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Forbes
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Best Resorts On Hilton Head Island 2025
The best resorts on Hilton Head Island make it easy to enjoy the destination's peaceful coastline and pristine golf courses. The area offers a variety of activities for both first-time travelers and repeat vacationers. 'It's a prime location for golf, tennis, pickleball, biking and walking, year-round,' says Caroline Bernthal, a travel advisor at Fora. Our top overall recommendation is Montage Palmetto Bluff, which offers high-end amenities, an adults-only pool and elegant bathrooms with deep soaking tubs. Families will appreciate the kids' activity center at Ocean Oak Resort, A Hilton Grand Vacations Club, while those seeking a private home with a pool should consider 11 Grey Widgeon. Ahead, the best resorts on Hilton Head Island in 2025. Cottage suite interior at Montage Palmetto Bluff. Guests seeking a five-star stay will be enchanted by this luxurious resort situated along the May River on a 20,000–acre community in South Carolina's Lowcountry. With 20 miles of biking and walking trails, guests can enjoy the well-manicured, tree-lined grounds; the 200 guest rooms, suites, and cottages feature hardwood floors, high ceilings, walk-in closets and sumptuous marble bathrooms. Beyond strolling the lush property, guests can play a round of golf at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, take a private guided Duffy Boat EcoTour through the Lowcountry, embark on a family fishing expedition or book a private 1-hour tasting and tour with the head sommelier. There are seemingly unlimited activities available on-site, and the four distinctive restaurants offer a variety of dining options as well. The Sea Pines Resort's beach club places guests of the Inn and Club at Harbour Town within steps of the sand. This boutique resort, recommended by Bernthal, features elegant yet comfortable furnishings and a vast array of activities and dining options, making it a great choice for any type of traveler. 'It's a charming property located within Sea Pines, which has over 500 acres of land with forest, beaches, golf, biking and so much more,' says Bernthal. There are 60 well-appointed rooms decorated in a soft color palette and a clean, airy aesthetic. Frette Italian linens adorn the beds, and large windows provide a view of the golf course or expansive resort. While the main attraction at this property is undoubtedly the three championship golf courses, there are also bicycle rentals, horseback riding, beach yoga, sailing lessons, numerous walking trails and a 120-foot pool—including a kiddie pool for the little ones. Exterior of Ocean Oak By Hilton Grand Vacations This family-friendly beachfront property is an ideal destination for families traveling with children. The spacious two-bedroom, two-bathroom suites can fit up to six guests and offer modern bathrooms with walk-in showers and double vanities. The separate living and dining areas also allow families to spread out and prepare meals and snacks in their rooms. There's plenty of activities to keep travelers of all ages occupied, including two pools, a state-of-the-art fitness center, a kids' activity center and outdoor dining. At the end of the day, kick back and relax with a glass of wine by the outdoor fireplace, taking in the calming sounds of the nearby beach. Exterior of Old Town Bluffton Inn Traveling on your honeymoon or celebrating an anniversary? The Old Town Bluffton Inn has an intimate atmosphere that will appeal to couples seeking to escape and immerse themselves in the sights and sounds of Bluffton's historic Old Town district. The 14 rooms and furnishings throughout the inn instantly make you feel at ease, from the plush beds to the gilded mirrors to the hand-sewn draperies and matching bed skirts. After exploring the nearby restaurants and shops, don't miss out on the plethora of outdoor excursions, which range from paddleboarding to a luxury yacht charter. Enjoy complimentary parking, freshly baked goods, a full pantry of snacks, an exclusive guest bar and a traditional Southern breakfast during your stay. The views from the Omni's adult pool are most beautiful at dusk. With multi-bed studio suites, larger one-bedroom suites and guaranteed connecting rooms, the Omni Hilton Head Oceanfront Resort is a great option for groups traveling together. Guests can enjoy three pools, including a shallow pool ideal for children, as well as access to 11 miles of lagoon trails that can be explored on foot or by bike. There are also tennis and pickleball courts, private beach access (where guests can rent beach chairs and umbrellas), a fitness center and a wellness area offering massages and body treatments. A major advantage of staying here is the access to the property's three championship golf courses; novice players can also join in the fun by taking advantage of lessons by professional instructors. This Lowcountry oasis is