What are some good hotels in Miramar?

Why are so many of the hotels in Cusco, Peru so lavish?

• Why are a disproportionate number of the hotels in Cusco Peru so nice and expensive? I have a habit of looking up price and details of dream trips all over the world on expedia.com What is the deal about Cusco, Peru? I was maybe interested in going to see those blocks that are fit together so precisely that you cannot fit a razor blade in between them. So I looked on Expedia.com and saw that a 4 day trip to Cusco Peru flight plus hotel is over two grand! Mostly because of the hotels there are very very expensive..and LAVISH...very nice in the pics and virtual photos...I am surprised to see that compared to my other dream destinations that I have looked up on expedia....why is there such a disproportionate amount of lavish four and five star type of hotels there in that location? I would have expected an average mix like other destinations around the world...actually. to be honest..with Peru being one of the less wealthy nations....I was actually expecting a more significant supply of hole in the wall dives...why is this area so elegant and luxurious..even the four star hotels seem to be nicer and more luxurious than the four star hotels in other parts of the world..what gives? Why is that section seem to be more luxurious than other site seeing destinations? Thanks in advance for your answers, perry in FL

• Answer:

  Hmm...this is strange. I've actually been to Cusco and didn't really notice any extremely lavish hotels. In fact, the only one I can think of is the Mariott or whatever it is that is actually in Macchu Pichu (the only hotel there). I know there are quite a few hostels there (which is what I stayed in) and you can find some on sites like hostelworld.com, if you want to try to find some cheaper accommodations. The only thing I can think of to answer your question is this: Peru depends on tourism for it's economy. As you said, it is a developing country, but it does happen to have one of the greatest tourist attractions in the world. They know that many rich foreigners will pay for luxury, so they give it to them, Being in Macchu Pichu, I actually felt like I was back in the U.S. because there were so many english-speaking people there (which was actually a strange feeling for me because I had been out of the country for 6 months and wasn't used to hearing so much english!). My other thought is that the nicer hotels are merely over-represented on sites like expedia, because those are the ones they want people to stay at (more commission on more expensive hotels). They don't put the cheaper hostels on those kinds of sites. I think what it is is that there aren't necessarily more expensive hotels than cheaper hotels, but the more expensive ones get over-represented on expedia-type sites. Plus I don't think there are too many middle-of-the-road type hotels, they are probably either extremely expensive and luxurious (like the one in Macchu Pichu) or hostels that require you to buy your own toilet paper (I don't want to bash hostels too much because they aren't all that bad). These are just my opinions...you can agree with me or not.