Mexican Paradise Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo
By Lisa Loverro
Zihuatanejo is an old-world Mexican fishing village that has done a bit of growing up over the years, but still holds true to its sleepy town roots. Famously described as “a place with no memory” in the movie The Shawshank Redemption, it’s a town filled with local eateries, posh resorts and sophisticated Bed and Breakfasts. On the other end of the spectrum, Zihuatanejo’s sister city of Ixtapa is a bustling, touristy coastal town filled with all-inclusive properties and that might hold a greater appeal to family clients. Nestled between the backdrop of the Sierra Madre and Pacific Ocean, the region provides deep-sea fishing, Scuba diving and snorkeling, not to mention the usual parasailing and banana boat rides you’ll find in other resort towns. While Zihautanejo evolved from a quaint fishing village, Ixtapa was built solely to attract tourists and has many more offerings in the form of high-rise hotels. Both will provide plenty of sunshine and authentic Mexican cuisine, but there are major differences between the two.
Water of the Yellow Mountain
Zihuatanejo’s hotels, mostly boutique, are set up on cliffs surrounding the bay. For an intimate and authentic experience, along with magnificent views of the Bay, send your clients to the Casa Cuitlateca (www.casacuitlateca.com). With just five rooms, Casa Cuitlateca is located between La Ropa and La Madera beaches and just far enough away from the center of town for complete solitude but close enough to get to all the major sites by foot. Amuleto (www.amuleto.net), another boutique hotel located in hills above Playa La Ropa, exudes laid-back luxury within a tropical, lush environment. The suites all have private plunge pools with views of that magnificent bay. The restaurant at Amuleto is one of the hippest in the area. If your clients prefer to be on the beach in Zihuatanejo, The Tides Zihuatanejo, (www.tideszihuatanejo.com), formerly Hotel Villa del Sol, provides the perfect spot on an unspoiled stretch of coastline. Along with a wellness Spa, the Tides also offers organic cooking classes designed by the Resort’s Executive Chef Paco Isordia.
Outside these resorts, the town of “Zihua,” (as it is referred to by the locals) consists of narrow cobblestone streets filled with local bars and shops. Visitors will see fishermen in the early morning hours with their catch ready to sell to the locals. Culinary offerings are varied from sophisticated Latin fusion cuisine at Espuma, in the Hotel Village Guadalupe (www.hotelvillaguadalupe.com) to classic Mediterranean and Greek cuisine at Il Mare, a romantic and cozy spot with stunning views of Zihuatanejo Bay. During the day, clients can stroll through the Central Mercado to observe the local lifestyle and shop for the perfect beach attire at one of the many storefronts along the water.
Surf’s Up
For a jaunt outside of town, send your clients up to the little village of Troncones, a small surfing village with lodges run mostly by Americans. Casa de la Sirena (www.casadelasirena.net), set among beautiful gardens, has private rooms with balconies, all oceanfront, and a private villa that sleeps 6 to 12 people with a private pool. The Present Yoga Retreat (www.presentmomentretreat.com) is a spiritual and wellness center with a restaurant serving all organic meals.
Heading down to Ixtapa, you’ll find large all-inclusives and a more “Cancun-like” atmosphere. If your clients want solitude and quiet, this is not the place. If they are looking for a large hotel with activities for children, the all-inclusive Presidente Intercontinental Ixtapa Resort (www.intercontinental.com) wraps the best of Mexico into a one-price package that includes accommodations, meals, tips, recreation and a kids program. Along the same stretch of beach, there are a number of high-rise properties including the Dorado Pacífico Beach Resort (www.doradopacifico.com), with 285 rooms, all with private terrace.
Playa Palmar, the main beach in Ixtapa sits in the heart of the Hotel Zone with views of majestic rock formations. A popular boat trip to Isla Ixtapa provides snorkeling, scuba, kayak and even beach massages. Boats leave for Isla Ixtapa every 10 minutes between 9am and 5pm. Just north of the Ixtapa Hotel Zone, boating and fishing expeditions from the new Marina Ixtapa can easily be arranged through most hotels. The nightlife is a bit more happening than in Zihua, but still has a long way to go. There is a Señor Frogs, a few Salsa Clubs and other bars designed primarily for the tourism market. Just around the corner from the Hotel Zone in the Commercial Center, Momma Norma and Deborah restaurant serves regional Mexican fare, fresh fish, and homemade Banana Cream pie that’s out of this world.
