Please note: This is a sponsored post.

For me, luxury travel usually means little more than clean sheets, hot water and black coffee in the morning. Camping on a beach or staying with local villagers makes me just as happy as sipping a cocktail next to an elegantly landscaped plunge pool.

But even though vagabonding travelers like me have been known to sneer at expensive luxury resorts and dismiss their pampered guests as out of touch with reality, I recognize that the luxury travel experience, done well, can be a beautiful thing.

There is a time and a place for everything, and when I plan my Honeymoon, or my parent’s 40th anniversary celebration, I’ll want a truly memorable and luxurious holiday.

This is where the website Kiwi Collection is remarkably useful. Kiwi’s team of hospitality experts search out truly outstanding travel experiences around the world and present them in a well organized and attractive online database.

After all, if you’re going to splurge, you might as well search out the best of the best.

Centerfold Hotels

I have to admit, the Kiwi Collection website makes my mouth water. The whole site feels like it was lifted straight from the glossy pages of Travel + Leisure or GQ magazine.

The featured destination photos are of very high quality and give a good sense of what each property offers. It’s easy to click through the descriptions of stately dining rooms and drift into a Gatsby-esque fantasy of elegance.

Horseback riding in Argentine wine-country? Or perhaps you would prefer a memorable mountain hotel in Armenia?

The Kiwi Collection really does span the globe.

Browsing through the site, it’s easy to daydream. Candlelit ballrooms and scattered tropical flowers on high thread-count sheets. Of course I want a rare and succulent holiday experience. Yes, this gorgeous suite overlooking the Mediterranean would be quite lovely, thank you.

Of course, then I check my bank account and remember that I don’t even know how to spell ‘Mediterranean.’

But if I was looking for the best room in Monaco, or wanted to treat my hedge-fund pals to a memorable week of fly-fishing at a lodge in British Columbia, Kiwi Collection would be the first place I’d look.

Why the name Kiwi?

To answer the question posed in the title: what does a kiwi have in common with luxury travel? Here’s the connection according to the website:

“Kiwi is a relatively new word. It is pronounced the same in almost every major language. As luxury accommodations appeal to a global audience, Kiwi Collection was designed to be universally accessible. And like the kiwifruit, the company tries to be fresh and full of flavor in everything it does. After all, every journey in life should be a rich, rare and succulent experience, so enjoy your travels.”

If you’re curious what succulent accommodation looks like, head over to Kiwi Collection.

BNT contributing editor Tim Patterson travels with a sleeping bag and pup tent strapped to the back of his folding bicycle. His articles and travel guides have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, Get Lost Magazine, Tales Of Asia and Traverse Magazine. Check out his personal site Rucksack Wanderer.

What’s the poshest luxury accommodation you’ve ever stayed in? Leave a comment below!