located less than 50 steps to the beach. If you're traveling with a large group and want a more private refuge, consider 11 Grey Widgeon, an Airbnb nestled in the gated Sea Pines Resort community. The property features five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms, providing ample space for large family dinners, game nights and other gatherings. There are also two living rooms, with the upstairs one featuring beautiful cathedral ceilings. The kitchen is outfitted with modern appliances that will appeal to even the most discerning home chef, and there's plenty of seating when it's time to enjoy a home-cooked meal. The expansive deck is a wonderful spot for sipping coffee or a glass of wine at the end of the day while the kiddos splash around in the pool. Take note that pets are not permitted at this Airbnb. The Forbes Vetted travel team has researched, written and published dozens of hotel guides featuring cities across the globe. We selected the top contenders based on personal experience and extensive research. I am a commerce editor for Forbes Vetted covering topics in beauty, fashion, travel and home. Prior to joining Forbes, I held positions at BuzzFeed and Dotdash Meredith, where I was responsible for curating lifestyle content and testing products for real-world insights. My work has appeared in Women's Health, Men's Health, BuzzFeed, Brit + Co, Everyday Health and more. I hold a Bachelor's Degree in English/Creative Writing from Marist College and currently reside in Brooklyn, New York.
Malaysian Reserve
3 days ago
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
Five new travel tools to save time and money this summer
New AI-powered travel services that promise customised itineraries and access to the best prices, at your disposal by LEBAWIT LILY GIRMA LONG before there was ChatGPT, you'd have to visit an actual brick-and-mortar travel agency to craft and book your dream itinerary. This month, travel agency Fora has brought that nostalgic experience back to the modern era with a pop-up location — open through May 29 — in New York City. It's more like Soho House than the old AAA mainstays where you'd pick up road maps, with luxury hotel brands and tourism boards carrying out elaborate activations while Fora agents brainstorm vacation ideas with clients at a communal workstation. Yet the reality is that most travellers this summer won't talk to human travel agents face-to-face, or even online, as they plan their trips. Rather, generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools will increasingly play a role in helping us decide where to go. A 2024 survey from global consulting firm Oliver Wyman LLC showed more than 41% of travellers from the US and Canada had recently used this emerging technology for trip inspiration and design — up 30% from a year earlier. (One travel agency is embracing that inevitability, using AI to help turn your emotions into itineraries.) If the latest suite of trip-planning tools is any indication, that percentage is sure to rise. A vast improvement in AI language models is adapting quickly to the ways we research our vacations. Take Gem, a new feature of Google's Gemini that functions like a virtual travel agent, or Mindtrip, a collaborative itinerary builder that helps you map out trips with friends — the latter even uses Instagram images as fodder for inspiration. Other AI tools help travellers land the best hotel rates and airfares. Of course, AI models don't yet match the power of human travel advisors who have the pulse on their destinations and can help you identify your precise wants, but they've come a long way. Here are the latest tools we've tested ahead of summer travel season and what we've found most useful. A Google-powered Travel Concierge Since 2023, Google LLC has been steadily expanding the capabilities of Gemini, its AI-powered assistant. Free with a Google account, Gemini now lets you create a custom 'Gem' for your trips — essentially a digital 'concierge' that remembers your preferences, whether you're into modern art, off-the-beaten-path adventures or local eats. Unlike Google Search, which excels at surfacing static information, it's designed for open-ended, conversational brainstorming even if you're starting with a vague idea, all while pulling from the personal profile you've fed it. Gemini of course then connects with your Gmail, Google Drive, Maps, Flights, Hotels and even YouTube. This means your itineraries, booking receipts and inspiration sources can all live in one ecosystem — and can be shared with a click. After setting up my Gem and filling in my travel quirks — nature over museums, boutique hotels over big brands and no overly touristy sights — I asked it to plan a long, four-day weekend from Washington, DC, to Belize, a destination I know well. My additional search parameters: A vibrant local food scene and outdoorsy activities unique to the country. Gemini suggested staying in the mountain town of San Ignacio, with a day trip to the