5 mins with… LUXE City Guides

Back in 2002, Grant Thatcher realised there was a huge gap in the market when it came to travel guides for the stylish traveler. After all, not everyone is built for backpacking and some of us like it a little more plush, a little more… luxe.  So armed with an idea and a vision, he created LUXE City Guides, which has now become the staple for those who want to be ‘in the know’. With guides that cover destinations all over the globe, which tell you where to go when it comes to food, fashion and entertainment, it’s no surprise that these days, everyone needs a bit of LUXE.

Here’s our 5 mins with Grant Thatcher, founder & editor of LUXE City Guides:

There are many travel guides on the market, what makes LUXE City Guides so special?

First of all our guides have a sense of humour – a first for travel guides! But most of all we tell it like it is and we are not afraid to have a point of view. We tell you the best of the best and leave the rest. Not got a best friend in Seoul? Leave it to LUXE to show you around town.

How does LUXE find the best places in town?

We employ not only a local editor on the ground that knows the city inside out, but also we take the advice of around 20 stylish contributors who live and work in the city. We then send in our own editorial team to check out personally all the suggested entries. No other guide on the planet does this!

Tell us about LUXE online.

You can purchase your LUXE City Guides through our online store at www.luxecityguides.com . You can easily look through hotels, read in-depth reviews and book a room through our beautiful LUXE City Guides hotel & villa collections. How glamvenient is that! Don’t miss our blog, www.luxetasy.com which posts about the things that have caught the gimlet eye of our editors around the world.

LUXE also has mobile guides available! Good news for my Blackberry…

Yes, good news indeed. We have just launched Luxe City Guides mobile.

10 of our cities are now available in app format to download to many handsets including iPhone, Blackberry, Samsung and Nokia. And we are just about to launch 10 more!

The Legian in Bali and Ca' Sagredo in Venice are in the Luxe City Guides

WGA is all about weddings – how can our readers use the guides?

Our guides are perfect for use as wedding favours and they are perfect for weddings in foreign countries. A lot of customers order them to send out with their invitations to guests. Then of course our range of beautiful box sets are perfect wedding gifts and we offer a full customization service.

Each guide has a beautiful cover. But what lies beneath?

Up to 24 pages crammed full of hundreds of listings of the best of the best of a city.

The WGA Quiz

Best Spa in Bali: Ayana resort

Best bars/clubs in Hong Kong: Sugar, East, Sevva

Best shopping haunt in Melbourne: Christine

Best resort in Phuket: Trisara

Best (romantic) restaurant in London: La Poule au pot (classic old timer French) + guaranteed bedroom olympics!

Last words: OUR LAST WORD IS ALWAYS TTFN (Ta ta for now)!

* So there you go WGA readers, whether you’re planning a dream honeymoon, have a destination wedding to attend or is in need of some wedding favours – a LUXE City Guide should steer you in the right direction. Enjoy!