Getting There
Service to Zihua and Ixtapa is more seasonal than other resort towns like Cancun. AeroMéxico flies daily from Mexico City and currently, Continental services through Houston Airport (although this may change once the United Airlines merger is complete). For more information check out www.visitMexico.com
Colonial Mexico
By Denise Dube
Cancun and Cozumel are Mexico’s most famous resorts. Every year they lure tourists; some for relaxation, some for a respite from crazy work lives and some for Spring Break—a category unto itself. Both locations have plenty of appeal, but neither really offers an authentic view of Mexico’s heart and soul. For that, travelers are better off poking around Colonial Mexico, and San Miguel de Allende, located in Guanajuato’s municipality, is a great place to start.
Vibrant Culture with an International Flair
Founded in 1542, this quiet city is home to more than 100,000 residents. Surprisingly, Americans and Canadians make up a large portion of the population. There are more than a few reasons why. Its beauty is enticing, the history reaches further back than any American legend and its economy is perfect for those on a budget.
“People are drawn to San Miguel de Allende for many reasons, the mild year-round weather, gorgeous architecture, affordable and comfortable lifestyle,” Lillian Avilés said. Avilés is the sales and marketing director for JDB Fine Hotels and Flor Escapes in Mexico. She splits her year between Colonial Mexico and America. She said about 30 percent of the population is foreign, which gives the town “an international flair.”
“I think most of all, people come to enjoy the colorful and vibrant cultural life. Every night there is an event, an art opening, theatre performance or concert. It is a wonderful destination to enjoy real Mexican life, which is very different from the massive resorts along the coast.” Last March, while having lunch with friends at El Correo Restaurant, the sky darkened and white icy hail bounced off the cobblestone streets. Within minutes it all melted, the black cloud moved on and the sun bore down with its usual heat. Those caught outside simply covered their heads with pocketbooks or newspapers and continued walking as if it were a slight nuisance. That’s how San Miguel de Allende’s residents seem to approach life; with composure and nonchalance. That may be why it also attracts tourists and retirees. There’s a lot to do and plenty of places to do nothing.
Navigating San Miguel
El Jardin is the main square of San Miguel. Life and the streets seemingly flow from this walled center. Black wrought iron benches offer respite from the heat. It’s also a great spot to watch the world roll by. The Gothic-style San Miguel de Allende Parish Church or La Parroquia is named for St. Michael the Archangel and it’s the city’s most famous landmark. The almost pink sky scraping spires, originally built in the mid 1600’s and refurbished in the 1860s, sit near El Jardin’s center. Its underground crypt holds the bones of its heroes and a sculpture of the city’s namesake.
Parques Juarez, one of San Miguel’s biggest parks, is alive with visitors, tourists and those selling food or trinkets. Vendors sell dried beans and produce from baskets while others hawk trinkets and baubles. Shops and other restaurants line the streets surrounding the squares and parks. Alleys are hidden between the colorfully painted shops and offer even more discoveries.
Bellas Artes is an art institute nestled in one of the many alleys. Ask for directions because those unfamiliar with the area may walk past and never notice the opening. This is one of the center’s many pocketed treasures. Art exhibits, café’s, a small shop and flowers of every type and color surround the open courtyard. Its centerpiece is a fountain that holds water and a stone lamb. There are more treasured alleys, so keep your eyes open.
El Correo is great for authentic Mexican food. Café San Francisco is right off the Jardin or main square and also serves excellent Mexican cuisine. Those looking for non-Mexican fare can try Mezzanine Bistro. The menu changes daily and is known for fresh Mediterranean cuisine. Petit Four is a well-known bakery and gets high marks from those who live in the city. It’s located at Mesones 99 in San Miguel.
