Living the High Life in Cancun
 Theresa Storm - Calgary Herald
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Click image to enlarge | | Even before the dollar hit a record high, close to 100,000 Canadians visited Cancun the first half of this year, with travellers from Ontario, Quebec and Alberta contributing most to Mexico's tourism coffers. |
Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico - When you think of Cancun, perhaps what you envision is a packed beach, lined with cheap, all-you-can-eat, drink, and do all-inclusives. Or maybe you've heard Mexico's No. 1 sunspot is just a wild party place for the young set? Or, perhaps, you've been there, done that?
No matter what you think of Cancun, think again.
Take a look at the other - more distinctive, increasingly popular, and surprisingly, larger - side of Cancun tourism, the ultra high-end, luxury side, which quietly co-exists among its more boisterous neighbours.
Of more than 28,000 hotel rooms, "75 per cent of all the rooms in Cancun are five stars or better," explains Arturo Escaip, the new director of the Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).
"The whole hotel zone of Cancun is a very luxurious part of the Mexican tourism industry," he adds, home to 18 per cent of the country's five-star and plus room stock.
"We also have the highest concentration of spas in the whole country as well."
If blissing out in a candlelit treatment room and a personal butler at beck-and-call are not enticing enough, consider that splurging on a fancy resort and life's other fine things will be more affordable than ever this winter with our soaring loonie (the Mexican peso is pegged to the U.S. dollar).
Even before the dollar hit a record high, close to 100,000 Canadians visited Cancun the first half of this year, with travellers from Ontario, Quebec and Alberta contributing most to Mexico's tourism coffers.
That increase of about 45 per cent compared with the total figure of 2006 means "we're very, very optimistic that we will get very good numbers because Canadians tend to travel more in the wintertime," says Escaip.
The CVB recently began marketing a group of five top-notch, luxury hotels together as Cancun Elite Resorts.
The five hotels are the Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach, JW Marriott Cancun Resort & Spa, Le Meridien Cancun Resort & Spa, Paraiso de la Bonita Resort & Thalasso, and The Ritz-Carlton, Cancun.
These are the swanky, wait-on-you-hand-and-foot kind of resorts.
All are located in Cancun's hotel zone, with the exception of Paraiso de la Bonita, a haven of tranquillity in Puerto Morelos, 19 kilometres from Cancun airport.
All, except Le Meridien, have also earned North America's most coveted symbol of hospitality excellence, the AAA Five Diamond Hotel Award. Some have also been awarded the same for their restaurants.
According to AAA, just 0.25 per cent of the 60,000 hotels and restaurants evaluated for the 2007 awards attained Five Diamond status. The Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach won for the 13th consecutive year, while the Paraiso de la Bonita took honours for the third year.
The JW Marriott Cancun Resort recently announced it has received, for the first time, a Five Diamond Hotel Award for 2008. As well, its upscale Italian eatery, Gustinos, won a Four Diamond Award.
For the second time, The Ritz-Carlton, Cancun is the only triple Five Diamond oceanfront resort in the world, winning for the resort and its fine dining restaurants The Club Grill and Fantino.
We had a taste of guest activities in the Ritz's gleaming, new Culinary Center, the chain's first. Chef Rory Dunaway led us through a fun, hands-on, two-hour "grilling with a Mexican flare" barbecue class.
To see what is new in all-inclusives, I went to The Royal in Cancun, Real Resorts' latest addition. Opened in February, this adult-only, all-suite, luxury resort is the most amazing all-inclusive.
With all 285 suites having an ocean view, including Cancun's only beachfront swim-up master suites, The Royal offers the ultimate in romance. Guests dine at eight gourmet restaurants, none of which requires reservations, sip cocktails at seven bars, or enjoy 24-hour room service delivered discreetly to a dual-doored "magic box."
"We have many all-inclusives that are also at the highest level," confirms Escaip, confiding President George W. Bush stayed at the chi-chi adults-only Le Blanc Spa Resort, the most luxurious in Palace Resorts' portfolio, the largest chain in Quintana Roo. Opened just over two years ago, it features contemporary minimalist-style decor, the latest rage in trendy resorts.
Contemporary decor also reigns at new ME Cancun, opened in January as the first property in the Americas for new brand ME by Melia. Calling itself an experience-based "personality hotel," it targets travellers with a taste for cutting-edge art and design, international fusion cuisine and world music.
Along the same concept, Aqua Cancun by Fiesta Americana will open Dec. 1. Aimed at younger couples and families, it is, Escaip says, "a completely different experience, appealing to a very high-end market."
If you go
Getting there: Air Canada flies once a week from Calgary non-stop to Cancun, on Saturdays or Sundays, depending on the time of year. As well, a host of companies offer travel packages to Cancun. The Cancun International Airport completed a third terminal this year, doubling the capacity of passengers it can handle. The terminal is nicer, more modern and comfortable. Even better, the number of immigration and customs officers was doubled, decreasing the wait time.
Entry requirements: Canadian citizens now require a passport.
Where to stay:
Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach - fiestamericanagrand.com
JW Marriott Cancun Resort & Spa - jwmarriottcancun.com
Le Meridien Cancun Resort & Spa - cancun.lemeridien.com
Info: Mexico Tourism Board - visitmexico.com |
Vallarta Weddings
Travel & Outdoors | November 2007 
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