa Fe, NM

3. New York, NY

Top Cities - Asia:

1. Bangkok, Thailand

2. Hong Kong

3. Chiang Mai, Thailand

Top Cities - Europe:

1. Florence, Italy

2. Rome, Italy

3. Venice, Italy

Top Cities - Africa/Middle East:

1. Cape Town, South Africa

2. Marrakech, Morocco

Top Cities - Pacific Rim:

1. Sydney, Australia

2. Melbourne, Australia

3. Queenstown, New Zealand

Top Cities - The Americas:

1. Vancouver, British Columbia

2. Buenos Aires, Argentina

3. San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Top Islands - Europe:

1. Mykonos & the Cyclades, Greece

2. Madeira, Portugal

3. Capri, Italy

Top Islands - Pacific Rim:

1. Maui, Hawaii

2. Kauai, Hawaii

3. Moorea, French Polynesia

Top Islands - Caribbean/Atlantic:

1. Bermuda

2. St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

3. British Virgin Islands

Top Islands - North America:

1. Vancouver Island, Canada

2. Kiawah, South Carolina

3. Nantucket, Massachusetts

Top Islands - Asia:

1. Maldives

2. Bali, Indonesia

3. Phuket, Thailand

Top International Route Airlines:

1. Singapore Airlines

2. Emirates

3. Cathay Pacific

Top Domestic Route Airlines:

1. JetBlue

2. Midwest

3. Hawaiian

Top Car Rental Agencies:

1. Hertz

2. Renault Eurodrive

3. Avis

Top Large Ship Cruise Lines:

1. Regent Seven Seas

2. Crystal Cruises

3. Disney

Top Small Ship Cruise Lines:

1. SeaDream Yacht Club

2. Grand Circle Cruise Line

3. Regent Seven Seas

Top Resorts - Africa:

1. Singita - Ebony & Boulders Lodges

2. Chief’s Camp, Botswana

3. Chobe Chilwero, Botswana

Top Resorts - Canada:

1. Pan Pacific Mountainside, Whistler

2. Four Seasons, Whistler

3. Westin Resort, Whistler

Top Resorts - Atlantic:

1. One&Only Ocean Club, Bahamas

2. The Reefs, Bermuda

3. Parrot Cay, Turks and Caicos

Top Resorts - Central/South America:

1. Four Seasons Peninsula Papagayo

2. Explora en Patagonia, Chile

3. Llao Llao Hotel & Resort, Argentina

Top Resorts - Asia:

1. Four Seasons Bali at Sayan

2. Four Seasons, Chiang Mai, Thailand

3. Banyan Tree, Phuket, Thailand

Top Resorts - Mexico:

1. La Casa Que Canta, Zihuatanejo

2. Royal Hideaway Playacar, Riviera Maya

3. JW Marriott, Cancun

Top Resorts - Pacific Rim:

1. Four Seasons Lodge at Koele, Lanai

2. Four Seasons Hualalai, Big Island

3. Voyages Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef

Top Resorts - Europe:

1. Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland

2. Westin Turnberry Resort, Scotland

3. Mount Juliet Conrad, Co. Kilkenny

Top Resorts - Caribbean:

1. Malliouhana Hotel, Anguilla

2. Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman

3. Sandy Lane, Barbados

Top Resorts - United States:

1. Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain, AZ

2. Inn at Palmetto Bluff, SC

3. Inn at Spanish Bay, CA

Top Hotels - Asia:

1. Fullerton Hotel, Singapore

2. Amandari, Bali

3. The Peninsula, Bangkok

Top Hotels - Caribbean/Atlantic:

1. Hotel Saint-Barth Isle de France

2. Ladera, St. Lucia

3. Waterloo House, Bermuda

Top Hotels - Pacific Rim:

1. Rialto Hotel on Collins, Melbourne

2. Park Hyatt, Sydney

3. Lilianfels Blue Mountains, Australia

Top Hotels - Africa:

1. Four Seasons Cairo at Nile Plaza

2. Cape Grace, Cape Town

3. Sofitel Palais Jamai, Fez

Top Hotels - Europe:

1. Four Seasons Gresham Palace

2. Chateau Les Crayeres, Reims

3. Four Seasons George V, Paris

Top Hotels - South America:

1. Hotel Monasterio, Cuzco, Peru

2. Four Seasons, Buenos Aires

3. Swissotel, Quito, Ecuador

Top Hotels - United States:

1. The Peninsula, Chicago, IL

2. Watermark Hotel, San Antonio, TX

3. St. Regis, New York, NY

Top Hotels - Canada:

1. Auberge du Vieux-Port, Montreal

2. Hotel Dominion 1912, Quebec City

3. Auberge Saint-Antoine, Quebec City

Top Hotels - British Isles:

1. Buckland Manor, The Cotswolds

2. Gidleigh Park, Devon

3. Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London

Top Hotels - Central America/Mexico:

1. JW Marriott, Mexico City

2. Esperanza, Cabo San Lucas

3. Casa Santo Domingo, Guatemala

Top Hotels - Middle East:

1. Grand Hyatt, Amman

2. King David, Jerusalem

3. David Citadel, Jerusalem

Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers Choice Awards

Eco-conscious travelers take note: The Grand Teton Lodge Company, which happens to be a subsidiary of Vail Resorts, has gone granola and purchased wind-powered electricity for 100 percent of the company’s energy needs. Essentially, the following resorts all run on a clean, renewable source of energy:

Jackson Lake Lodge (pictured)

Jenny Lake Lodge

Colter Bay Village

Snake River Lodge & Spa

Just don’t get the idea that you’ll be seeing windmills behind these properties. Because windpower isn’t readily available in the area, the lodging company instead purchases energy credits from wind farms in amounts equal to its own energy bills. The wind farms then agree to produce that amount of energy for the power grid, in essence replacing what the company takes away from it with an environmentally safe alternative.

Grand Teton Lodge Co. Announces Conversion To 100 Percent Wind Power

Orlando’s $300 million Rosen Shingle Creek Resort became the lastest mega resort property to hit central Florida when it opened last weekend. Set on 230 acres near the headwaters of the Everglades, the 1,500-room resort boasts an 18-hole golf course designed by David Harman, a full-service spa, fitness center, four outdoor pools (including separate kids and adults pools), tennis courts, nine lounges and restaurants and a ballroom equal to the size of one and a half football fields. Yowza!

Rooms feature 32-inch flat screen TVs, high-speed Internet, bathrobes and upscale bedding.

And for families, the resort is just four miles from Universal and Wet ‘n Wild theme parks and less than five minutes from Sea World.

Poseidon Resorts‘ underwater hotel project now underway off the coast of Fiji sounds ultra fishy - but in a good way. Billed as the world’s first seafloor resort, the luxury complex is slated for a mid-2008 opening, but the SCI-FI Tech blog reports that the company will begin taking reservations as early as this November.

Each of the 20 suites will offer views of surrounding coral, a jacuzzi tub, bathrooms with double sinks, exterior underwater lights and fish feeders to enhance sealife viewing. Suites are expected to start at $1,500/night.

There will be an above-water cafe for guests who’d like to come up for some air, as well as an underwater fine dining restaurant inside the underwater complex. The underwater restaurant is designed to rotate 360 degrees every 40 minutes.

Also on shore, the resort will offer tennis courts, a spa, a dive shop, car rentals and a small number of onshore bungalows.

Matfen Hall, a 53-room hotel and resort in northeast England, offers a contemporary take on the English country manor vacation experience. Sure, you’ve got your plaid fabrics, four-poster beds, English gardens - there’s even a Drawing Room for tea time. But the property’s semi-recent (2004) expansion and renovation project brought modern amenities like a St. Tropez spray tanning booth in the spa, an herbal sauna, hot stone treatments and an aerobics studio offering guests free classes all week. That’s on top of the 18- and 9-hole golf courses, golf instruction and top-notch dining facilities.

Matfen Hall’s Champagne & Strawberries promo starts at 259 GBP/per person and includes accommodations in a four poster bedroom, champagne and strawberries on arrival, use of spa and fitness facilities and dinner in the Library & Print Room Restaurant each evening.