Avilés suggests Dos Casas (www.doscasas.com.mx) or El Meson (www.elmesonhotel.com). Both are in the town’s center. La Puertecita Hotel (www.lapuertecita.com) is a 10-minute walk to the historic center. It isn’t as close, but it has two pools and is surrounded by gardens.
More information visit www.visitmexico.com
Finding Intimacy in All-Inclusive Food Production
By Marguerite Richards
What initially strikes the first-time visitor to Cancun and Riviera Maya are the soft, supple displays of brilliant color—cadmium red umbrellas against the sapphire sea, a polka-dot bikini on a yellow beach towel in the Caribbean light—almost reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting. Lush contrasts of color continue from playtime to mealtime, from your breakfast papaya and watermelon with lime, to your afternoon margarita on the creamy sand and finally your chocolate fondant with mango and kiwi drizzle after the sun’s gone down. In a lavish cocoon of comfort, you enjoy your meals as if you and your travel companions were the only people that mattered on earth. But what you haven’t noticed, and which you shouldn’t notice, is how those meals were brought to you; the cohesion of service and attention to detail that allows a hotel to feed thousands of guests each day and still pull off a perfect candlelit dinner for two.
Two very different hotels, the Omni Cancun (www.omnihotels.com) and the Iberostar Grand Paraiso (www.iberostar.com), are both 5-star rated by the Mexican Government and are both on their way to qualifying for the AAA four diamond rating. Despite a similar guest room count, they are opposites in atmosphere: the Grand Paraiso is adults-only with awe-inspiring grandeur (think Las Vegas Bellagio), whereas the Omni is quainter and more social. What both of these getaways have in common are the secrets they employ to conjure the appeal of intimacy in a large hotel setting.
The Buffet
The buffet is a common solution to accommodate mass food service, one that often risks turning the dining establishment into a cafeteria. To counter this, menus are provided and wait staff are assigned to each table so guests have the option to order as in a sit-down restaurant. At the Omni, servers are encouraged to get to know their guests and the level of service shows a marked effort. At the Grand Paraiso, this same sort of detail is provided to each guest in the form of a kitchen concierge, who is responsible for knowing the preferences of each guest as well as any food allergies, special dietary needs, or simply to fulfill a craving that can’t be satisfied at the buffet.
A buffet should never be just a buffet. Both hotels take advantage of the buffet’s real estate to create an “open kitchen,” where guests can interact with the chef to cook their entrees, and can ask questions about ingredients. At Grand Paraiso, guests give directions to the chef on meat cooking temperature, the type of sauce they prefer with a pasta dish or even the toppings on their customized pizzas. At the Omni, guests can choose from a variety of ingredients for their omelets or tacos—standard fare is jazzed up with local food specialties like Huitlacoche, or black corn mushroom, cactus flower, and of course habanero, one of the world’s hottest chilies.
Reservation Only
A strategy to creating the intimate dining atmosphere is to offer various small dining settings, with limited seating and a reservation-only policy. Reservations are an interesting beast. On the surface, having to make a reservation can appear to be a constraint, but in truth, it graces the venue with an air of exclusivity. The couple feels honored to know the table is being held for them in lieu of their regular buffet option, and even more excited to ditch the flip-flops to don the heels for an evening. Staying for a week at one hotel, a guest may begin to tire of the food selection but at the Grand Paraiso this is impossible. Aside from its main buffet restaurant and poolside grill, four à la carte restaurants provide you with something new to try each night. From classic surf and turf or Italian to fusion or Teppanyaki, each has its own very different décor, so you are made to experience something unique at every meal. Each restaurant’s food buyer takes advantage of local products and produce to create the different international menus, but when the product isn’t available, the hotel spares little expense on imports like fine cuts of beef from the US, Jamón Ibérico and Spanish olive oil.
The Omni has only one reservation-only restaurant, but the service at Da Vinci is in a class of its own. You are king for the day from the moment you walk through the door. Drop your fork and the server will have replaced it before it hits the ground. Ask a question about the difference between spinach and chaya, a native leafy green, and you’ll have the head waiter at your table in minutes with a sample of both to answer your curiosity. Not everyone can get a table at Da Vinci and you must reserve well in advance, but that is the secret. An intimate ambiance is better achieved with limited capacity.