island of Caye Caulker. The itinerary leaned heavily on Mayan sites and iconic rainforest lodges that were more remotely located in the jungle than I would have liked, while noting that I could opt for a boutique hotel closer to town. It also failed to take distance into account when it crammed the island excursion into the same day as my return flight from Belize. Once I clarified that I was more interested in hiking and snorkelling, Gemini steered me toward Hopkins Village instead of San Ignacio. With reef access and cultural experiences offered by the local Indigenous Garifuna community, it was a much better fit. Running that request a second time yielded an entirely different (but equally credible) itinerary, a reminder that these models don't always produce identical results. When I got more granular, asking for 'community-run experiences' in Hopkins, San Ignacio and Caye Caulker, I hit a limitation: Cultural tours in smaller Belizean towns often exist informally, my AI concierge said, passed through word of mouth or local networks rather than marketed online. It then listed specific search terms to use and recommended I ask around while there. Mindtrip is built specifically for travel planning, combining generative AI with content fact-checked by team of human staffers (Source: Mindtrip) An All-in-one Travel Planner Unlike all-purpose chatbots, Mindtrip was built specifically for travel planning, combining generative AI with content fact-checked by an actual team of human staffers, plus a visual interface that pulls maps, reviews, images and itineraries into a single screen. A quiz at the start asks for basic personal information and travel preferences — if you're an early bird or a night owl, for instance — which helps refine recommendations that are pulled from web searches as well as a library of roughly 25,000 human-curated destination guides. You can then chat with it to refine your options. Use a simple menu on the left side of the screen to add places of interest and reorder them on your itinerary, which is on the right side of the screen, with a simple drag. You can even invite family or friends into your itinerary, so you can co-design the trip and stay on the same page. 'A lot of what's happening in generative AI is very text-based,' said Michelle Denogean, Mindtrip Inc's chief marketing officer. Mindtrip's results are showcased on a split screen — a numbered list appears on the left, with bolded text and blue check marks next to the places and activities it recommends, and a colour map shows up on the right, with all those places pinned. Its value becomes even clearer once you ask more targeted questions. When I searched for community-run experiences in Hopkins, San Ignacio and Caye Caulker, Mindtrip outperformed Google's Gemini. In Hopkins it surfaced the Lebeha Drumming Centre, a popular spot for taking Garifuna drum lessons. It also suggested the Palmento Grove Garifuna Eco-Cultural & Healing Institute, where I learned on a previous trip to make 'hudut' — a coconut-based fish stew served with mashed green plantains. In San Ignacio it recommended Ajaw Chocolate, where you can make your own chocolate and learn about the history of cacao in Belize, as well as the town's farmers market on Saturdays. I found its results more accurate than some competitors'; it was able to flag that restaurants in stories I was reading had closed permanently, for example, thanks to its fact-checking army that keeps listings up to date. A Hotel Price Tracker This one is simple but useful. If you're familiar with tracking flight prices on Google, you'll appreciate that, as of March, you're now able to do that for hotels as well. Navigate to Google's hotels search page, enter the destination and dates and toggle 'track hotel prices'. Kayak offers a similar hotel price-tracking tool. Run a search for places in a specific destination, and you'll find the option to get alerts when prices change at the top of the results page. An Instagram Reel-inspired Itinerary Ever saved an Instagram reel in hopes of re-creating a trip or trying an activity you saw? The new 'Trip Matching' tool from Expedia Group Inc aims to do exactly that. Open the reel, hit the share button and send it directly to @expedia on the Instagram app. You'll then open your direct message with Expedia, and within a couple of minutes you'll get a suggested itinerary based on what's in the reel you shared. I tested this process with a reel I made from my 2023 trip to Morocco that merely shows two guitarists' minute-long performance at the family-owned luxury boutique hotel Riad Kniza in Marrakech. Expedia churned out a small description of the hotel, followed by the best time to visit and a list of top things to do in the area — with links to the activities on Expedia — as well as hidden gems and a four-day itinerary 'to experience Marrakesh magic without rushing'. The downside: There were no specific tour providers or links included for the itinerary beyond the hotels, so you'll