The Good Life.(nanny-friendly vacation spots; Ryanair; business trip employee tracking; New Zealand)

Byline: Michael Hastings, Martin Stabe, Linda Stern

Travel: And A Room for The Nanny, Too

By Michael Hastings

For years, the pitter-patter of little feet across the sundecks of the world's most exclusive getaways was anathema to the luxury-resort crowd. No longer. High-end resorts are getting family friendly, not only by adding innovative children's activities but by providing more rooms and services for large families and accompanying staff. "In the luxury market you're seeing people travel as a family, with parents and nannies," says Butch Kerzner, CEO of Kerzner International, a company that operates the One & Only boutique hotel chain. "We're building more luxury villas in many of our locations. At this end of the market, people want more space, butler service, in-room meals. It's the hotel as the country house."

At the Ocean Club, on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, new 4,000-square-foot villas come as a four-bedroom villa or a three-bedroom villa. (Rates go from $4,500 to $6,500 a night.) Each villa has a private chef, a fully stocked kitchen and a private pool, equipped for family barbecues upon request. The One & Only's Reethi Rah resort in the Maldives, which opened earlier this year, built a number of duplexes with families in mind: each is made up of two beach villas connected by a private walkway. The parents' side has a private pool and the kids and nanny sleep in the other part. The resort purees its own baby food. It built one pool overlooking the majestic ocean for adults, and another sleek beachside pool for families. Coolest activity for kids: a daytime fishing trip with a personalized chef grilling the catch for them at night.

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts has "embraced" the trends in family travel, says COO Bob Boulogne. Its three most family-friendly resorts are Little Dix Bay and Caneel Bay in the Virgin Islands, and Jumby Bay in Antigua. Little Dix Bay has 16 sets of connecting Oceanview Rooms ($595) as well as the 2,500-square-foot Children's Grove, a play area with an environmental focus. Caneel Bay has connecting rooms and "Turtle Town"--a Caribbean themed day care--for kids. Jumby Bay provides Silver Cross prams for infants, and the Hawksbill Turtle Program, from June through November, offers kids a chance to see the nesting site of these famous reptiles. Still, says Boulogne, most customers come without their kids, and the resorts make sure "those on a romantic holiday can do so without feeling like they're in a playground." (Depending on the guests, Caneel Bay's seven beaches can be reserved for families or for adults only.)

But kids can feel like adults as well. At Amanpuri, the posh resort in Thailand owned by Aman Resorts, the spa provides kids' yoga and massage. And adults can be babied, too: family rooms come with baby baths and a rubber duck, with 24-hour nanny service.