A different example of a small dining setting that creates the feeling of exclusivity is Omni’s new poolside sushi bar. Sashimi and sushi rolls are prepared to order, as they should be, and requests on ingredients can be made. The chef brightens the menu by adding local favorites like fried banana, chipotle chili or cilantro to the traditional Japanese ingredients like tempura, octopus and salmon. And the seaweed and sticky rice are just as you know them stateside. Again, there are only a dozen seats at the bar, so the crowd certainly doesn’t overwhelm you. There is no hurry, and the attention is all yours.
With dozens of hotels and resorts to choose from in Cancun and Riviera Maya, visitors should really take advantage of sales packages that offer a first-time all-inclusive stay to test out the experience. Whether you’re looking for home away from home, or paradise on earth, there’s sure to be a hotel for you that won’t sacrifice an ounce of intimacy.
Report from Tianguis 2010
By Jeffrey Steele
The Mexican travel industry is still slowly healing from one of the greatest economic body blows of recent decades. But you’d not have known it at last month’s Tianguis Turistico 2010. Hopes there were as high as a cliff diver’s perch above Acapulco Bay, and forecasts as bright as the scorching noonday sun.
One of the many hotel chains making news at Tianguis was AM Resorts, which recently debuted its luxury resort, Now Resorts & Spas, treating guests to its branded “Unlimited Luxury” service. It opened its first Riviera Maya resort, Now Jade Riviera Cancun, and will soon unveil Now Amber Puerto Vallarta. Visit www.amresorts.com.
Sunset World (rci.sunsetworld.net) chose Tianguis to announce an infusion of $26 million into several properties near Cancun. Sunset Fisherman Beach Resort in Riviera Maya will be expanded, the 264-room Royal Sunset Beach Resort renovated, and a new 450-room eco-luxury hotel will be constructed in the Riviera Maya. Sunset World also announced completion of the $60 million, 273-room first phase of Riviera Maya’s Hacienda Tres Rios Resort, Spa & Nature Park (www.haciendatresrios.com), its most luxurious ecological resort, and the $11 million remodeling of its Laguna Suites Golf + Spa (www.lagunasuites.com.mx) and the Ocean Spa Hotel (www.oceanhotelcancun.com), two boutique properties in Cancun.
Los Cabos trumpeted the 2010 opening of Sirena del Mar, a Welk Resort. This seven-acre property sits on cliffs above Cabo San Lucas, encouraging whale watching from December through March and providing year round views of El Arco. Full completion will take two years, resulting in a resort with 222 ocean-view rooms. Visit www.welkresort.com.
Also heralded at Tianguis was the anticipated January 2011 opening of Phase I of Grand Solmar Land’s End Resort & Spa in Los Cabos. The Solmar Hotels & Resorts property will boast old world architecture and modern style. Visit solmar.com
Los Cabos also seeks to carve out a standing as a destination for film lovers with its first Los Cabos International Film Festival, slated to run November 5-10.
Not to be outdone, Hilton Worldwide announced plans for a new 100-room Doubletree by Hilton in Merida, Yucatan, and a 167-room Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas. Also touted were imminent renovations to its Hilton Mexico City Reforma and Hilton Cancun Golf & Spa Resort. Visit www.hilton.com.
Two popular destinations in Guerrero State also made news. Acapulco’s renaissance is advancing with the opening of exclusive Hotel Encanto (www.hhandr.com), on cliffs overlooking eye-popping Puerto Marques Bay in the city’s new Zona Diamante region. And in “Old Acapulco,” Grupo Habita’s newly renovated 36-room Hotel Boca Chica (www.designhotels.com) reopened in March, fully recapturing its 1950s-era allure.
Another Guererro focal point is Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, where luxurious and secluded Capella Ixtapa (www.capellaixtapa.com) is among the latest new hostelries. I-Z announced the resounding success of its 78-night “Unlimited Fun” winter street festival of art, dance and music, which debuted in December 2009.