have to run that extra leg of research elsewhere. The suggestions leaned toward cultural activities, including exploring the Medina, a 'hammam' spa treatment and a Moroccan cooking class, but it also suggested 'hidden gems' such as the Jardin Secret, a less crowded alternative to Jardin Majorelle. When I pushed further and asked for specific providers I could book with, it said to contact vendors directly — La Maison Arabe for a cooking class, Les Bains de Marrakech and Spa Royal Mansour — or go to Expedia. That makes this tool more of a fun starting point than a one-stop shop. The free version of Going will deliver alerts when any domestic deals pop up, while also letting you track specific routes on exact dates (pic: Bloomberg) An Airfare Insider App OK, this one isn't AI, but you should download it anyway if you're eyeing airfare closely, as many people are this summer. The free version of Going will deliver alerts when any domestic deals pop up, while also letting you track specific routes on exact dates. A premium subscription (US$4.08 [RM17.83] per month) adds international flight deal alerts, including 'mistake fares' that occasionally surface at super steep discounts, while the Elite membership (US$16.58 per month) adds deals on first- and business-class fares. Another new feature, 'Going With Points', helps you find and book flight deals with points and miles. Since I signed up for a premium trial over the past week, the app has sent me a US$453 mistake fare to New Delhi — an economy round-trip flight from San Francisco on Air India, with a layover — bookable via Google Flights, plus a US$265 round-trip flight from Washington Dulles International Airport to Costa Rica, which it recommended booking within two days. Not on the app? Sign up on Going's website, and it will email you these alerts too. — Bloomberg This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition
Vogue
4 days ago
- Health
- Vogue
The Rise of the Solorette: Why Brides Are Taking Themselves on a Solo Bachelorette
It's the time of year when bachelorette season is in full swing. The pre-wedding celebration with friends has long been a rite of passage—and in recent years, it's become a full-fledged event, complete with themed itineraries, matching outfits, and Instagram-ready backdrops. But a growing number of brides are quietly opting out of the group trip altogether or adding another one to the mix, embracing a new kind of send-off: the solorette, or solo bachelorette. Equal parts solo retreat and personal reset, the solorette is a one-woman bachelorette designed for reflection, indulgence, and a little solitude before the big day. So what's driving this shift—and could the solo bachelorette be the new bridal essential? According to Fora travel advisor Rachel Havens, the rise of the solorette is part of a much broader change in how women—and especially brides—are thinking about travel. 'There's been a noticeable shift toward solo travel, especially among brides who want to carve out intentional time for themselves before the wedding,' says Havens. 'Whether it's a wellness retreat, a reset trip, or simply a chance to reflect before the big day, more clients are embracing the idea that celebrating yourself can start with a solo adventure. It also takes the pressure off trying to coordinate with everyone else's schedules and preferences—there's something really freeing about planning a trip that's 100% for you.' Kristine Thomason, a lifestyle journalist, experienced that firsthand when she went on a solo trip before her nuptials in July 2024—a month before her wedding in August 2024. She loved the idea of terming the trip a 'solorette' as opposed to a solo bachelorette. 'Rather than refer to it as the solo version of a bachelorette party, I wanted the occasion to have its own term and identity. So, I combined the words solo and bachelorette into 'solorette'—while it's incredibly simple, something about mashing the words together seemed to give it the same kind of fun, joyful energy as a bachelorette,' she says. While also partaking in a traditional 'bachelorette,' Thomason wanted to have a trip pre-wedding that emphasized reflection and moving into a different way of living, from solo to partnered. 'To me, it felt like a missing puzzle piece in pre-wedding culture: It's easy to get swept up in all the excitement, but I also think it's crucial to be mindful and clear as we enter this new chapter,' she says.
Travel Weekly
22-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Host agency Fora Travel expands into Mexico
Host agency Fora Travel has expanded into Mexico, saying there is great opportunity there. Fora Mexico general manager Sofia Minvielle said Mexico expansion was an idea six months ago, and that the host now has 250-plus advisors in the country. Fora plans to offer its advisors local meetings, direct payment capabilities in Mexican pesos and Spanish-language webinars and support. Affiliation with Fora comes at an annual membership fee of $299.
