I've been looking forward to speaking at Wendy Perrin's Travel Summit in Cancun this weekend along with Brett Snyder. And not just because I was finally going to get to meet Brett's lovely wife!
Wendy is one of my favorite people, I've known her for years, and she first plucked my award booking service from obscurity when she was at Conde' Nast Traveler putting me on their list of "World's Top Travel Specialists" in 2010.
I was also looking forward to the event because it's being held at the Grand Velas Riviera Maya Resort just over half an hour from the Cancun airport. It looks fabulous and researching the hotel in advance of my stay it's causing me to rethink some of my priors.
Yet the Grand Velas Riviera Maya Resort – an all-inclusive – looks quite nice. And I won't get to try it. I woke up sick, decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to make the rest of the conference sick, and I really didn't want to fly to Mexico under the weather. The Grand Velas Riviera Maya isn't cheap and any other time I go I'll wind up having to come out of pocket..
Wendy Perrin's Wow ListHer WOW List is a collection of travel planners that began years ago as simply her rolodex — the best travel specialists in the world that have been tested and gotten the best feedback from her readers.
Booking simple airfare is now something you do online, but that doesn't mean travel agents are dead. If you just need a flight, or to combine a flight and hotel, you can do that yourself. But if you need a trip that's perfect and seamless that takes people and it takes knowledge.
A few months ago I was helping my cousin set up a honeymoon in Sri Lanka. There are things I know, have experienced, and can do but I also wanted an expert on the ground to review and improve what we had come up with. Her preferences are different than mine, he could listen and match the right guides and activities and transfers in a way I couldn't. I went to Wendy's list, I found someone who lives in Sri Lanka and off they went.
It's the place to check if you want real local tours in a destination given by PhDs. Or if you want access to venues not open to the public. Or a sit down with a world leader when you're visiting a country. Many of these things don't come cheap, but she knows the people who know how to get it done right — perfectly.
Grand Velas Riviera Maya ResortIt's an all suite all-inclusive AAA Five Diamond resort five minutes from Playa del Carman and a short drive from the Cancun airport.
The smallest suite on property is 1184 square feet and the resort is spread over more than 200 acres.
There claim 15 food and beverage options including 24 hour room service, something regular readers know I think is important in a luxury hotel (especially when you're coming in from another time zone and jetlagged). It's even better when there's no marginal cost for it.
Bathrooms have Molton Brown amenities. Given my stress about coffee, they've crucially got in-room Nespresso machines.
The spa looks gorgeous. I was even going to check out the 80 minute 'water journey'
The natural subterranean level of Se Spa at Grand Velas Riviera Maya is the center of the spa and is entirely dedicated to the relaxation and restorative facilities that comprise the Water Journey.
Almost 40,000-square feet are given to men's and women's sides, each with custom-designed amenities including a Clay Room, a circular glass-tile-lined steam room with a fiber-optic "star light" ceiling, an Ice Room with floor-to-ceiling window, and hot-and-cold Experience Showers.
A central infinity pool has powerful massaging faucets throughout and carved-stone chaises with jets set just underneath the surface of the water on which guests recline. Two stunning slate-grey stone-tiled walls bisect the central hydrotherapy pool, dividing the equally spacious and especially private men's and women's sides.
…A spa valet provides bottled water and towels but most importantly guidance to make sure guests get the most out of the truly relaxing hydrotherapy experience— such as how to alternate the various hot and cold rooms and pools, and how long to linger in them.
This may be the only spa I've come across that offers sorbet and not just hot or cold teas (as part of their 'Vitamin C facial').
We were even supposed to have a dinner at 'Cocina de Autor' which is apparently the only AAA Five Diamond restaurant in an all-inclusive resort. Oh did I say I was going there as 'work'?
Now I Have a ConundrumThe Grand Velas Riviera Maya looks great. Reports are that the food is good, even though it's an all-inclusive. It's a two and a half hour non-stop flight away. It appears to be the exact opposite of what I would expect from Cancun and from an all-inclusive. Have I been missing the boat completely?
I got sick and gave up a speaking slot, where I wouldn't have been paying the freight here. And it's not an inexpensive proposition. Rooms appear to start at ~ $650 per night. I've never spent that much for a hotel room in my life.
But I could begin to justify it to myself. I can visit there much more easily than most of the Caribbean. It's less expensive to travel there than to Europe or Asia. It's an all-inclusive so it's not really a fair apples-to-apples comparison when I think about what I usually spend for a hotel.
And having come that close to staying there I now feel like I need to visit, because it seems like it's disrupting my mental model of the region and the genre.
More From View from the WingSource: Are Two Of My Strongly-Held Travel Beliefs Totally Wrong?
No comments:
Post a Comment