Unlimited Fun will be expanded this year into two new programs. Unlimited Cuisine will highlight the region’s bountiful culinary variety through a schedule of hotel-based cooking classes and demonstrations by visiting celebrity chefs. Unlimited Ecology will introduce visitors to the region’s mango, coconut and coffee plantations, 320 species of birds and nature parks and reserves.
For more information call the Mexico National Tourist Office at 800-44-MEXICO or visit www.visitmexico.com.
Iberostar Aims New Ads at U.S. Travelers
By Mercedes M. Cardona
Iberostar Hotels & Resorts is betting on Mexico’s potential and planning new properties in the country as it launches a new advertising campaign to draw more U.S. travelers to its Latin American and Caribbean properties. The Spanish hotel chain recently introduced ads starring actor Antonio Banderas, featuring its Mexican flagship, the Iberostar Grand Paraiso resort in the Riviera Maya. TV spots carrying the theme “On Vacation, We’re All Stars,” will air in the U.S. and Spain. The campaign will also include print and outdoor ads, as well as a web component in both Spanish and English. It’s part of a new marketing push that is spotlighting Mexico after a difficult year, according to executives from parent company Grupo Iberostar. The conglomerate has hotels, real estate and inbound travel services units. “This is a new stage we’re beginning,” said Luis Herault, chief marketing officer.
Banderas said he was willing to sign the three-year promotional contract because working with Iberostar met his goals of partnering with prestigious Spanish companies that have international reach and share his social commitment. He noted that the company’s nonprofit Fundacion Iberostar supports development projects in many countries. “We found ourselves hand in glove,” Banderas said. For the company, the choice of Banderas as a spokesman was a calculated selection. Iberostar’s guests also enjoy music and movies, so the campaign message called for a spokesman who was an international star. Asked why the Grand Paraiso, Herault replied “Mexico is our flagship,” and the Grand Paraiso the highest-rated Mexican resort. The property, one of the five hotels in Iberostar’s Playa Paraiso resort complex, was recently voted the best luxury resort in Mexico by TripAdvisor users.
Iberostar managers noted that their Mexican properties are located in Riviera Maya along the Caribbean coast, away from the border regions that have recently seen conflict. Grupo Iberostar Executive Chairman Miguel Fluxa also noted the local government has been working to make sure conditions in the Riviera Maya remain favorable for tourism. Iberostar has opened more than 100 resorts since the company went into the hotel business in 1986, and it refocused on that business after spinning off other travel units in 2001. In 2007 it launched a sub-brand of adults-only luxury resorts, the Grand collection.
Latin America and the Caribbean have been the focus of Iberostar’s growth since the company began expanding outside of Spain in 1993. It now has resorts in Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica. It also runs a Grand Amazon cruise ship in Brazil. The travel downturn in Mexico led to a slight slowdown in construction of a new project, a resort in Puerto Vallarta, scheduled to open next year, according to John Long, vice president of sales & marketing, based in the U.S. The golf course is already open for business, and a beach hotel will open in November 2011, with a Grand property breaking ground afterwards. Iberostar is also looking at Los Cabos, Aruba and Buenos Aires as possible sites for new properties, Long said, adding that the company is also considering opening city hotels elsewhere in South America.
The new ad campaign will begin airing mid-summer in the U.S. It is meant to raise Iberostar’s brand profile among U.S. consumers and encourage them to ask their travel agents for those properties, he said. The company is already familiar to U.S. travel agents, who account for most of Iberostar’s North American bookings, Long said. Iberostar pays 10% to 15% commission on all bookings depending on volume, and offers several incentive programs, such as FAM trips, free incentive trips for top-selling agents and free room nights for every five rooms booked for a group.
As part of the advertising overhaul, Iberostar is adding new features to the travel agent portal on the company’s website. By summer, agents should be able to make commissionable bookings online rather than having to call the toll-free reservations number to claim their commission. For more information, call 888-923-2722, 305-774-9225 or visit www.iberostar.com.