Business Times
16-05-2025
- Business Times
Five new travel tools to save time and money this summer
LONG before there was ChatGPT, you'd have to visit an actual brick-and-mortar travel agency to craft and book your dream itinerary. This month, travel agency Fora has brought that nostalgic experience back to the modern era with a pop-up location – open through May 29 – in New York City. It's more like Soho House than the old AAA mainstays where you'd pick up road maps, with luxury hotel brands and tourism boards carrying out elaborate activations while Fora agents brainstorm vacation ideas with clients at a communal workstation. Yet, the reality is that most travellers this summer won't talk to human travel agents face-to-face, or even online, as they plan their trips. Rather, generative artificial intelligence tools will increasingly play a role in helping us decide where to go. A 2024 survey from global consulting firm Oliver Wyman LLC showed more than 41 per cent of travellers from the US and Canada had recently used this emerging technology for trip inspiration and design – up 30 per cent from a year earlier. (One travel agency is embracing that inevitability, using AI to help turn your emotions into itineraries.) If the latest suite of trip-planning tools is any indication, that percentage is sure to rise. A vast improvement in AI language models is adapting quickly to the ways we research our vacations. Take Gem, a Google-powered virtual travel agent, or Mindtrip, a collaborative itinerary builder that helps you map out trips with friends – the latter even uses Instagram images as fodder for inspiration. Other AI tools help travellers land the best hotel rates and airfares. Of course, AI models don't yet match the power of human travel advisers who have the pulse on their destinations and can help you identify your precise wants, but they've come a long way. Here are the latest tools we've tested ahead of summer travel season and what we've found most useful. A Google-powered travel concierge Since 2023, Google has been steadily expanding the capabilities of Gemini, its AI-powered assistant. Free with a Google account, Gemini now lets you create a custom 'Gem' for your trips – essentially a digital 'concierge' that remembers your preferences, whether you're into modern art, off-the-beaten-path adventures or local eats. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up Unlike Google Search, which excels at surfacing static information, it's designed for open-ended, conversational brainstorming even if you're starting with a vague idea, all the while pulling from the personal profile you've fed it. Gemini, of course, then connects with your Gmail, Google Drive, Maps, Flights, Hotels and even YouTube. This means your itineraries, booking receipts and inspiration sources can all live in one ecosystem – and can be shared with a click. After setting up my Gem and filling in my travel quirks – nature over museums, boutique hotels over big brands and no overly touristy sights – I asked it to plan a long, four-day weekend from Washington, DC, to Belize, a destination I know well. My additional search parameters: a vibrant local food scene and outdoorsy activities unique to the country. Gemini suggested staying in the mountain town of San Ignacio, with a day trip to the island of Caye Caulker. The itinerary leaned heavily on Mayan sites and iconic rainforest lodges that were more remotely located in the jungle than I would have liked, while noting that I could opt for a boutique hotel closer to town. It also failed to take distance into account when it crammed the island excursion into the same day as my return flight from Belize. Once I clarified that I was more interested in hiking and snorkelling, Gemini steered me towards Hopkins Village instead of San Ignacio. With reef access and cultural experiences offered by the local Indigenous Garifuna community, it was a much better fit. Running that request a second time yielded an entirely different (but equally credible) itinerary, a reminder that these models don't always produce identical results. When I got more granular, asking for 'community-run experiences' in Hopkins, San Ignacio and Caye Caulker, I hit a limitation: Cultural tours in smaller Belizean towns often exist informally, my AI concierge said, passed through word of mouth or local networks rather than marketed online. It then listed specific search terms to use and recommended I ask around while there. An all-in-one travel planner Unlike all-purpose chatbots, Mindtrip was built specifically for travel planning, combining generative AI with content fact-checked by an actual team of human staffers, plus a visual interface that pulls maps, reviews, images and itineraries into a single screen. A quiz at the start asks for basic personal information and travel preferences – if you're an early bird or a night owl, for instance – which helps refine recommendations that are pulled from web searches as well as a library of roughly 25,000 human-curated destination guides. You can then chat with it to refine your options. Use a simple menu on the left side of the screen to add places of interest and reorder them on your itinerary, which is on the right side of the screen, with a simple drag. You can even invite family or friends into your itinerary, so you can co-design the trip and stay on the same page. 