View at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong. (Courtesy Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts)

Views from the world's tallest hotels Tallest hotels on Earth

Q: How can you tell if a place offers a room with a view?

-- A. Lopes, Scarborough

A: The phrase "room with a view" was the title of an EM Forester book, which became a blockbuster film starring Helen Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Judy Dench and Daniel Day Lewis. Tourism professionals know a scenic vista can be a deal maker and the industry adopted the saying to sell hotel rooms or attractions that offer one.

Hotels are increasingly putting this information online. For instance, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide has an online hotel directory based on live webcams from its various properties. The website is equipped with webcam, time lapse video, current time and weather plus showcases the type of view you'd expect while staying at the selected property. The most talked about webcam is in Honolulu at the Sheraton Waikiki. See RoomWithAView.com.

I also checked out the Ritz-Carlton to see any of the rooms at its new Vienna property had views. It's on the Ringstrasse, the city's most elegant boulevard. I learned that the suites and deluxe rooms at the hotel offer city or courtyard views.

In the U.S. Virgin Islands, I dined at the Room with a View restaurant in Bluebeard's castle Charlotte Amalie. The sunset view overlooking the city is truly stunning.

Send your travel questions to ilona@mycompass.ca