Hotel Scoop is an authoritative vacation, holiday, and travel resource with detailed reviews of hotels and resorts worth talking about. We cover the travel planet and the world of lodging, from the best artsy boutique hotels to top Orlando family hotels to notable beach resorts in tropical locations. Sorted by geography and type with categories and tags, we make it easy for you to get the scoop on interesting places to stay where you’re headed.
These reviews are not generated by homebodies who take one vacation a year, but by professional travel writers and hotel influencers who have circled the globe and stayed at hundreds of hotels and resorts. These writers know a decent hotel from a great one based on experience and will point out in detail what makes a place special.
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Here are our other regular Hotel Scoop travel writer contributors:
The editor of Hotel Scoop is Chris Christensen. Chris is the creator of AmateurTraveler.com. Amateur Traveler was founded in 2005 and is a popular online travel podcast and blog that focuses primarily on travel destinations. The Amateur Traveler podcast was downloaded over 2 million times in 2023.
Chris has won a Lowell Thomas Award, 5 NATJA awards, a SMITTY Award from Travel+Leisure as the “best independent travel journalist.”, and was named the best travel podcaster in the Travel Creator awards. Chris is based in San Jose, California.
Hotel Scoop was founded by Tim Leffel, a veteran travel writer who has racked up dozens of awards and runs several established online magazines and travel resource sites. He has reviewed hotels on five continents over the course of two and a half decades, covering lodging in Luxury Latin America, The Telegraph, CNN, Westways, Global Traveler, and multiple trade publications.
He is the author of five travel books and when not on the road, is grounded in Guanajuato, Mexico. See TimLeffel.com for more.
A world traveler, Nancy D. Brown has combined her professional writing career with her thirst for adventure. As a hotel reviewer specializing in luxury properties, Nancy understands the importance of a great bed, fine food and stellar views. Nancy writes from her own experiences – not press releases. Her articles have been featured in Shape magazine, Alaska Air, Diablo magazine, 7×7 Magazine, San Jose Mercury News, Chicago Tribune and Stroll North Gilham, among others.
When not on a plane, she lives with her family in Eugene, Oregon. Read her insider tips on What a Trip, her Writing Horseback blog, and follow Nancy on Instagram and her YouTube channel.
Diana Rowe is a freelance writer living in suburbia Denver, 20 minutes from downtown and less than 60 minutes from the Colorado Rockies. Finding the perfect hotel, whether for leisure or business travel, is an important part of Diana’s travels. Her articles have been featured in BBC Travel, Dallas Morning News, American Iron Motorcycle, Global Traveler Magazine, Business Traveler, Away.com, TripAdvisor.com, Latitudes (American Eagle in-flight), American Cowboy, and Corporate & Incentive Travel Magazine.
Catch up with Diana at www.dianarowe.com or follow her adventures at Traveling In Heels, Facebook fan page or Twitter.
Penny Sadler is a freelance writer and wine communicator residing in the Lone Star State. Her glass is always full, preferably of something white and bubbly. She writes for Inside Hook, Cheese Professor, and other outlets.
See more at her blog: Adventures of a Carry-on.
Say the word “trip” and Jamie Rhein is packed. Rhein has traveled to 36 countries (lived in five of them) and has been to every state but Alaska. A freelance writer and educator, currently living in Ohio, Rhein has written numerous travel articles for print and online publications on everything from white water rafting to the best hot dog worth driving to. Publications include Ohio Magazine, Country Living, Hocking Hills and Toledo visitors guides, AOL’s online travel guide to Cleveland and Cincinnati, and the now-gone travel blogs Gadling and Uptake.
One of these days, she’ll really focus on that blog of hers—Hither and Yon. The problem is she keeps heading yon–as in yonder.
Dana Rebmann has successfully trained her family to be able to pack a carry-on bag with just minutes notice. Weekends spent exploring outnumber those at home in Northern California wine country, but her favorite trips require a passport and typically a destination with warm sand and blue water. Along with being the travel reporter for San Francisco’s KRON4 News, Dana writes for a variety of publications including AARP, The Saturday Evening Post, USA Today, Diablo Magazine, TravelAge West, Hemispheres, Sonoma Magazine, and Ciao Bambino.
