I've subscribed for several years. Whether it is worth it to you depends on a lot of factors I could not know. Zagat has a good section on U.S. Hotels but as far as I know does not deal with foreign properties, or does so on a very limited basis. The hotels chosen by Harper are generally at the very top of the heap in any area. The depth of choices in any market is very limited. Put another way, there may be some very good choices omitted that are not at the very high end but may be terrific values or have other characteristics that are not top of the heap, but still might cause one to want to stay there.

For us, it's been helpful but incomplete. Because of the comparatively few properties reviewed in any one issue and only twelve issues a year, the total number of properties covered (out of everywhere in the world) is comparatively small. In other words, the observations can get stale fairly quickly as properties change.

We have generally been pleased by the properties we have chosen that were listed in The Hideaway Report, especially in Asia, South America and Europe. The one big disappointment for us was The Observatory Hotel in Sydney, which was nice but had a number of drawbacks (for us.) As you will see later in this reply, your mileage may vary.

The free on-line sites like tripadvisor.com have reviews that are difficult to evaluate because it is impossible to tell if the reviewer regularly stays in high-end properties or the review was of their first stay in one. Harper has a reasonably discernible baseline for forming opinions. In addition, the feedback postcards he would receive (some are included as a part of the subscription) would generally come from a more informed portion of the customer spectrum since they cared enough about luxurious accommodation to subscribe in the first place.

Some subscribers might be turned off by the offers "approved" by Harper that tend to come from time to time. There are optional-at-additional-cost add-ons that can be purchased above the basic subscription price. Those relate to making reservations through the Harper organization and obtaining various advantages therefrom, as well as offers for fractional-use secondary residences, etc.

There is an auction run every week with a number of properties shown online that can be bid on. Even with some of the restrictions placed on the auction by the resort or hotel involved there can be some very good bargains if one is certain they can use the offer being auctioned. For example, there might be a three-day stay at a particular property offered for the one week the auctions are open that would include a particular grade of room, etc. Generally it seems to me the final bids represent perhaps generally about a 25% discount from what might be obtained with diligent searching elsewhere or through a Virtuoso travel agent, etc. It is hard to gauge what the discount is because it varies from property to property and week to week.

When it's all considered, I have not found a better alternative but it's far from perfect for us. Your mileage may vary, etc.