All-inclusive resorts: hotels up the ante in luxury

Grand Velas All Suites & Spa Resort Riviera Maya

By Lena Katz

If “more for less” is your travel mantra this year, read on. I’ve found four new all-inclusive resorts that deliver on this promise, big-time. Brands you know and love are debuting new properties in the hottest Mexico beach vacation destinations and up-and-coming Central American hot spots. Check ‘em out now, and get ready for great deals.

Though competition is fierce among luxury hotels on the Riviera Maya, for my money, Grand Velas All Suites & Spa Resort Riviera Maya outshines most of the other all-inclusive resorts. It is one of the few that offers a Four Seasons/St. Regis-caliber experience, but with a predetermined price.

The “Margarita Trolley” at Frida’s Mexican Restaurant, the popsicles and fruit kebabs served poolside, the fully stocked ensuite mini-bars … these perks are so much more fun when you don’t have to sign a room charge for each indulgence. Full disclosure, though: To relax in the $15 million, two-level, 89,000-square-foot spa and try one of the signature Guided Water Journeys, you do have to pay extra.

Barcelo Los Cabos Palace Deluxe

The west coast of Mexico has only a fraction of the Riviera Maya’s offerings when it comes to all-inclusive resorts, but the recent opening of Barcelo Los Cabos Palace Deluxe in December provides Cabo with the all-inclusive resort experience ubiquitous in Cancun and the Caribbean: Seven restaurants, a pool lounge and a nightclub to augment the normal bar offerings, a 60,000-square-foot pool complex boasting a childrens water park and much more. It’s a sprawling come-one-come-all vacation mega-plex staffed by hyper-enthusiastic “animators” that do everything from organize beach volleyball games to lip-synch in nightly theater shows.

RIU Guanacaste

Another familiar name in Cancun and the Caribbean, RIU, decided to go south instead of west, opening RIU Guanacaste on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. This is the first RIU in Costa Rica, and it’s located in a famous resort area known for great beaches, surf culture and diverse animal species (monkeys in the trees, sea turtles on the beach…) Situated on Matapalo Beach, this all-inclusive resort is big in typical RIU style, though its 701 rooms can’t compare with the massive complexes in Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, etc. It opened in October, and I think it provides an updated, though less relaxed, foil to the friendly, sprawled-out, gently worn Paradisus Playa Conchal down the road.

Breezes Resort & Spa Panama

European brands aren’t the only ones expanding into Central America. It was hard to see this one coming, but Breezes is making big moves too. The brand formerly known for its boozy bargain Jamaican beach parties opened Breezes Resort & Spa Panama in October. Though the name and overall theme are familiar, the setting is a real departure from the norm. It’s in a beach resort community, of course — Santa Clara, on the southern Pacific coast. And it offers reasonably priced “fun, sun, sand” getaways for families and couples. However, Panama isn’t nearly as developed as Jamaica — its tourism revolves around rainforest adventures, not rum-drinking spring breakers. For now, at least. As for whether it’ll stay that way…well, Breezes might be the one to ask.

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Lena Katz is the author of SUN: California and SIP: California, part of the Travel Temptations series published by Globe Pequot Press.

Tagged: Mexico