Oct 22, 2007
When it comes to giddy journalism about super-elegant travel, The New York Times ranks high
Although less than 5% of the American population is able to afford the ultra-luxurious travel lifestyle described by publications like Travel + Leisure or Condé Nast Travel, our friends at the Sunday travel section of The New York Times continue to imitate those worshipers of wealth and join in their ecstatic applause for the travel expenditures of various playboys. In its October 7 issue, the Times starts its coverage for the week (page 2) with breathless reviews of the opening of a new luxury resort in Bali whose room rates start at $400 a night, and of the new MGM Grand in Detroit charging a more sensible $300 a night and up. Then, in an article about how European travel in autumn costs less than in summer, Michelle Higgins cites as her key examples the fact that in the autumn, the Four Seasons Hotel in Prague reduces its room rates to $345, while the Ritz Carlton in Berlin charges only $320 a room. What a revelation!
It gets worse. In its next issue (October 14), the Times runs an article on traveling to Sao Paulo, Brazil, commercial capital of a nation where as many as 40 per cent of the population lives in poverty. What should a traveler see and do in Sao Paulo? Seth Kugel answers as follows in the first paragraph of his article:
Are there no grown-ups on the travel staff of The New York Times? Is there no senior editor to call a meeting of its junior writers to discuss what is and what isn't of relevance to average-income Americans?
Write and read comments about this post.
It gets worse. In its next issue (October 14), the Times runs an article on traveling to Sao Paulo, Brazil, commercial capital of a nation where as many as 40 per cent of the population lives in poverty. What should a traveler see and do in Sao Paulo? Seth Kugel answers as follows in the first paragraph of his article:
Sip caipirinhas at a glamorous bar surrounded by the city's upper crust, accessorized with $10,000 Panerai watches on one arm and a fashion model on the other. Shop at obscenely luxurious stores like Daslu, a boutique so exclusive that customers often arrive by helicopter. Or sit in a café on Oscar Freire Street and watch the rich and the beautiful pass by.Later in the article, Kugel cites three hotels for one's lodgings in San Paulo, of which the first, the Unique Hotel, charges $430 per room, while his second choice, the Fasano Hotel, charges $440. In Brazil!
Are there no grown-ups on the travel staff of The New York Times? Is there no senior editor to call a meeting of its junior writers to discuss what is and what isn't of relevance to average-income Americans?
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: travel guides
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