'A lot of what's happening in generative AI is very text-based,' says Michelle Denogean, Mindtrip Inc's chief marketing officer. Mindtrip's results are showcased on a split screen – a numbered list appears on the left, with bolded text and blue check marks next to the places and activities it recommends, and a colour map shows up on the right, with all those places pinned. Its value becomes even clearer once you ask more targeted questions. When I searched for community-run experiences in Hopkins, San Ignacio and Caye Caulker , Mindtrip outperformed Google's Gemini. In Hopkins, it surfaced the Lebeha Drumming Centre, a popular spot for taking Garifuna drum lessons. It also suggested the Palmento Grove Garifuna Eco-Cultural & Healing Institute, where I learned on a previous trip to make hudut – a coconut-based fish stew served with mashed green plantains. In San Ignacio, it recommended Ajaw Chocolate, where you can make your own chocolate and learn about the history of cacao in Belize, as well as the town's farmers market on Saturdays. I found its results more accurate than some competitors'; it was able to flag that restaurants in stories I was reading had closed permanently, for example, thanks to its fact-checking army that keeps listings up to date. A hotel price tracker This one is simple but useful. If you're familiar with tracking flight prices on Google, you'll appreciate that, as of March, you're now able to do that for hotels as well. Navigate to Google's hotels search page, enter the destination and dates and toggle 'track hotel prices'. Kayak offers a similar hotel price-tracking tool. Run a search for places in a specific destination, and you'll find the option to get alerts when prices change at the top of the results page. An Instagram reel-inspired itinerary Ever saved an Instagram reel in hopes of re-creating a trip or trying an activity you saw? The new 'Trip Matching' tool from Expedia Group aims to do exactly that. Open the reel, hit the share button and send it directly to @expedia on the Instagram app. You'll then open your direct message with Expedia, and within a couple of minutes you'll get a suggested itinerary based on what's in the reel you shared. I tested this process with a reel I made from my 2023 trip to Morocco that merely shows two guitarists' minute-long performance at the family-owned luxury boutique hotel Riad Kniza in Marrakech. Expedia churned out a small description of the hotel, followed by the best time to visit and a list of top things to do in the area – with links to the activities on Expedia – as well as hidden gems and a four-day itinerary 'to experience Marrakesh magic without rushing'. The downside: There were no specific tour providers or links included for the itinerary beyond the hotels, so you'll have to run that extra leg of research elsewhere. The suggestions leaned towards cultural activities, including exploring the Medina, a hammam spa treatment and a Moroccan cooking class, but it also suggested 'hidden gems' such as the Jardin Secret, a less crowded alternative to Jardin Majorelle. When I pushed further and asked for specific providers I could book with, it said to contact vendors directly – La Maison Arabe for a cooking class, Les Bains de Marrakech and Spa Royal Mansour – or go to Expedia. That makes this tool more of a fun starting point than a one-stop shop. An airfare insider app OK, this one isn't AI, but you should download it anyway if you're eyeing airfare closely, as many people are this summer. The free version of Going will deliver alerts when any domestic deals pop up, while also letting you track specific routes on exact dates. A premium subscription (US$4.08 per month) adds international flight deal alerts, including 'mistake fares' that occasionally surface at supersteep discounts, while the Elite membership (US$16.58 per month) adds deals on first- and business-class fares. Another new feature, 'Going With Points', helps you find and book flight deals with points and miles. Since I signed up for a premium trial over the past week, the app has sent me a US$453 mistake fare to New Delhi – an economy round-trip flight from San Francisco on Air India, with a layover – bookable via Google Flights, plus a US$265 round-trip flight from Washington Dulles International Airport to Costa Rica, which it recommended booking within two days. BLOOMBERG
