Word is reaching us from London about the Luxe series of international city guide books, for those who want only the best.

According to the Luxe website, these pocket-sized travel guides are “packed with a highly selective and opinionated list of only the best shops, restaurants and hotels, unique services and lifestyle options each city has to offer” for the busy and sophisticated traveler.

You can order from the website; I’ve also seen them available through Amazon.

Gotta love their tagline: LUXE chooses only the very best, so you choose only the very best.

Just because we’re procrastinators doesn’t mean we have to miss out on some of the finer things in life. If you’ve been aching to get out of town to spend a few days enjoying what some the country’s top luxury hotels have to offer, now is your chance to do so.

Northwest Airlines offers a range of last minute luxury vacation packages to destinations throughout the US and Canada. Even if you’ve put off making plans, you can still find vacation packages (airfare and hotel) for as low as $334 per person (with taxes and fees).

Keep reading for a sample of the last minute luxury getaways Northwest Airlines is currently offering…

The Las Vegas Strip summer hotel deals keep coming. The Bellagio is offering reduced rates to luxury travelers who want to test their luck at the tables, catch a show, or just watch the dancing fountains.

From May 21st to September 4th, you can enjoy the comfort of one of Bellagio’s Salone Suites for as low as $299/night. Reduced rates are good for Sundays - Thursdays, but they are subject to availability.

Keep reading for a look at the luxury and amenities Bellagio’s Salone Suites have to offer…

After 3 years and close to $400 million dollars worth of renovation, the world famous Plaza Hotel is up and running again. For a time, it looked as though the historic hotel would be completely transformed into condos. However, preservationists, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and lovers of the hotel fought to maintain at least some semblance of the Hotel in tact.

The fight paid off, and you can now enjoy a night’s stay in one of the Plaza’s newly renovated rooms for about $1,000 and you can once again take afternoon tea in the Palm Court…

Want to indulge yourself? Need a little pampering? Head for the Luxor in Las Vegas.

They have a special promotion: upgrade your regular room to a “Spa Suite” or a “Luxury One Bedroom Suite” for as little as an extra $35 a night. Plus they throw in a lot of extra goodies like “2 for the price of 1″ admission to their spa, $30 in dining credits and much more.

The best part: some of the regular rooms go for as little as $69 a night!

Keep reading for more details, including deadlines for making reservations and the all important promotion code.

It seems a little irrational, but there are times when combining your airfare with a stay in a luxury hotel or with rental of a luxury car can actually cost you less than the airfare itself. You can also find great travel deals that provide you with additional nights in 4-star hotels and resorts for no extra cost. Sure in a world where retailers seem to add charges whenever they possibly can, this all seems a little bit like a plot to an episode of “The Twilight Zone,” but fear not, these deals are for real.

You can often find these luxury offers from the airlines or the resorts themselves. They’re especially popular during off-peak travel to destinations like Las Vegas, New York, Telluride, and Orlando. Before you grab the sleep mask and prepare for a week of pampering, though, make sure the luxury travel deal your looking into is actually a deal…

You might have expected to see the Broadmoor of Colorado Springs get the coveted 5-star rating; after all, 2008 makes 48-years in a row for the venerable hotel.

New to the list: the Boston Harbor Hotel, The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island in South Carolina, and the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah.

And 3-new restaurants joined the 5-star club: the Georgian Room in Sea Island, Ga., The Inn at Dos Brisas in Brenham, Texas and Le Bernardin in New York City.

For the full list, AND, an irreverent view of the ratings, do click here!

Paris might just be the perfect spot to enjoy the romance of Valentine’s Day.

If you can escape your real life for just a few days, you can take advantage of some of the perks Paris hotels are providing for the holiday.

Air France is offering an airfare/hotel package for Valentine’s Day, but luxury accommodations can be found elsewhere, as well…

Just click “more” for luxury, Parisian-style.