Where the very rich go to indulge their expensive desires (including Maldives)!

Basil's Bar & Restaurant is a wooden shack of a beach bar located on the remote Caribbean island of Mustique. But despite its understated look, a night out at Basil's could bring you face to face with Tommy Hilfiger, Mick Jagger, Denzel Washington or even Queen Elizabeth.
"Here, they get to let their hair down and be normal people," says owner Basil Charles. "Bill Gates was sitting at the end of my bar reading a book one morning--I had no idea who this man was."
This 30-year-old establishment is one of the liveliest--and one of the only--bars on Mustique. Nicknamed "Billionaires Island," the 1,400-acre Mustique is so exclusive, there's only one hotel--the 17-room Cotton House Hotel. Most wealthy visitors rent one of 100 private villas, which run as much as $150,000 a week. Staffed with private chefs, butlers and maids, these full-service, two- to nine-bedroom residences give the mega-rich the opportunity to stay in what are essentially their own private hotels.
Mustique is one of a handful of exclusive and exotic hot spots billionaires go to relax and blow off steam. Whether they crave pristine beaches, rugged mountains or just a ridiculous resort in the middle of nowhere, billionaires have the megabucks to lap up luxury anywhere they desire.
And if they want a destination with a little more glamour and action than remote Mustique, they jet to the French port town of St. Tropez to show off their hard-earned assets. The French Rivera's most popular summertime spot offers one of the most glamorous ports in the Mediterranean, where owners of some of the world's largest yachts drop anchor to raise their glasses in the town's bustling bars, restaurants and nightclubs.
St. Tropez's deep-water harbor is a magnate for seafaring billionaires, like media titan Rupert Murdoch and investor Jeff Greene.
For a true piece of paradise, billionaires travel to Maui, Hawaii, where they often stay at the 370-room Four Seasons Resort to enjoy pampering by pool attendants equipped with chilled towels, Evian water misters and ice pops. When staying at the top hotel on the island, billionaires request the best room: the 5,000-square-foot Maile Suite, which costs $14,000 a night.
"The suite encompasses the entire 17th floor, and has three bedrooms, a private spa, a eucalyptus rain shower, six plasma TVs, an enormous balcony for tremendous views of the ocean and high-powered binoculars for whale watching," says Mark Simon, director of marketing for the Four Seasons Maui.
Computer tycoon Michael Dell liked the Four Seasons in Maui so much that he bought the entire hotel in July 2004.
Also on the list of billionaire playgrounds: The Maldives, where billionaires head to enjoy a system of coral reefs off the coast of India; the Hamptons, where mansions, quaint beaches, and pulsing nightlife mix at the east end of Long Island, N.Y.; and Palm Beach, Fla., where perfect year-round weather and beachfront mansions have attracted billionaires like Donald Trump and John Kluge.
But the freezing of the credit market, the failure of Wall Street firms and the S&P 500's 37% fall since last December have forced even the ultra rich to tighten their alligator belts. In 2009, the billionaires who sip cocktails at Basil's might be more frugal, and could pass on the $150,000-a-week mansions, opting for the relatively practical $50,000-per-week estates instead.
(reproduced from http://www.eturbonews.com/)