Along with travel, Dana writes about food, wine and anything fun. Dana is a SATW member. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Carolyn B. Heller is a full-time freelance writer specializing in travel, food, and culture. She’s the author of the books Moon Vancouver, Moon Vancouver and Canadian Rockies Road Trip, and Moon Toronto + Ontario, and she’s contributed to more than 50 travel and restaurant titles for Lonely Planet, Fodor’s, and other publishers. Her articles have appeared in Lonely Planet, Travel + Leisure, TIME, Atlas Obscura, Forbes Travel Guide, Montecristo Magazine, Verge Magazine, The Takeout, Edible Vancouver Island, Smart Mouth, Explore, Canadian Traveller, October Magazine, Trivago, Roads & Kingdoms, Real Weddings, Perceptive Travel, and more.
Follow her adventures at www.cbheller.com, on Twitter, or on Instagram.
Maureen Littlejohn is an award-winning travel journalist who has worked in the United States, Africa, and Vietnam. Her adventures have included long-term volunteer mandates in Ghana, Vietnam, and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) helping local NGOs on various initiatives. Currently based in Toronto, she is executive editor of Culture Magazin (no e), a print and online lifestyle/food/travel publication that focuses on “East Meets West” and caters to the Vietnamese diaspora.
She is a contributor to Canada’s national newspaper The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Panoram Italia, NationalGeographic.com, USA Today’s 10 Best, CNN Global Travel, and The Norwegian American. Her beat includes culture, history, food/beverage, soft adventure, and wellness. She is on the board of SATW (Society of American Travel Writers), and the World Food Travel Association. Maureen is also a member of the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC). See more here.
Over the course of a 40-year career that has spanned more than 80 countries, award-winning journalist Buzzy Gordon has been a reporter, editor, and travel writer on five continents. His work has appeared in USA Today (where he was a regular travel columnist), National Geographic Traveler, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, among other leading publications. Buzzy is the author of Frommer’s Jerusalem Day by Day Guide and a contributor to publications in Israel and the United States.
Rebecca L. Rhoades is an award-winning writer, editor, and photographer living in Phoenix, Arizona. She specializes in travel, architecture and design, food, art, and culture. Her work has been featured in a variety of print and online publications, including Green Living, Plate, Preferred Travel, AZ Big Media, Copper Courier, Images Arizona, Phoenix Home & Garden, Phoenix magazine, AAA magazines, and many more.
She is a member of SATW, NATJA and IFWTWA. You can see more at rebeccalrhoades.com or follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
Karin Leperi Pezo is an award-winning writer and photographer with bylines in over 100 outlets that include magazines, newspapers, radio, internet, and mobile media-based platforms. Her travels have taken her to 115 countries around the world, spanning six continents and numerous natural wonders.
While the umbrella is food & travel, she feels that culture, cuisine, and nature define a destination in unique ways that irresistibly invite the traveler to discover, connect, and linger in ways that extol the virtues of exotic in the ordinary. See some of her other travel writing here.
Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City. She has worked as an editor and writer for various publications including NatGeo Travel, Eater.com, Vituoso.com, Hemispheres magazine, Mexico News Daily, and AAA magazine among others. Lydia has been blogging and writing in Mexico for over a decade and is the current author of the Louis Vuitton Mexico City guide as well as the upcoming Mexico Food and Travel guide to Baja California Sur. She also lives a double life as a local tour guide in Mexico City. She is the associate editor at LuxuryLatinAmerica.com and the author of Mexico City Streets: La Roma. Find her at her blog, Mexico City Streets.
Margarita Ibbott is the creator and author of DownshiftingPRO.com, a travel and lifestyle blog focusing on traveling to the US, Canada, Colombia, and Europe. This travel website brings unique insight into museums, cultural activities, and luxury accommodations. She loves a good girl’s getaway and traveling with her adult children—family travel but with cocktails. Colombian by birth, Canadian by nationality, she’s here to help others organize their lives and travels. Her articles can be found on MSN (US) and other media outlets in the US.
Ilona Kauremszky is the editor of DreamScapes, Canada’s premier travel and lifestyle magazine. She’s a former nationally syndicated weekly travel columnist and is the founding president of the Travel Media Association of Canada’s Ontario Chapter (TMAC). She has worked with legacy newspaper publishers and guidebook companies across the United States, including travel trade outlets. A prolific content creator, Ilona works on custom content for premium travel brands. Her website is www.mycompass.ca.
Our former contributors you’ll find in the archives include notable travel writers Katie Hammel, Susan McKee, Mary Jo Manzanares, Jodi Grundig, Jill Robinson, Kristin Winet, Michele Sponagle, Mike Dunphy, Donna Tabbert Long, Kimberly Lovato, and Kara Williams.
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