As if you didn’t know this…

Well, maybe you didn’t, which is part of why you visit us - hopefully frequently - to dig up deals and more importantly, news, on where you can best plan your family vacation.

Forbes Traveler has done a piece that you should check out on the 10 best family-friendly hotels in the US.  Just as important, they’ve noted that catering to families is on the rise, as more and more adults are bringing their youngsters along on luxury trips.  According to sources quoted in the article, September 11 and the fact that marketing professionals in charge of recreation are themselves becoming parents are two huge factors in why hotels are becoming more sophisticated in their approach to attracting families.

The top 10 hotels are (listed here in no particular order):

• The Broadmoor, Colorado
• The Breakers, Florida
• Enchantment Resort, Arizona
• The Homestead, Virginia
• The Kahala Hotel & Resort, Hawaii
• The Peninsula, New York
• The Resort at Paws Up, Montana
• Topnotch Resort & Spa, Vermont
• Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka’upulehu, Hawaii
• The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, New Hampshire

All resorts and hotels with some concept of pampering and luxury for both adults and children.  We love it.

The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, copyright DNC Parks & Resorts at THE BALSAMS, LLC

Kermit sang that it wasn’t easy being green, but boy is the media is out to prove him wrong.

We hadn’t intended that today would be all about eco, but we’re finding ourselves bombarded with terms like “eco”,”green” and “sustainable” everywhere we look. A recent visit to the newsstand showed several magazines with one of those terms on the cover, and we’re not talking the usual suspects like Real Simple or Dwell, but mags like Town & Country, and Robb Report Vacation Homes. Green is definitely “in”.

In the field of travel, the eco-friendly thing isn’t exactly new, but now it’s gone luxury too. Which is great, because it feels so brazenly wrong to be all Seventh Generation and Caldrea in your house, only to have housekeeping throw away a twice-used bar of soap when you’re on vacation. On the other hand, in the past we weren’t so keen on what was perceived as “eco-friendly” in the tourism realm: visions of rustic ill-lit cabins with hard bunks, no amenities, bad food and activities that all ran to “hiking” made us cringe. The only question was, would we die of sheer boredom or would the kids kill us first? We’ll admit: when forced to pick, we’ve gone lux every time.

Thankfully, more and more options are cropping up, that are allowing us to have our cake and eat it too. Over at Forbestraveler.com, editors have identified the top 10 green hotels in America. Our previous post also noted an eco-friendly resort opening in Antigua. If you have any picks of your own, let us know about them…