BY MARK CHESNUT
REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM LATIN BUSINESS TRAVELER
Time is running out to get holiday gifts for important clients, not to mention family members and other loved ones. Rather than devoting endless hours to complete your shopping to-do list, peek into some of the great shopping and stylish gift shops located in a variety of hotels around the Americas.
Local Flavor
Gifts that are authentic to specific destinations are often more memorable than generic, chain-store purchases. At the Hilton Bogota, for example, the hotel gift shop stocks locally crafted gifts and artwork, as well as photo books and jewelry. The gift shop at the W Santiago, meanwhile, features local arts and crafts that are handmade by the area’s Mapuche Indians, as well as accessories made with lapis lazuli, a blue semi-precious stone that’s native to Chile. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, guests at the Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt Buenos Aires can browse handmade décor items and gifts made with exotic woods at the Solantu gift shop, or pick up an authentically Argentine wine from hotels like the Alvear Palace.
Artistic Touches
Latin America’s creative richness produces countless gift ideas for the holidays. On the ground level of Panama City’s Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower, guests can shop for their art-loving friends and family at Luz Botero Fine Art Gallery, which exhibits original contemporary paintings and sculpture (one guest reportedly bought the huge sculpture that originally graced the main entrance to the building).
Also worth checking out for gifts with an artistic touch are the hotels that belong to Mexico‘s trendy Grupo Habita, which runs properties including Habita hotels in both Mexico City and Monterrey. Stylish photography books and home décor items are among the finds at places like the small gift shop at the company’s Condesa DF, a chic boutique hotel in Mexico City’s upscale Condesa district.
Hotel Comforts
Many people love the feel of a hotel bed, and the relaxed feeling of checking into a place where someone else handles all of the cleaning. Travelers can bring home some of that indulgence (without having to steal anything from the hotel room), by shopping for hotel-branded gifts. Westin Hotels & Resorts, for example, sells its Heavenly Bed and Heavenly Bath products via the company’s online store. Products like these just might make staying home feel like a vacation.
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